Updated Script!

KNOCK-OUT NUTZ

SYNOPSIS

In a busy working office day, a new vending machine has caught the attention of the staff workers. It is the first interactive vending machine of its kind. Everyone seems excited to use the machine except an individual named Joey. He doesn’t seem too interested in the machine at all. But after a long day, when everyone has left except him, curiosity gets the better of Joey as he finally decides to find out what all the fuss is about. When he approaches the vending machine, he gets more than a surprise.

INT. A NEARLY DESERTED CUBICLE OFFICE – NIGHT

CAMERA PANS DOWN TO REVEAL AN ALMOST EMPTY CUBICLE OFFICE. TWO WORKERS ARE SEEN TO BE THE ONLY PEOPLE WORKING TONIGHT. AN INDIVIDUAL NAMED JOEY IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WORKING LATE TONIGHT. HE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE A VERY HAPPY INDIVIDUAL. JOEY APPEARS TO LOOK TIRED, FRUSTRATED AND DEPRESSED.

AS JOEY IS WORKING AWAY, A BEEPING NOISE CAN BE HEARD IN THE DISTANCE. THE NOISE APPEARS TO BE COMING FROM A NEW VENDING MACHINE THAT HAS BEEN RECENTLY INSTALLED. WHEN JOEY REALIZES THAT THE NOISE IS COMING FROM THE VENDING MACHINE, HE SPOTS A SPARKLING NEW PEANUT SNACK IN THE MACHINE. FEELING HUNGRY, HE DECIDES TO APPROACH THE VENDING MACHINE AND PURCHASE THE PEANUT SNACK.

JOEY REACHES THE VENDING MACHINE BUT IS NOT AWARE THAT IT IS AN INTERACTIVE VENDING MACHINE. THE MACHINE BECOMES SELF AWARE AND INTERACTS.

VENDING MACHINE

Hello, how are you?

JOEY SEEMINGLY SUSPICIOUS AT FIRST EVENTUALLY RESPONDS TO THE VENDING MACHINE.

JOEY

Uh I’m good...

VENDING MACHINE

Please choose your preference of snack?

JOEY STARTS TAKING A LOOK AT THE CHOICES OF FOOD ON DISPLAY AND DECIDES TO GET SOME NUTS.

JOEY

Uh can I have some nuts?

BEEPING SOUND EMITS FROM THE VENDING MACHINE.

VENDING MACHINE

I’m sorry but there seems to be a problem. Your request is invalid

JOEY APPEARS TO BE CONFUSED AND MYSTIFIED.

JOEY

Huh? What the hell are you talking about?

VENDING MACHINE

You have been denied access!

JOEY BECOMES INFURIATED AND UTTERLY CONFUSED.

JOEY

What?! Look I just want some nuts ok!

VENDING MACHINE

I’m sorry but your responses are invalid. Please state the code word?

JOEY

What code word?

VENDING MACHINE

I’m sorry but your responses are invalid. Please state the code word?

JOEY

Look you heap of trash, just give me the damn nuts. Arghhhhhhhh!!!

JOEY STARTS ASSAULTING THE VENDING MACHINE OUT OF FRUSTRATION. THE VENDING MACHINE ACTIVATES IT’S SELF DEFENCE SYSTEM.

VENDING MACHINE

Activating secondary protocol.

THE VENDING MACHINE ACTIVATES ITS DEFENCE SYSTEM AND LAUNCHES A STRIKING PUNCH AT JOEY. A SHAKEN JOEY FALLS TO TNE GROUND.

ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL WALKS ALONG TOWARDS THE VENDING MACHINE AND ASKS FOR THE SAME SNACK.

STRANGER

Can I have some nuts please!

THE VENDING MACHINE PROCESSESS THE REQUEST AND ACCEPTS IT.

VENDING MACHINE

You have been granted access. Thank you please come again.

IT IS CLEAR FROM THIS POINT ON THAT JOEY NOW REALISES THAT THE CODE WORD WAS PLEASE AND HE NEVER GOT THE PEANUT SNACK BECAUSE OF THAT REASON.

Rough Script & Character Description

After some brainstorming and quick sketches, the team and i finally settled on the script and story. I wrote a short brief synopsis outlining the plot of the story as well as a 1st draft rough script.

The Vending Mac

In a busy working office day, a new vending machine has caught the attention of the staff workers. It is the first interactive vending machine of its kind. Everyone seems excited to use the machine except an individual named Joey. He doesn’t seem too interested in the machine at all. But after a long day, when everyone has left except him, curiosity gets the better of Joey as he finally decides to find out what all the fuss is about. When he approaches the vending machine, he gets more than a surprise.

Mac: Hello, how are you?

Joey: Uh I’m good.

Mac: Please choose your preference of snack?

(Joey starts taking a look at the choices and decides to get some nuts.)

Joey: Uh can I have the some nuts?

Mac: I’m sorry there seems to be a problem. Your request is invalid.

Joey: huh? What the hell are you talking about?

Mac: You have been denied access.

Joey: What! Look I just want some nuts ok!

Mac: I’m sorry but your responses are invalid. Please state the code word.

Joey: What code word?

Mac: I’m sorry but your responses are invalid. Please state the code word.

Joey: Look you heap of trash, just give me the damn nuts.

Mac: I’m sorry but your responses are invalid. Please state the code word.

Joey: arghhhhhhh!

Joey starts assaulting the machine out of frustration.

Mac: Activating defence system!

Mac activates his defence system and launches a striking punch at Joey! A shaken Joey falls to the ground.

Another individual comes along and asks for the same snack.

Character 2: Can I have some nuts please!

Mac: You have been granted access. Thank you please come again.

Character Descriptions!

Joey Character Bio:

Joey is the primary character in this animation. He is a typical IT office worker person. Much of his day is spent in a cubicle office in front of a computer, typing away like a drone. He doesn't have many friends and his social life is almost non - existant. He is a very short tempered and miserable old guy.

Personality:Boring, Miserable, Depressing, Angry, Sluggish and Lazy.

Appearence: Chubby, Out of Shape, grizzled and full of stubble on his face.

Vending Machine Character Bio:

Known as MAC which stands for Machine Automated Central. MAC is a very systematic and interactive machine. He is very much a simple but quite dull artificial intelligence character. With a male computer voice, MAC requires its customers to state a specific code word before purchasing a snack, the code word is - Please. This is a new feature of the machine and is specifically designed to encourage more human beings to be more respectful and well mannered. In an emergency, MAC comes built in with a self defence mechanism in order to protect itself from vandalism, assault and fraud. It is also connected to a secure wide area alarm system. MAC's primary function is to serve snacks on a daily basis and interact with its customers.

Personaliy: Direct, Respectful, Sophisticated, Interactive, Intelligent and Insightful.

Appearence: Like a general Vending Machine, Abstract, Computer Vision and a Self Defence Mechanism built inside.

Little Man Character Bio:

Known as Little Man to most of his colleagues, he is a very highly popular and respected member of the staff due to his well mannerisms and excellant work rate. He is quite intelligent and self conscious of the surroundings around him. The only person that he hasn't got the chance to know is Joey.

Personality: Respectful, Intelligent, Caring, Hard Working, reliable, competent and Polite.

Appearence: Short, spiky hair, big oval head and smart.

I will be modelling, rigging, uv mapping/texturing and animating Ash and the Vending Mac.

Concepts!

A few early thumbnail sketches for the new animation story idea that me and the team are developing.

Reference and Research

Looking at different types of animation film and came across a couple that i felt visually looked quite appealing, also its what me and my team could possibly apply to our film in terms of visual aesthetic. The simplistic and clean look of these animation films is what we are intending to achieve in our film. The films below include The Incredibles and Despicable Me.

My Team!

Ok after finally coming up with an idea we have decided to choose who we would like to become part of our group! Here are the people below who will be working on our animation and are part of the primary group.

Shuhel Ahmed (Me)

Leonard Onikoyi

Trish Kim Phan

Kirsty Phan

After discussions with the team, everyone was happy with the idea we came up with (Vending Mac). All that was left was to assign everyone to their respected task of what area they will be working on in this short animation. Here is a detailed list below of who will doing what in this short film.

Shuhel Ahmed (Co - Director) - Concepts & Storyboard, Modelling, Lighting, Texuring and Animating.

Leonard Onikoyi (Co - Director) - Concepts, Modelling, Rigging and Animating.

Kirsty Phan (Producer) - Concepts, Modelling, Texuring and Animating.

Trish Kim Phan - Concepts, Modelling, Texuring and Animating.

We have decided that Kirsty and Trish would design, model and texture the Environments as well as doing some prop animation and character animation.

Leonard will model and animate two characters that are in the animation.

I will model, texture and animate the vending machine and also do the lighting for the interior scenes of the environments.

We will also have Marios Economides and Kofi Ansah helping us out from their respected groups. Marios will be helping us on texturing and possibly some concept work. Kofi will be helping us out on the rendering.

As for me helping other groups, i have decided to help out Depa's group. She has asked me and Leonard to work on the Visual Effects of her film. She wants us to work on a specific part of the film and we will possibly be modelling, animating and compositing for her animation.

New 30 second Short Film Animation

Ok after scrapping the Noah's Nightmare idea, we have decided to come up with a fresh new idea for our 30 second animation. While pondering over what we should come up with, me and Leonard became stuck at one point as we were having difficulties generating a feasable idea for the 30 second animation. Our source of inspiration finally came when i went to get some food from a vending machine, Leonard was telling me how he hates certain vending machines and from that point on, it crossed our minds that we should make an animation based on a vending machine that somehow has an artificial intelligence and interaction feature. There will be a human character and he will interact with the vending machine to get a specific snack and the idea is that he has to say the magic word which is (please) but he doesn't know this. In the end he doesn't get the snack and starts assaulting the machine out of frustration and then gets punched in the groin by the vending machine as an act of self defence. A passerby comes along and asks for the same snack and he gets the snack as he said the magic word, at this point the other character who got hit in the groin realises this and bemoans the fact it should be clearly stated to the user or customer.

Ok i have written a brief synopsis for our story and the working title is Vending Mac.

In a busy working office day, a new vending machine has caught the attention of the staff workers. It is the first interactive vending machine of its kind. Everyone seems excited to use the machine except an individual named Joey. He doesn’t seem too interested in the machine at all. But after a long day, when everyone has left except him, curiosity gets the better of Joey as he finally decides to find out what all the fuss is about. When he approaches the vending machine, he gets more than a surprise.

Animation Films that were greenlit.

Ok after hearing everyone's individual pitch, we were asked to vote online for who's idea we liked the best. After the results were confirmed from the votes, my idea of The Visitors didn't go through. I'm dissapointed by the result but i totally understand as to why my pitch didn't go through. I felt my pitch lacked substance and evidence of more detailed research. I also think that my back up support of crucial concept work that i didn't produce contributed to my failure of the pitch.

So now we were given the choice to either work on the animation films that were greenlighted or create my own thirty second short animation film with one other person. After some consultation with Mike and Dan, i have decided to go ahead with the idea that Leonard Onikoyi came up with for his individual pitch, a story called Noah's Nightmare. Here is a brief synopsis below:

A young boy named Noah lives a very youthful and adventurous life. But that all changes on the night of the day his father tells him a bedtime story. This is a bedtime story unlike anything Noah has heard of. As he falls asleep while his father tells him the story, Noah is thrust into the very world that his father’s bedtime story is being described as. In his dream world, the story being told by his father turns out to be a very different conclusion, his very worst nightmare. Now he must find his way out and awake from this nightmare.

So i will now have some discussions with Leonard as to how we can produce this animation as a 30sec piece of short film.

Monday 8th November 2010 UPDATE* Just had another consultation with Mike Smith about our idea Noah's Nightmare and we have been told that our story needs more work. The story needs to have a clear logic and not become too confusing to the audience. This feedback from Mike Smith has put a huge doubt on Noah's Nightmare and me and Leonard are debating whether or not we should scrap the whole idea together and just do something really simple.

UPDATE* Ok i have decided with Leonard that we will not go ahead with Noah's Nightmare as its too big and complex and we are going to come up with a short fresh idea for the 30sec piece of animation.