I know, I know, Mr. LegOpinion's got a collaboration in the works as well, but I thought I'd offer an alternate collaborative effort.

Some of you know I usually do a Holiday video, primarily to entertain the co-workers at our annual potluck.  I've juggled with this one idea last year but put it off and went with the hot button Global Recession issue instead.  I think this time, I'll go with the following.

Premise
Take your average generic gift that usually ends up being regifted--be it a Coffee grinder, sweater, fruitcake, or a gift card to Circuit City or Mervyns.  Where does it go?  How many handoffs does it go through?  How many birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and special occasions does it venture into before it finally settles on someone who actually uses it?  Or does it keep getting passed on?

Idea (Revised Nov. 2, 2010)
I want to make a music montage that follows a regifted present (socks in our case) as it starts with Person A giving Person B the present, Person B regifts it to the next person and it goes on from person to person, event to event, over the course of a yet-to-be-determined song or music until it comes back to the initial pair with Person B giving Person A the present and Person B gets into the awkward position of being caught regifting his present back to the giver.

This idea feels better suited as a stop-motion video, not CGI, but my collection of minifigs are limited and most are dented with teethmarks (old 90s minifig heads tend to have those).  So I thought I'd propose it as a collaborative investment instead.

Collaboration
There's really no script involved.  You, the animator, set up a gift exchange scenario (birthday, Valentines, housewarming, Christmas, any gift-giving occasion, etc.) and shoot the character reaction (preferably from the perspective of the present inside the gift wraps but it can also be shot from an observer's point of view).  The sock doesn't have to be shown but if you wish to, but don't have the sock tile piece, it can be substituted with a tan colored 1x2 tile as long as we get the idea that it is the sock.

The entire video would be no longer than 2-3 minutes in length.  Each person's clip should be short, no longer than 15 seconds long.

Depending on the song/music (I'm opened to suggestions) and the number of clips, the clips would be chopped up and piece together to fit with the pacing of the song/music.

Possible gift exchange scenarios

• Teenager expected to get an Xbox, got a sock instead.  Reacts.

• Birthday girl gets a sock.  Tries to light it on fire over the birthday cake.

• A priest, a minister and a rabbi at a bar.

• Kid unwraps a gift and starts to cry.

• Dog and human play tug-o-war over sock.

• Violent argument between husband and wife on their anniversary

• Jewish kid getting socks for all 8 days, one of those days he gets something different by mistake and its swapped back for the sock.

• Workplace Secret Santa

• Baby shower

• Wedding gifts

• Man receives gifts and has an attitude about the giver's stinginess

• Christmas

• Birthday

• Mother's day

• Father's day

• Valentines

• I'm sorry

• Get well soon

• Graduation

• Easter

• Bar mitzvah

• Baby shower

• Bridal shower

• Wedding

• Christening

• End-of-year (or project) bonus

• Retirement

• Housewarming

• Summer/Winter Solstice

• Inheritance

• Aid package

More to come.

Minimum Requirements from Animators:

• Decent animation (You don't have to have skills like KG or MindGame, but don't be a newbie, either).

• 15 fps minimum

• Consistent lighting (try not to have noticeable flickers)

• Acceptable microphone quality

• Widescreen 16:9

• 1280x720 minimum resolution

Beyond that, you're free to be as creative as you want.  It can be any occasion, you're not limited to just the December holidays.  It can also be shot at any angle from the gift box's perspective.  0:59 of this video is the shot I want to see.  If you want to attempt the tearing of the giftwraps on set, that's fine as well.

Let me know you're interested and post song/music suggestions (I'm trying to avoid Big Music Industry owned music, so keep that in mind).

======================================================

Collaborators

Animators
Jargon*†
Danimation*
EddieHasscle†
Daniel
Just Kidden
VIM
BGanimations
Hazzat
TG-Tom

Verifying Contributors

*Verifying desire to animate
†Meeting Requirements pending

Scenes (to avoid some repetitions)
-Starting Exchange and Ending Exchanging sequence (Covered by goldencamerastudios)
-Kid unwraps a gift and starts to cry (Just Kidden)
-Teenager gets socks instead of Xbox (Just Kidden)
-Sinterklass (TG-Tom)
-Get well gift at hospital (Daniel)
-Valentine's Day (Hazzat)
-Easter (BGanimations)
-Stingy giver (VIMStudios)

Consecutive Sequence Teams (For when the gift goes from Person A to B, B to C, etc)
-Placeholder
-Placeholder

Music/Song
"Enter the Party" by Kevin MacLeod

DEADLINES
Primary scene (common giftgiving events): December 4, 2010
All other scenes including Back up Animators: December 20, 2010

Last edited by Lechnology (December 2, 2010 (06:19pm))