Martin Carver Docs and Doodles: FUNNY FOIBLES

Project: The Chase

Project Start Date: Sept. 10th

Project Submission Date: November 23rd 10 weeks

Your client: Head of Programming for CBeebies at the BBC has requested you pitch to tender for an animated series inspired by the old school humour of cartoon series made in the golden era of American animations of the 1930's – 1960's by animation studios such as Disney, Fleischer, Warner Brothers and MGM . It is hoped that by combining this old school style of character comedy with up to date 3D animation techniques the resulting animation will be both captivating and hilariously funny for your target audience. As well as combining the old and the new in this way your client is also extremely keen to see originality in the work pitched. They also require you to ensure that a sense of the warmth and character in the aesthetic of the old style cartoons is not completely replaced with the often overly pristine perfection in the aesthetics of 3D computer graphics. At the heart of these cartoons is the humour and absurdity of the characters' and The Chase...

MIND MAP

RESEARCH REPORT

The brief I have been given is to create an episode to be pitched as a possible kids TV cartoon show to appear on the BBC’s CBeebies channel. The animation is to be 45 seconds long and has to embody the cartoons of the Golden Era of American animation based around the idea of a chase. Researching into that era reveals that it was the time of the great classic cartoons I grew up watching, Warner Brothers with the Loony Tunes and Merry Melodies, Disney with Silly Symphony’s and Mickey Mouse and MGM with Tom and Jerry and Max Fleischer with his visually unique and experimental styles.

Kid’s cartoons have vastly changed from that time, violence has all but been eradicated from today’s cartoons and CBebbies has been especially strict. The 12 golden rules of animation still apply but again they have lost the zany irreverent humour as embodied to great effect in the likes of the Loony Tunes cartoons. This brief however suggests that CBeebies may be looking to bring some of that magic back.

Age range of the audience is the under 6 and emphasis is on simple concepts, learning and repetition. Most of the current programming uses music and sound effects and little to no dialogue, some even completely presented in noises rather than language.

Heavily influenced from the classic cartoons I have opted for an adversarial relationship between the characters a la Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweetypie etc.To emphasise the cartoony nature, one character will be the ‘straight man’ and one the exaggerated comic character. The latter will foil the plans of the former and result in the required chase sequence. Using opposites, one character will be a large grumpy gorilla, the other a small animated radio. The basic premise is the gorilla is trying to sleep and the radio with its hyperactivity is preventing that. Something the kids and the parents can probably both relate to.

The devices I am using are all quite classic tropes but with the lack of any of these classic cartoons on modern kids TV, some of these ideas will be completely new to the children and will hopefully strike a chord with the parents of their own childhood TV.

Visually I will be relying on classic images witch will be recognisable to all, the art deco style radio instead of a modern digital one with no personality and the figure of a large grumpy gorilla who’s just trying to get some sleep should resonate with children. Staying with the era, I have decided on an art deco influence for the scenes including a factory whistle and a machine for punching out after work. The whistle and the machine might not be instantly recognisable to modern children but I believe they will understand the principal. With the small radio being the more cartoony character I intend to exaggerate squash and stretch and use the vocal styles of different radio shows and music to greatly enhance the wackiness of it in comparison to the gorilla’s stoicism up to the point when he flips out.

The brief stated the animation needed to be done using modern 3D methods. In light of this I will be mostly utilising 3Ds Max to create the characters and scenes but try to minimise the sort of clean modern look this program can give things. I want to keep the character design quite simple. I have an idea for using a water colours wash by hand then digitising them. I think this will give the scene a hand drawn quality. Development work for the characters will be done in sketches and I will also draw the storyboards then transfer them to Photoshop for editing. Final animatic will be done using these images in Adobe Premier. At this stage I would like as much of the sound effect to be done with Foley instead of sound bites from a library and will need to find suitable music on the Audio Network to compliment and drive the animation. Finally the renders from 3Ds Max will be imported to Adobe Premier for assembly and the sound added then.

Hopefully the final product will fulfil the brief requirements and be finished on time for the deadline.

MOOD BOARDS

CBeebies Shows:

Bright and vibrant, colours seem to be very important for characters and character recognition. Models are toylike, abstract versions of reality, chunky with child like proportions. Watching and learning is a big feature of these programs, violence is non existant, scripts, soundtracks and storyline are written so children can directly relate.

Golden Age

In the early days of animation there were no set rules, this was a time of experamentation. Political correctness had not been concieved yet, so animations were a free for all for characters and settings and senarios. Violence was a big part of the comedy, scary images and adult subject matter were also included.

Organic Characters:

Some of the stars of the Era. These characters are some of the most enduring from the time. Most have seen various incarnations over the years, some have dissapeared for years. That said, I think as brands they are mostly easily identifiable by the majority of people.

Non-Organic Characters:

Non-Organic characters seem to be quite hard to come by so a few of the following are from more recent sources.

Scenes:

During this time, animation and filming techniques vairied greatly. New ways were experamented with and some fall by the wayside giving some vey unique looks.

Conflict:

The premis of most Golden Age cartoons seems to be conflict. Natural enemies seem to be a populer theme cat v's mouse, dog v's cat, preditor v's prey but also others such as big vs small, calm v's manic, smart v's ...not so smart.

Concepts

I have two main ideas for the project.

Concept 1

The first features a young boy trapped in an Ali Babba style 'Cave of Wonders'.

With it being a cave of wonders it is filled with the stolen items the 40 thieves have collected, the episode to episode premise would be that this boy will learn about the cultures and history of the world through the items in the cave. I have imagined the non-organic character to be a magic lamp or mirror and will have knowledge of these things and will tell stories and sing songs.

One drawback with this that it would require a third character to act as the theme is ‘The Chase’. Perhaps one of the thieves, an adventurer or an animal left in the cave would serve this purpose.

Concept 2

The second is based around a grumpy gorilla. He would be anthropomorphised and would over the episodes run into cartoon appliances and people who would act as that episode’s foil. In the animation planned he would be trying to sleep after working nightshift but be constantly disturbed by an alarm clock/radio.

I feel that the grumpy gorilla angle would appeal to the kids. The animation program will not be as educational as the first concept but will be more like the ‘Golden Age’ cartoons.

Character Development Mood Boards

Idea: Cave of Wonders
Non Organic: Mirror

Idea: Gorilla Radio
Organic Character: Gorilla

Idea: Gorilla Radio
Non Organic Charater: Radio/alarm

Decision Time

I have decided to go with the grumpy gorilla concept. I really like the ‘Cave of Wonders’ idea but looking at the programming of cBeebies, all of their programs are of that vein. The brief suggests to me that by citing the 'Golden Age' they are looking for something more akin to that style and less education heavy.

ORGANIC CHARACTER