Game Art and Machinima: Initial Ideas and Story Part 2

By Meg Sugden

After we knew what kind of story we were going to be looking at we thought about what genre of film it would come under and came up with 4 different ideas based around the original one that we came up with previously. We wanted to look into a range of different themes so that we could figure out which was the best one for us to take forward. During this idea process we tried to come up a number of different secondary characters so that if we were to use any idea they could all appear in the same world if they were all to be created. So, with that in mind we tried to keep all of the animals that we choose with an origin from Australia to ensure continuity, or at least they could be seen in Australia if they migrated there.

Idea 1: The first idea that we came up with was to turn it into a horror. This was an interesting prospect and we would make it so that the duck-billed platypus would have to go on a perilous adventure to get his food back from the giant Australian spider who has taken it and some of his fellow villagers hostage. This is a good idea that could see the cut scene getting very dark and haunting but could also be difficult to pull off as creating an character that has multiple legs could be tricky to animate and get right, along with the rest of the villagers that will then have to be animated in the background.

Idea 2: The next idea follows the film noir genre which would give our film a very 1940/50s look to it. We would take a lot of inspiration from Sin City creating dramatic shadows across the characters and introducing a thief in the form of a possum as they are small and crafty creatures known for steeling mainly food. This idea is another interesting one as it could produce a very nice outcome that looks very bold and would probably be in black and white. But then this could steer away from the texturing process and look like we haven't bothered with it as there would be no point in adding it in if the whole film is going to be black and white anyway.

Idea 3: The next idea, and were we got the initial inspiration from, is turning it into a comedy. This is probably the best idea we have, then we can get away with it looking very cartoony and not having to worry about errors that could occur with animation as they could be over-exaggerated in movement because of the principles of animation. The idea is that the duck-billed platypus is not very clever and struggles to use his detective skills to find the thief, coming up with completely the wrong conclusion before giving up to the raccoon who has stolen his food. We wanted to keep this story light-hearted and ensure that it appealed as a comedy to a number of ages.

Idea 4: The last idea that we came up with involves a fight scene between the duck-billed platypus and a venomous snake, commonly found in Australia. They engage in a fight over the stolen food from the village and the duck-billed platypus quickly defeats the snake. We wanted this idea to use the natural abilities that the platypus already has, like a sixth sense and poisonous claws to be able to quickly take down the enemy but this would be very difficult to create as it would take a long time to choreograph a full fight scene taking into account the way each animal would hunt and kill.

In the end we choose to go with idea 3 as it offered us the most scope for improvement and also was changeable without having to alter the characters to much. At this stage we wanted to keep the idea of making it food that has been stolen as this can offer so much potential for different models but we also wanted to give a lot more personality to the characters so we thought about using anthropomorphism to give the animals human anatomy so that they walked on two legs, had clothing and human personalities. We thought it was an interesting idea that we wanted to take forward and look into more as it gave us scope to play around with and change up the characters. This also meant that when we were modelling the characters they didn't necessarily have to be perfect in anatomy.

By Callum Brown
After we had a basic idea of what we wanted to look at we then moved onto looking at a basic script, which was created by Callum Brown in our group, and we came up with a general idea of the events that were going to happen. At the moment the script is good, its funny and different and also has the uniqueness that we wanted to include in our cut scene. This is the first draft of the script and it definitely has the ability to be adapted to fit our needs for the brief, which I am very happy with.

We see an aborigine duck-bill-platypus walking in the desert. 

VOICE OVER: This is Bill, Bill – platypus, but everyone calls him duck. 

Zoom up on his beak, and pan down to his feet. 

VOICE OVER: Because he likes bread.  But bill is soon going to have to put his detective skills to work. 

We see a ran-sacked village, the bread is gone. Bill’s eyes grow wide and images and flashes of the incident take place in his mind. 

VOICE OVER: Now you might not think Bill here looks like much of a detective. 

Bill pulls out a magnifying glass. 

VOICE OVER: but he is. 

He see’s footprints, he thinks of a T-rex, He’s see’s some grey fur. He thinks of a furry T-rex, he sees scratch marks, He thinks of a furry T-rex with long claws. 

VOICE OVER: Bills has mad detective skills. 

He follows the food trail, and footprints, the fur and scratch marks, the tension rises and we see close up shots of his beak as he sniffs out the trail. As Bill frantically scurries around desert. 

VOICE OVER: Platypus Bill’s skills are unmatched, his nose capable of catching the smallest scent, his 6^th sense enables him to see what most can’t, his claws poisonous, he’s an absolute death machine. 

We pan out to see him going absolutely nowhere, in small circles if anything. Bill eventually goes behind a straw hut where lies a bandit racoon, scoffing his face. 

VOICE OVER: Bill finds his enemy, whom must be a shape-shifter of some kind. 

The raccoon stops when the platypus arrives, and looks up, embarrassed. Platypus Bill stands over him intimidating. The raccoon bandit offers some bread. 

VOICE OVER: This bandit should have known, Platypus Bill takes no bribes; no peace offering or mercy, there is only justice to be done. 

Cut to black, fade in, close up on the racoons face, he’s unconscious, as we pan out we see both characters laid against the hut beside each other unconscious, Bill with his arm around the bandit. As we pan away we see food around them and their bellies handing out. Drooling. Snoring. And belching. 

VOICE OVER: but Bill really likes bread.