Thesis Concepts: Part 2

Here are some more story ideas I had to try and derive a thesis project from. Apparently I have spent too much time devoted to trying to tell a narrative and not enough defining a project that I could do by myself, so I need to keep working on that:

8-Bit Dreams

Seven year old Devin has been cautioned many times by his parents to not play too many video games. One night after hours of playing the original Nintendo NES, he has a dream that his game consoles come to life, materializing all of the monsters from the games he has been playing inside his bedroom. The only way Devin can escape the dream is by fighting through the digital nightmares and pushing the power button on the Nintendo.

Monster Boarding House

A documentary-type short animation that asks the timeless question, “What if all of the classic movie monsters lived together in a boarding house?” The short interviews include Frankenstein (who isn’t much of a conversationalist besides a few grunts), Dracula (who has to suffer the various pranks of his housemates as they move his coffin someplace inconvenient during the day), the Creature from the Black Lagoon (who always seems to be hogging the shower), the Wolfman (who goes through new clothes every single full moon), and the Mummy (who is surprisingly articulate and fairly intolerant of having to live with commoners). Interspersed between the interview clips are short segments of life in the house and the frustration of having to deal with each others’ characteristics.

Deus Ex: Revisited

Set in a distant dystopian cyberpunk future where nanotechnology is just beginning to become the latest advancement in human augmentation, the original 2000 PC game Deus Ex provided a uniquely compelling experience that was a blend between a first-person shooter and a role-playing game. Since then it has sparked both a sequel and a soon to be released prequel. Despite the unique and compelling storyline, the game engine was not powerful enough to support high resolution graphics or texture maps larger than 64 x 64. Some fans of the game have developed higher resolution textures, but map them to the original geometry. The project would include developing new high resolution geometry and textures of the principle characters, robots, genetically enhanced creatures, and scenery.

My Pet Rock

Billy’s parents refused to allow him any sort of pet at all, his father remarking that the only pet Billy would ever have is a pet rock. Taking this to heart, Billy set off into the woods near his home and began to dig for the perfect pet rock. After hours of digging, he struck something that began to move under the dirt, which eventually turns out to be a golem that appears to think that Billy is his master. Billy takes the golem home and announces to his horrified parents that he has found the perfect pet.

Little Shop of Horrors

The off-broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors is a dark comedy about a seemingly innocent venus fly trap named Audrey II that is taken in by a loner named Seymour Krelborn who works in a little flower shop in an urban skid row. Progressively through the musical, it is discovered that this plant has a taste for human blood and is actually an alien being set on world-domination. The story has multiple opportunities for composing a CG still shot. One that would be compelling to do is the part where Mr. Mushnik is about to be eaten by Audrey II while he is confronting Seymour about a recent murder.

One Small Step...

This concept would be a digital scene that would be viewed in the round. The scene is a small, oblong asteroid in space. On one side of the asteroid can be seen a traditional NASA landing craft similar to concepts for the next lunar mission. Near it, two astronauts are seen planting a flag in salutation. On the opposite side of the asteroid, a similar scene is played out with an alien landing craft and alien astronauts planting a holographic flag in salutation.

Jozin z Bazin (Joey the Swamp Monster)

In 1978 the Czech musician and comedian Ivan Mlàdek composed this song that in English roughly translates to “Joey the Swamp Monster.” The song is a narrative of a man who is traveling through the Czech Republic to go camping, trying to avoid the ravaging Joey the Swamp Monster who is terrorizing the countryside. A local mayor hires the man to catch Joey, offering his daughter’s hand in marriage as a prize. The man knows the only way to defeat Joey is to use a crop duster, which he does, covering Joey in a white powder. After Joey is subdued, the man captures him with plans to sell him to a zoo. The animation would be set to the original music and follow the man in his journey.