Writing
From 2009 48 Hour Film Project
Genres
As far as story design goes, there's a lot up in the air until we actually get our genre and elements. Incidentally, the genres for 2009 are listed here.
In short, they are as follows:
- Buddy Film - Two characters overcome an obstacle (could be climbing a wall or pain inflicted by the narrator)'... Also, the buddies insult each other... a lot.
- Comedy - Anything we want; preference would be for failed instructional video
- Detective/cop - Perhaps something along the lines of Duck Twacy or Johnny Eyeball (see examples below)
DramaFantasyFilm de FemmeHoliday Film- Horror - See Thriller/Suspense
- Mockumentary - Failed instructional video is an easy choice here
Musical or Western- Romance - Although the prospect of a character falling in love with an inanimate object (like a doorknob) is compelling
- Sci Fi - Fishbowl helmets! Martian rodeo!
- Superhero - Failed superhero... or How to be a superhero
- Thriller/Suspense - Creepy persistence (a la Droopy or Pepe Le Pew) or saving an oblivious character from impending dooooom (and looking guilty doing it)
If none of those work out, there are some wild card options:
- Fable - Could easily take a common clich/moral and twist it (e.g. "If at first you don't succeed, just give up, it's not meant to be.")
- Family Film - Potentially worrisome, but anything comedic that doesn't use the word "fuck" should qualify
- Foreign Film - Kung Fu movie!! Alternatively: Movie in a monster language.
- Ghost Movie - One character is dead; anything else is fair game. Could be a how-to where one character dies and messes with the other
- Historical Fiction/Period Piece - It would be fun (and funny) to dress these monsters in period clothes'... 1950's instructional film (failed). Alternatively: the history/period could be on an alien world
- Martial Arts or Stoner Film - Kung Fu movie!
- Silent Film - Roadrunner vs. Coyote
- Surprise Ending - It was a dude.
- Tragedy - See Ghost Movie.
Inspiration
Simplicity of design, set, and story should be the name of the game for us. As inspiration, these are two pretty strong examples:
As for actual content, my thoughts right now are to possibly rely on narration for the animation. This will limit the amount of required lip sync without forfeiting the need to get the required line of dialogue spoken. In particular, I'd like to lean along the lines of Disney's early "Goofy How to" animations:
or Tex Avery's animations about the future:
Now, these animations are a lot more complex than what we'll likely be able to pull off in a weekend, but they're a great source of inspiration and they're a good starting point for where I'm leaning in terms of idea.
