Magic Christmas by Cecilio Ignacio Perez

Magic Christmas

Premise

 Little Isabella lives with her humble grandfather. It is Christmas time and she is expecting her typical Christmas present from Santa (chocolates) but this year she really wants a doll and decided to ask Santa for it. Will she get it?

Synopsis

 It is Christmas time and the lovely little Isabella wishes a doll as Christmas present this year as she always gets the same chocolate box year after year, so she decides to write a letter to Santa Claus asking him for 20 Euros so she can buy the doll, she then sends the letter and wait a few days. As days go by the letter reaches the post office and Harry who is responsible for returning all the letters with the wrong address sees the letter, opens it, reads it and decides to send the money to little Isabella from his own pocket, but then he realizes that he only has 10 Euros, but he sends the money anyways.

 Christmas day arrives and little Isabella is over exited as she sees two presents from Santa instead of one as usual, she rushes to open the one that looks different and opens it and realizes that there is only 10 Euros and not the 20 she’s asked for, she gets really sad and disappointed so she writes back to Santa telling him not to trust the people from the post as she only got 10 Euros instead of the 20 Euros she’s asked for and to send money on a cheque in the future.

 Then she sees the other present from Santa and decides to open it, to her surprise there is a doll from Santa and she gets very happy.

Treatment

 This short 3D animation film will show the Christmas spirit experienced by a sweet little girl called Isabella as she deeply believe in Santa Claus, but her believe will make her doubt the honesty of the post service, it’s a sweet story of faith and good intentions misunderstood by the main character Isabella, expressed in a comedy/drama genre. This short story will touch your heart, make you sad, laugh and appreciate the "innocence of childhood" which is the underline theme.

 The intended time for the animation is 2-3 minutes approximately. The story will be told by a narrator over soundtrack and sound effects emphasizing the mood changes of the main character in order to give the audience that extra feeling of Christmas which is the intended style and look. It is a Christmas story that is intended to target an audience of all ages.

 The little girl called Isabella really wants a doll for Christmas this year, so as the story develops she will take us through her feelings of Christmas, she is sweet and innocent, but she is aware of the economical situation of her family, that’s when the post office worker Harry appears, a good hearted man willing to help Isabella get her so desired doll, but his good intentions were misunderstood by little Isabella as she thinks the post office people stole part of the money she’s asked Santa Claus, which creates a sad felling on her. The comedy appears once she decides to send another letter to Santa giving him advised about the dishonesty of the post office service, then comes the happy ending as she opens the second present from Santa Claus.

 The animation will have a cozy Christmas overall look and style, using Christmas decoration, warm lighting from a fire place, a Christmas tree and candle lights, imagine a mix of Hotel Transylvania warm looks without the horror for the interior and the winter looks of Alma for the outside environment, with a Pixar appeal characters..

 In order to achieve the Pre-production/production and post Production of the animation the following technique/software are intended to be used: Pencil/marker drawing, PS, soundtrack pro; after effects, premiere pro, nuke and 3Ds Max.

Outline

 Camera zoom of a cozy humble house with simple Christmas decoration.

 We meet Isabella in her bedroom sitting on a chair in front of her desk with a wishful look, there is a blank paper and a pen or her desk.

 Isabella start writing a letter to Santa Claus.

 Isabella is placing the letter in the post box outside her house.

  

We meet harry the post office worker sitting on a chair in front of his desk sorting the post from the “approved letter” box to the “to return” letter box.

  

Close up, we see a Christmas calendar on the wall, two days passes by.

 Then Harry the post office worker looks at Isabella’s letter with a curious look and opens the letter and reads it.

 Harry writes a letter and puts 10 Euros in it and places the letter in a post box.

  

 Close up, we see the calendar on the wall again, it’s Christmas day.

  

Isabella is in the living room next to Christmas tree super exited as she sees to presents from Santa Claus and picks the one that’s different to open it.

 She’s back in her room sitting on the chair in front of her desk with a very happy face as she looks at the present.

  

Then the camera zooms at the letter that says from Santa with love and shows 10 Euros next to the letter. 

 A close up of Isabella’s face shows her sad feelings emphasize with watery eyes.

  

Then we see her little hand holding a pen writing a new letter to Santa Claus telling him not to trust the post office service as they stole part of the money and to send money on a cheque in the future.

  

Then we see Isabella in the living room again with the sad and disappointed look on her face still as she looks at the second present from Santa Claus under the Christmas tree.

  

A close up of her little hands holding the second present from Santa Claus that says from Santa with love, may all your wishes come true, and fade out.

Fade in, we see the open present with the shinny doll in it.

  

This the final scene where we see Isabella holding the doll jumping up and down of happiness next to the Christmas tree.

 The end.

Story by XIAOHANG YIN---Pig, run!

Premise

Piggy is a very clever pig. But an unfortunate day is coming, Piggy is seized by a butcher-Blake and taken to processing factory for canned pork. When Blake pulls down the operating handle of canning machine without hesitation, does the clever Piggy can escape there successfully? 

Synopsis

The weather is very nice today. Blake is smoking beside the window. Suddenly, he grins and turns to the room. Looking at the piggy lying on the conveyor belt of canning machine, Blake pulls down the switch lever of the machine without any hesitation. 

With the starting sound of the machine, the conveyor belt also begins to rotate slowly and the switch blade on the machine starts to cut. An unconscious pig is lying on it and his name is Piggy. Unfortunately, his life is likely to stop here and he will be made as delicious canned pork. A club is standing beside Piggy's head and a knife is thrown at the table near the machine with half of handle outside the table. Another very long stick is leaning against the table with an iron hook on one end which is used for hanging pork slices on the wall by Blake. The iron shelf for hanging pork is nailed on the wall above the table and seems shaky and unsteady. At this moment, a hungry mosquito is flying into the room and becomes excited when he saw Piggy is lying there. Staring at the round paunch of Piggy, the mosquito has prepared to sprint sneak attack in the air. Suddenly, the mosquito attacks to the paunch of Piggy. Piggy wakes up with a start when mosquito’s mouth is penetrated into his soft skin. Piggy looks around and understands what’s happened immediately and falls into fear. He is imagining that he is chopped in slices and his blood is splashed on the dirty wall, then the disgusting machine will press his meat into beautiful can. “No, I won’t become like that!” He shakes his head when he thinks about this and starts to struggle fiercely. However, he sacredly finds his hands are locked at both sides and can not get rid of it. During the struggling, Piggy sees the club beside him and he also finds the knife on the left table, the long stick for hanging meat beside the table and the pork hanging on the wall when he looks around. Another side of right glass is control room; Jake is napping in front of the machine. “What shall I do?” Piggy turns his brain quickly and shows his confident sight suddenly. Piggy struggles several times and tips the club down with his head, the club falls on the floor and rolls to another side; it runs over the long stick with iron hook beside the table and strikes to the iron shelf for hanging pork. The iron shelf shakes several times and the screw at one side is loosened, the iron shelf is inclined to another side at once; the pork on it is forced to slide to one side and rocks heavily. A slice of pork falls down due to dramatic shaking and hits on the impending knife handle; the knife then flies away, breaks the glass flies to Blake who is snoring in the control room. Blake wakes up in a daze after hearing the noise. Only seeing a glance of light, the handle of knife is hitting on Blake’s head which leads to faint immediately. The knife is continue to fly and happens to hit the “OFF” control rod, all the machines stop work. 

Piggy on the conveyor belt sees the unstuck handcuffs and stopped conveyor belt with a pleasant surprise, then he jumps on the floor and runs toward to the exit rapidly. What’s is welcoming him outside is the bright sunshine. 

Treatment

Jake is a butcher who looks cruel. He has a processing factory for canned pork and there is a crossed scar on his left face which is caused by an accident in work several years ago. He is very tall and strong. He usually likes to wear a greasy white apron full of tools. Of course, this is because of his profession. Piggy is a very clever and brave pig and likes to use his head rather than eating his head off like other pigs. After finding he is in danger, the clever Piggy starts to use his brain and escapes the misfortune by calmly applying things beside him. 

The theme of the story is "pursuit of calm and brave". It tells us we should not give up when we are in danger and face it calmly, then solve the problem using our brain. This is an idea come up in self-encouraging condition. Not all the efforts will result in success, but giving up must result in failure. In the face of the rough life, we need brave try and calm thinking. The animation is about 2 minutes and 40 seconds to 2 minutes and 20 seconds with comedic style. Its target audience is people of all ages and it has educational meaning for children. But is it not a a kind of encouragement for adults? The story theme and content is very simple, however, the colorful frames and funny form is easier accepted by audience during the watching. 

The whole animation is narrated in an easy and funny way. The color of frames and characters is bright and cartoon. The role of butcher Blake will be a tall and strong man with a crossed scar on left face which is in line with his status of butcher; the greasy apron and backward-worn hat will highlight his funny characteristics better. Piggy will be a very traditional figure. It is a pink pig with a big paunch and brown curly hair. The animation is started on a sunny day which will create a striking contrast with the gloom and dirty factory. This means bad things will come. The colorful figure will be highlighted better in a gloomy indoor scene and a little funny in suppression. At the beginning of the animation, the scene emphasizes Blake' s one golden tooth when he grins after smoking, this will increase the comedy effect. Later, there will be a heavy sound from machine operation when he pulls down the switch, the frames show the machine gear which is operating. There is a role designed for a mosquito as a turning point for Piggy to wake up and make the whole story seems not monotonous. At the end of the story, the whole frames are showing in backlighting when Piggy escapes to the exit, the video camera shoots from the back of main character. The tone of the whole frames is gloomy; he door is very small and brightly appears at the middle of the frame which is zooming in with the running of the role. This indicates our Piggy escapes from gloom and heads for sunshine finally. 

At the early stage of the animation, adopt PS or Painter to draw the characters and create storyboard; After Effects is the best software for making animatic and Adobe Audition can be applied to add some simple sound effects. The production of characters and scenes at later stage can be realized by Maya; the combination of 3D and 2D is the main technology to make the whole animation. Big scene such as sky, cloud and mountain in the distant can be made with purely 2D; characters, building and props can be bloated with 3D to 2D technology for production. After effects and Premier can be used to combine and adjust the final animation; at last, Adobe Audition or Soundtrack can be applied to add sound effect.

Outline

The beginning of the animation shows the sunny sky and then title is dropping from the top right corner. After that the scene is turned to factory and focused on the window at last.

 Character Blake stands before the window and is smoking, then he grins suddenly with the scene is focusing on the teeth and highlights the reflected light of one golden tooth. All the objects in this part show the bright colors. 

Blake walks to the room and the scene is turned to the room. The color in the room is cold and gloomy. There is a big machine in the middle of the frames and suddenly, one hand appears from the lower right corner to pull down the switch. 

The scene is turned to the big-scale rotating gear on the machine and then turned to the left. There is the insensible Piggy on conveyor belt and knife which is cutting rapidly above his head appear in the frame. 

With zooming out to back upward, a mosquito appears in the frames. At this moment, the mosquito rushes to Piggy suddenly. 

The paunch of Piggy is zooming in to the middle part of the frames and the mosquito is entering into the frame from the top left corner. It is bites severely on Piggy's paunch. Piggy wakes up and looks around. 

The scene shows the knife on table, long stick besides the table and the hanging pork rapidly and reelingly. This indicates the inner hurry and confusion of Piggy and also a hint foreshadowing for later Piggy's escape. 

The frames return to Piggy again. Now, Piggy is struggling desperately. The scene is focusing on the locked hand of Piggy. His hands are rocking all the time for shaking off it; then the scene returns to Piggy again. 

Piggy stops struggling. The frames is zooming in to his face and become less clear gradually. Then it turns to a series of scenes: the machine which is cutting pork, blood is splashing on wall, then the pork is made into can. Later, the frames are fuzzy and turn to piggy's face.

This method is used to express the bloody scene he imagined.

Piggy finds the stick besides the machine when he shaking his head.

Piggy ponders a while and tries hard to touch that club with his head. Then the scene is rolling with the club. During the procedure that the club running over the long stick, the scene is pulling upward to the close-up of the iron hook on the top of the stick, then the iron hook strikes the shelf for hanging pork. The screw on one side of shelf is loosened and inclined to one side. 

The pork hanging on the iron shelf is also sliding to that side and rocks heavily.

A slice of pork falls down due to dramatic shaking and hits on the impending knife handle; the knife then flies away, the scene is following, the knife breaks the glass.

The scene shifts. Blake realizes the sound and raise his head to look up and make a scared expressing suddenly. Then the scene is turned, the knife is flying in the direction of video camera and hitting on Blake’s face which leads to faint immediately. 

The knife flies to the machine switch and happens to hit the “OFF” button.

Piggy is very happy to find that the machine stop work and handcuff is open. He is very excited and jumps down from the conveyor belt, run away out of the scene.

The video camera shoots from the back of Piggy. The whole frames are in backlighting and the door is in the right middle of the frame which is very dazzling. The scene is moving with Piggy running, the door is closer and closer and the light is brighter and brighter. Piggy disappears in the light.  

THE END

Story By Shijie Ma ----- One day for MEO ( 01 ）

Premise

It is a brand-new day. The adventures of MEO the cat  begin again. What will the show us today? Will it be a smelly slipper monster or a screaming slippers monster?

Synopsis

MEO is a domestic cat. Its keeper is a happy man who has two children and a beautiful wife. To MEO, every day is a day for adventure. The ultimate goal of the adventure is a delicious dinner, a comfortable sofa castle and gentle touch. Now a new day begins, and new adventures set off too.

The show is about a day is the life of MEO. The theme of this show is Pursuit of Pleasure, and MEO the cat  , which created to the comedy. The story is demonstrated through MEO’s perspective to show that every day is filled with adventures for cats. The same thing may mean completely different experience for cats from that for the human. This show is comedy which is made by very soft and bright colors.

The opening of the animation is a short title. When the cat opens his eyes, it indicates a new day begins. The beginning of the animation will show that MEO is a curious cat, and it has a special feeling to its house. When this animation begins, MEO opens its eyes and gets up to see its keeper is pouring milk for it, while the hostess and two children are having breakfast in the kitchen. However, in the eyes of MEO, they are the same. The whole scene is very warm when the warm sunshine reflects in everyone’s face through the window. When the people of the house all go out, the keeper also greets MEO before he goes out. The shadow of closing the door is shown in the eyes of MEO. Subsequently, MEO begins its adventures of another day. MEO inspects each room uprightly like a general. It first comes to the children’s room and carefully gets close to the new plush toy besides the kids’ toy box. The way it looks at the plush toy as looks at a prey; it presses the plush toy with its claws and the boy makes a noise. It is so frightened that it immediately hides behind the toy box. After a few seconds, it moves to the toy quietly again and throws itself over the toy. After playing the plush toy for a while, it gets bored and goes to the laundry room. It picks up a slipper on the floor of the laundry and goes to the garden through a small door on the white door of the laundry room. It sees a red balloon the children left in the garden, so it drops the slipper and plays with the balloon. The MEO’s paw accidentally presses on the balloon and the red balloon suddenly explodes. The scared MEO runs back to the house. In the living room, it easily jumps on the sofa, and scratches at the corner of the sofa with its claws, where exists a hole already by its long-term scratching. It seems like a task it must complete, from its face, we can find it enjoys scratching the fabrics. It then jumps off the sofa and lightly lands on the carpet of the ground. It again goes into the kitchen in an upright pose. It skillfully jumps on the kitchen table and beats down the snacks on the table with its claws just like enjoys daily afternoon tea. At this time, the sunlight of noon shines into its eyes through the window, it squints at the sun as if to identify one thing. Then it lazily walks into the master bedroom, jumps into the double bed in the master bedroom, lies in the feather quilt, scratches over the ball of yarn with its claws as its pillow, and begins to take a nap. It seems it is the master of the bedroom. In the evening, with the sound of opening the door and the voices of children and adults, MEO jumps out of the bed and goes to the door to greet the family. The hostess cleans up the punctured balloon and slipper in the garden; while the host puts away the snacks scattered by MEO in the kitchen. At this moment, the yellow light is very warm. Finally, the family are have dinner in the kitchen, and MEO is also eating its favorite sardines canned cat food. It rises up its head from time to time to respond the dialogue the family are making during dinner as if it can understand it.

Treatment

This movie mainly targets at the general people. The overall feeling of the story is warm with a little humor. The younger audiences will find it a amazing thing to keep a pet; while the elder audiences will feel the lovely point of the animals when there is nobody around after watching it. I hope that this story can make more people love pets.

The major style of this movie is bright and warm, so the warm colors are used in the entire movie. The character (MEO) will appear in two forms: one is a true form-a cat, the other is itself in its own eyes in an anthropomorphic form. In the true form, its performance is very real including various jumping movements. Its shape is lovely fat form but it acts very agilely. Yellow and white cat is the most common cat look. However, its shape in the anthropomorphic form will get different anthropomorphic appearances with the cat in boots as the prototype. In different scenes it will have different dress and hats. The cat in general’s hat and knight’s armor will also appear. In the eyes of MEO, all items will be exaggeratedly deformed and designed. Its keeper’s family is a very harmonious and happy family, and the style of their dress is very warm and comfortable without any sharp color. The color of the environment is also very warm. Totally there are three great scenes: one is the bright sunshine in the morning, then is the lazy sunshine in the afternoon, and finally is the warm lighting inside the room, bright but slightly yellow.

This animation will combine 2D  3D and live action for the movement . The 3D character and real scenes as well as some 2D environments and props will make it richer and more vivid close to the cartoon. The beginning of the movie will make the 2D frame-by-frame animation to show the title and various simple 2D characters. The entire scene will be shot in a real home to make the movie more realistic. The good combination of 3D character and real scene will make the audience feel friendly. 3D character design will apply both MAYA and 3DMAX. Moreover, PHOTOSHOP will turn every clean color tune into the ideal color. The function of NUKE lies in the combination of 3D and real scenes. All the lights will be produced when we are making 3D characters. Sound track will be utilized in the post  production of movie sound and sound effect. We will make use at the green screen studio for making live action for reference of movement. FINAL CUT will also be used in the post clips and the final subtitles.

Short Outline

The camera turns to the positive side of MEO, follows MEO’s viewing direction, and comes to the host, the hostess and two children, and places the light on their faces. Finally, the camera shoots the host is giving milk to MEO.

The camera turns to shoot the scene that MEO is drinking milk.

The camera turns to the back of MEO to shoot the door, and the owners are getting out. Then it aims at MEO’s eyes. The screen of the door being closed is reflected in the eyes of MEO.

Cut the shoot. The camera shoots the walking foot, then tilted tail and then the head of the MEO. Finally, there is a panoramic view of the entire MEO. 2D animation of MEO wears military uniforms.

Now the shoot is the whole scene, then it zooms the plush toy for 2 seconds and then immediately turns to MEO. The shoot follows MEO to the plush toy and MEO touches the plush toy with its claws. Then shoot follows the scared MEO, zooming and returns to the panoramic view of MEO then to the plush toy. The 2D animation of MEO in armor is fighting with the plush toy in monster form.

The shoot follows MEO to the laundry room and then to the slipper. MEO takes the slipper and rushes to the garden.

Cut the shoot to the red balloon in the garden and then to the face of MEO. MEO's eyes are reflected with the balloon. The shoot is switched to the back of the balloon to overlook the whole scene. The 2D animation of MEO in ninja suit is wrestling with the balloon monster. The slow motion of MEO’s claws that puncture the balloon. The shoot stays at the punctured balloon and long shoot when MEO runs back to the house.

The shoot is placed on the roof to overlook the whole scene. MEO walks to the living room. Cut the shoot to MEO’s jumping on the sofa, then to MEO’s claws that are scratching the sofa, then to its face. MEO's face shows enjoyful expression.

The camera follows MEO to the kitchen. MEO finds snacks and eats snacks. The 2D animation of MEO in gentleman's clothes is having afternoon tea. Cut the shoot to MEO face. Place the light on MEO's face for a few seconds.

The camera follows MEO to the kitchen. MEO finds snacks and eats snacks. The 2D animation of MEO in gentleman's clothes is having afternoon tea. Cut the shoot to MEO face. Place the light on MEO's face for a few seconds.

Switch the shoot to the bedroom. MEO enters and jumps on the bed. MEO hooks a ball of yarn with its claws and lies above it. Camera stays on MEO. MEO is sleeping.

The light on MEO's face darkens which indicates the evening is coming. Suddenly the light is on, and together with the sound of the family. MEO opens its eyes suddenly.

The shoot comes to hostess who is cleaning up the garden and laundry, and the host who is packing the snacks. The light is the home lighting.

The shoot is cut to MEO THE CAT who is having dinner. The camera slowly gets farther into a panoramic view to overlook the entire kitchen. Then the shoot is switched to MEO THE CAT. MEO THE CAT raises its head from time to time to see its owners.

The entire scene slowly becomes dark and the subtitles begin to show all the members of the group...

The ending