Going Live idea devising

Going Live idea devising                                                                                                                22/01/23

For the Going Live module, we are assigned to come up with a concept for a short series.  Due to the requirements of the other module, I recognise that it must be feasible, simple and easily explainable.  Upon observing the portfolio of Wild Child and their previous projects adapting children's materials, they suggested that we adapt a story in the public domain, such as the Wind in the Willows.  I have previously adapted said story for my BA Final Year.  My roles for the Going Live module will be as an animator and compositor.  Admittedly, coming up with an idea that works for the project and the time we have left is pretty hard for me.  I considered submitting an idea based around a bakestore similar to Bob's Burgers but that would be completely impractical and unoriginal.  The project would need to be executed in the form of a short with a synopsis that could be explained in a sentence.  

 

Figure 1: Grasshopper and Ant: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cartoon-ant-grasshopper-illustration-98485868.jpg

The first short story that comes to me for this would be the Grasshopper and the Ant.  A simple Aesop's fable that focuses on an ant that is busy preparing for the cold winter months where food is scarce and conditions are rough, and a grasshopper who is reckless, inconsiderate and lazy.  Come winter, the grasshopper is paying for his lack of preparation, whilst the ant is warm and safe in her house.  A cartoon short series that would focus on this premise would involve some comedy-esque scenarios where the grasshopper is relaxing in the sunshine and the warm environment, whilst the ant is busy braving the elements to prepare for the future.  The ultimate aesop of the story is "always save for a rainy day".  This fable has been adapted a number of times before, and was the basis for the ants and grasshoppers conflict in A Bug's Life (1998).

Figure 2: A Bug's Life (1998) poster: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2Fmovies%2Fa-bugs-life%2F2kV0c48TF0Ea&psig=AOvVaw0bcq5Phq-RY685w58QeH17&ust=1674501999792000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCKj02pj02_wCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

 

Figure 3: Fables de La Fontaine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper#/media/File:Grandville_-_Fables_de_La_Fontaine_-_01-01_._La_cigale_et_la_fourmi.jpg

A similar aesop can be found in the Little Red Hen, which is focused on building personal initiative and hard work.  The story is that there is a hen who is growing wheat to mill into flour for bread, and she asks the other farm animals for assistance, and every time they refuse.  When the bread is finally bloomed, the hen asks if the other animals will eat the bread with her.  This time they eagerly accept, but the hen refuses as punishment for their lack of help.  This could also be a valid basis for a short cartoon, with the hen going through all sorts of escapades to get the wheat and additional ingredients for her bread, and the animals continuing to show no will to help.

 

Figure 4: The Little Red Hen: https://www.ladybirdeducation.co.uk/ladybird-books/little-red-hen/

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.

"What!" cried the Ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?"

"I didn't have time to store up any food," whined the Grasshopper; "I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone."

The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.

"Making music, were you?" they cried. "Very well; now dance!" And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.

There's a time for work and a time for play. - (Library of Congress)