April 1, 2018: Theme and Logline

For my first assignment in Concept Development, I was required to come up with a logline and a theme for my short film concept.

Theme: While my short film will deal with some elements of science fiction, the theme I want to explore in this work is friendship. To me, true friends will stick together in times of trouble, no matter what. In my story, the main characters get into a dispute, but when there's an issue, the friendship between them is so strong that they will immediately jump to help out the others once they are in danger despite the tension. This relates to one of the major conflicts I want to portray in the story, which the book, Ideas for the Animated Short, lists as "Ship of Fools". In this scenario, distinct individuals must put up with each other and their differences to achieve a goal. The general conflict is character vs. character, with character vs. environment helping complement the overall them of friendship, because the paranormal UFO serves as a catalyst to bring them back together.

This them is of particular interest to me because it resembles what I experienced with my friends. Growing up, I was part of a small, close-knit but somewhat dysfunctional group of kids who all grew up in the same neighborhood. Throughout our childhood, we had constant conflicts and frequently butted heads. However, we always stuck together and some of those people are still among my closest friends even after fifteen years of this type of interaction. This type of relationship gave me a sense of belonging, which is something I have come to cherish. Even today, I witness something similar with my fellow animation students. Even if we clash on how a scene should be interpreted or how a character moves, my friends and I will constantly help each other out because we are a team and we must work together to get work done.

As the book explains, themes in works are often based on needs such as mental and physical needs as well as more specific needs such as food, shelter and love. Because the concept of belonging is so important to me, the need for acceptance is an area I love exploring with characters. I want the audience to see understand my message about true friends through these characters actions and feel that sense of belonging we feel with our closest friends.

Logline: Two young men become fed up with their UFO-obsessed friend and almost ditch him until they encounter the mysterious visitors their friend was hoping to find.