Seems I have a winner in "Defying the Odds!"
The Story
According to Karl Iglesias (screen writer) "A story has someone who wants something badly and is having trouble getting it". The most basic story has three main elements: a character, a goal, and a conflict.
All the conflicts we've ever seen boil down to these odd balls:
- Character vs. Character (each with opposing goals)
- Character vs. Environment
- Character vs. Self (hardest to animated because the conflict is internal. Can use symbols/body language/the environment to communicate)
For an animated short, reference is also often taken from the Hero's journey.
A short has to compress everything down. One theme, one conflict. One or two characters/locations. Only props necessary to drive the story, or populate the scene.
The inciting moment needs to happen in the first 10-15 seconds. There is usually one main character arc/change, though she doesn't always learn/change or even succeed (a big difference between what we expect of feature length films!)
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For my story I'm focusing on character vs. character. My particular man, and my sock monster. The particular man is the central character. All he wants to do is wear perfectly matching socks, but the odd creature he finds stands in the way of that.
The central theme is order (control) vs. disorder (spontanaeity) in life. It is about living with all the "odd" joyful things life throws at you and not getting stuck in your ways so that you can't see and enjoy them.
