I need an idea

[New Frontiersman]

Hey everybody, I was hoping you'd be able to help me out. You see in my Computer Animation class we are starting our 3D final project and I find myself... somewhat lacking for ideas. So I felt it best to turn to you, The Escapist, for assistance!

Some details that might help are that it needs to be one to two minutes long, I don't want it to be too complex or else I won't be able to animate it in time, my teacher has a thing for twist endings at the end of our animations (a fan of M. Night Shyamalan maybe?), and the point of the animation besides showing what we've learned is to get the viewer to empathize with a character (it doesn't have to be human), and we need to have a track of music in the background but I can probably find that on my own. I can't really think of much also to say about it.

If it helps my previous (crappy) ideas so far have been:


A short synopsis of the origins and development off life and human civilization, it was too complex though (seriously I don't know what I was thinking with this one)
A racing game like animation with a focus on one particular car, the twist ending would have been that right before the car hit the finish line in first it would be hit with a blue shell and get last place, I felt it would be too hard to make the viewer sympathize with the character in this situation
My most recent and so far crappiest idea was having a skeleton and a crash test dummy talking around a water cooler and trying to do something humorous with that, it was to dialogue focused and not focused on the animation enough, plus all my jokes sucked


So as you can see I'm having quite a conundrum here and so any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks so much for your help.

 

[Tapzzy94]

Maybe hav someone using a computer and the twist could be there is a Plumbob (Sims Diamond Thing) above him towards the end? and people could sympathise with this becuase placement of ads in the internet you feel lik your bieng controled. Hope i helped

 

[Kiriona]

Well, I could probably help if I knew a little more about the project and had a little more time to think...

 

[S.R.S.]

Have a clown wait in line for an ice-cream.

Really stress the wait in the line, like it's taking forever. As he's waiting have him perform for the other patrons in the line as well. But when he finally get's his ice cream, about to take the first lick, the ice-cream scoop falls off. Bringing a tear to his eye, running his makeup.

 

[S.R.S.]

Have a clown wait in line for an ice-cream.

Really stress the wait in the line, like it's taking forever. As he's waiting have him perform for the other patrons in the line as well. But when he finally get's his ice cream, about to take the first lick, the ice-cream scoop falls off. Bringing a tear to his eye, running his makeup.

That is... beautiful...
I'm not even going to contribute, use this.

I'm not joking when I say this but it was me. The clown was a metaphor, as in a looked like one.

 

[vento 231]

Two zombies- make really simple jokes like: *eating clown* this tastes funny.

 

[Kiriona]

Have a clown wait in line for an ice-cream.

Really stress the wait in the line, like it's taking forever. As he's waiting have him perform for the other patrons in the line as well. But when he finally get's his ice cream, about to take the first lick, the ice-cream scoop falls off. Bringing a tear to his eye, running his makeup.

That is... beautiful...
I'm not even going to contribute, use this.

Wow. That... is a damn good idea. I might even steal that for myself.

 

[grimsprice]

Hey everybody, I was hoping you'd be able to help me out. You see in my Computer Animation class we are starting our 3D final project and I find myself... somewhat lacking for ideas. So I felt it best to turn to you, The Escapist, for assistance!

Some details that might help are that it needs to be one to two minutes long, I don't want it to be too complex or else I won't be able to animate it in time, my teacher has a thing for twist endings at the end of our animations (a fan of M. Night Shyamalan maybe?), and the point of the animation besides showing what we've learned is to get the viewer to empathize with a character (it doesn't have to be human), and we need to have a track of music in the background but I can probably find that on my own. I can't really think of much also to say about it.

If it helps my previous (crappy) ideas so far have been:


A short synopsis of the origins and development off life and human civilization, it was too complex though (seriously I don't know what I was thinking with this one)
A racing game like animation with a focus on one particular car, the twist ending would have been that right before the car hit the finish line in first it would be hit with a blue shell and get last place, I felt it would be too hard to make the viewer sympathize with the character in this situation
My most recent and so far crappiest idea was having a skeleton and a crash test dummy talking around a water cooler and trying to do something humorous with that, it was to dialogue focused and not focused on the animation enough, plus all my jokes sucked


So as you can see I'm having quite a conundrum here and so any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks so much for your help.

Have a human looking robot being dragged along an assembly area, with a stamp that says "cognitive defect". Then fall into a machine that says incinerator, only to find out they fall out of a hatch into a disco party for other robots.

That might be a bit to complicated, but robots are easy to animate and a hell of a lot easier than squishy things. Trust me, i animated a 4 legged robot in 3DS max a few years ago.

 

[CouchCommando]

A short synopsis of the origins and development off life and human civilization, it was too complex though (seriously I don't know what I was thinking with this one)

Why don't you take this one and simplify it, instead of trying to do the whole shebang take a mere episode and make this your subject, Ie, discovery of fire and its destructive capability, a theory on the origins of the wheel perhaps, or the implementation of levers and basic hand tools to accomplish amazing (for the time) feats etc etc.

 

[Tharwen]

If you want something simple(ish), have a dog (scruffy, no collar) looking through the rubbish in a back-alley. Each item he picks up should be something that he doesn't recognise but the audience instantly will. Have him sniff it/play with it/ignorantly use it as it isn't intended, then drop it again. Eventually let him find what he's looking for (a bone if you want a cliché) and happily carry it into the sunset (or just away into the city if you prefer that), his tail wagging with each step.

Dog is interchangeable with other animals, of course, but they are very easy to sympathise with. You should make him do obviously dog-y things, like... say... getting an object stuck on his tail and chasing it in a circle... or... happily following a scent to a new item... or... getting his head stuck inside something that he picks up. Do something unique each time, and be as imaginative as possible.

From my experience of low/no-budget animated films, the ones without voiceovers are the best. Unless you can hire an act(or/ress) or two to make your film (which may not be allowed for the project), I recommend you avoid it.

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

How about an animation about the decay of human civilization and the individual,maybe showing a man rotting away to a skeleton as everything around him rusts due to a hyper-sedentary,complacent lifestyle while a unicorn in the scene for no good reason shakes her head?

 

[New Frontiersman]

If you want something simple(ish), have a dog (scruffy, no collar) looking through the rubbish in a back-alley. Each item he picks up should be something that he doesn't recognise but the audience instantly will. Have him sniff it/play with it/ignorantly use it as it isn't intended, then drop it again. Eventually let him find what he's looking for (a bone if you want a cliché) and happily carry it into the sunset (or just away into the city if you prefer that), his tail wagging with each step.

Dog is interchangeable with other animals, of course, but they are very easy to sympathise with. You should make him do obviously dog-y things, like... say... getting an object stuck on his tail and chasing it in a circle... or... happily following a scent to a new item... or... getting his head stuck inside something that he picks up. Do something unique each time, and be as imaginative as possible.

From my experience of low/no-budget animated films, the ones without voiceovers are the best. Unless you can hire an act(or/ress) or two to make your film (which may not be allowed for the project), I recommend you avoid it.

Wow that sounds pretty good, thanks man. Also thanks for the tip about the voiceovers.

Have a human looking robot being dragged along an assembly area, with a stamp that says "cognitive defect". Then fall into a machine that says incinerator, only to find out they fall out of a hatch into a disco party for other robots.

That might be a bit to complicated, but robots are easy to animate and a hell of a lot easier than squishy things. Trust me, i animated a 4 legged robot in 3DS max a few years ago.

Damn a four legged robot? That must have been crazy. That's a pretty funny idea though, thanks.

Have a clown wait in line for an ice-cream.

Really stress the wait in the line, like it's taking forever. As he's waiting have him perform for the other patrons in the line as well. But when he finally get's his ice cream, about to take the first lick, the ice-cream scoop falls off. Bringing a tear to his eye, running his makeup.

Aww poor clown, still very interesting.

 

[jarate]

you could do something like what this guy did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGrHBpfqCo

 

[New Frontiersman]

you could do something like what this guy did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGrHBpfqCo

That. was. fucking. AWESOME!
...But I have nowhere near the skills required to pull anything like that off. Thanks anyway though.

 

[Woodscare]

How about a car crash, you see the dead bodies inside the car and than zoom out to see that it was a crash test for safety

 

[Geamo]

Here's an idea - have a man going about his daily routine, a really happy guy. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and whatnot. Do a day like so.
The twist would be at the end of the day, show the next day as a "real" day, like it's raining, muddy, bad things happening etc, but leave the man smiling like he was on the first day. This *should* show life depends on your outlook.

Then again, i've never been good at metephorical things/etc.

 

[New Frontiersman]

Here's an idea - have a man going about his daily routine, a really happy guy. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and whatnot. Do a day like so.
The twist would be at the end of the day, show the next day as a "real" day, like it's raining, muddy, bad things happening etc, but leave the man smiling like he was on the first day. This *should* show life depends on your outlook.

Then again, i've never been good at metephorical things/etc.

Actually I think that's a very interesting idea, it's well thought out and carries a positive feel. I like it.