Friday, September 5, 2014

495 Animation Treatment/Character Bio

Character Bio

Russell: A man in his 40’s with no defining attributes. He is a boring person who lives a boring life. Russell lives in an apartment, is single, makes ends meet, and has never been out of the country. Trapped in a continuous circle of boring, Russell longs to travel to exotic destinations to add some excitement to his life/start a new one.  

Treatment

Russell, an average blue-collar worker in his 40’s, leads a boring life. He goes to work, sits in his cubicle, pretends to work, stares at the random stuff in his cubicle, goes home, and repeats the process. Russell does this every Monday through Friday. Over the course of many pointless working days, Russell has gathered a number of toys for his desk and created a collage of pictures on his cubicle wall. The toys include a stuffed lion, T-Rex, miniature Roman Colosseum, etc. The collage of pictures is made up of historical landmarks and exotic travel locations. Russell longs for a change of scenery and as such he needs money so he keeps going to his boring job.

On one of these boring days Russell goes through his typical routine, however, when Russell gets home he finds that in his bathroom a random door has appeared. The door is shrouded in heavenly light. Russell, confused by the sudden appearance of the door in his bathroom, rubs his eyes to make sure he is not seeing things. He isn’t. Questioning the random door, Russell doesn’t know how something like this could happen, and he can’t remember the door ever being there before. Curious about the door, Russell eventually decides to open it. Cautiously Russell turns the knob, slowly inching the door open for fear of what is behind it. As the door continues to open Russell begins to hear the sounds of crashing waves. The familiar yet confusing sound eases Russell’s nerves as he finishes opening the door. Behind the door is an island paradise. Russell, in awe at what the door has opened to, steps through the door. Looking around and exploring, never more than a few feet away from the door, Russell realizes that he has seen this place before. Still in wonderment about the deja vu he is experiencing, Russell abruptly steps back through the door into his bathroom fearful that this magical door could disappear. Back in his bathroom Russell decides to open the door again. This time the door reveals a different setting. Quickly Russell realizes that the deja vu he is experiencing is due to the fact that each different setting behind the door correlates to the collage of pictures on his cubicle wall. Never having been happier in his life about finally getting to see the places from the collage on his cubicle wall, Russell keeps opening the door. What Russell doesn’t realize is that the toys on his desk are also part of the equation and at any point Russell could open the door to a lion or a T-Rex.

My goal for the animation is to make it entertaining and comical. In order to animate this story I plan on creating a mundane look for both Russell’s apartment and his cubicle in order to amplify the feeling of boredom in the beginning of the story. In contrast I want the settings that the mysterious door reveals to be colorful, inviting, and anything but boring. I plan on using mostly After Effects and Flash to animate the story.

            

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