CG Short Film Development Diary

The following links will take you to regularly updated development diary pages directly from the notes and sketches of the film makers. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view these pages.

CG Short Film in development

2006 to 2008 - Character based CG Short

I'm developing a short computer generated film called 'Dating, Angels and Dating' purely for the love of animated filmmaking. The goal of the art and tech in this project is to produce a film that's so unique and beautiful in every frame that it would catch the attention of any internet browser and make them click on it. Then the charm of the story, characters and animation will keep them hooked for the the short running time leaving them wanting more. So this film is being made with the internet in mind, fully aware of modern interests and trends. Have a look at the art and designs so far.

If you'd like to contribute your skills feel free to get in touch, I'm keen to work with talented people with good ideas to enrich the film, and I'm more than happy to share the credit and give professional references for worthy contributions. Don't go into this expecting there to be any money in it though, but if there is I'll be more than happy to share the proceeds. The kind of people I'd expect to get the best out of this would be people with a certain amount of experience that are looking to diversify and enrich their portfolio.

Synopsis

Mr. Cupid, Master Devil and a rather sexy young judge, jury and executioner in the form of Miss Death gather in the After Life War Room to attend to their daily routine of manipulating our lives down on Earth with modern techniques that would put our internet dating generation to shame. Each of them, reluctantly compelled to play out their role in the game of life in order to maintain the balance. There's an unspoken attraction in the room and their true contradictory personalities are gradually revealed to each other, when someone gets a bright idea and re-purposes their high tech weapons to turn the tide of war and flip everything on it's head.

Mr Cupid

Frustrated and chauvinistic, resentful about the ironic nature of his job.

Cupid was a world weary old man who knows all the tricks. He's spent his youth pursuing ladies then reluctantly fixing them up in order the maintain the balance of the world. So he's missed out on a romance of his own, and he's looking for a partner but the tricks are all he has and he doesn't know anything more than that. There aren't many 1000 year old single angels, most of them have had their breaks in love at some point in their existence. So it's frustrating for him and he's slipped in to a bit of a chauvinistic rut, easily swayed by any perceivable new hope he can get his hands on but rarely using it in a new way. He is well beyond hating his job and wants something on the side to spice his existence up.

Cupid's role in the story has changed somewhat from the earlier drafts so he's shifted from a sly leering salesman, to a likable old man, and back to a chauvinistic ladies man.  But deep down he's a lonely soul and isn't very good at hiding it any more, to the point that he's getting a little too friendly with Miss Death.

Master Devil

Cute but reluctantly compelled to do evil.  

Devil is new to the afterlife but doesn't exactly fit the mould he's been cast into. He wants to find love but he's way to shy to do anything about it. The trouble is, as cute as he may be, he's a devil, so no-one trusts him and he's become very insular. His job is to balance out Cupid by breaking up the matches he makes, but he's not well suited to it and resists at every turn. He's found satisfaction in the perfection he brings to the small things in his life and almost manages to push his job out of his mind most of the time. But this dual life is beginning to show between the cracks.

Devil started out as a teenage centre piece for my CG Short Film, when I dropped the Doorman Character. He's now become a cute devil, and he's designed to stand opposite an older Cupid. I didn't want him to have the obvious horns, so I worked his hair into a horn shape instead. Along the way I realised the hair and his face forms a strong heart silhouette which speaks more to to his concealed inner personality.

Miss Death

Inadvertently sexy and sympathetic to Devil's plight.

Miss Death is a carrier girl judge and executioner, who's been so focused on the task of delivering death that she's not found time for dating. In fact she hates her job now and resists every death she must bring, but can't stop for the sake of her compulsion to maintain the balance. She doesn't realise she's hot and hasn't really mastered the art of a feminine allure, thanks in a large part to her job. She's looking for something different in her life, a change that brings balance in both the world below and her heart.

Death is the newest character to the story for my CG Short Film and ends up being the love interest for both Cupid and Devil, but she's no damsel in distress and could take them both on if she were to succumb to her instincts. However her resistance to Cupid has distracted her from Master Devil's hidden charms.