Ok, Imagine Ernie and Bert as Lucy and Ethel in the Chocolate Factory meets Wall-E
Sunny & Gerd in ‘Training Daze’
Project origin_
Sunny & Gerd in Spring Cleaning came to life as part of the storytellers pilot program at Nimble collective’s Virtual Studio Platform now called Amazon Nimble Studio. Fall 2016 I was invited to submit a concept for short film by the founder Rex Grignon. My project was selected from a list of more than 50 applicants to be one of five to be fully funded. The film was released 2017 and garnered awards from festival around the world.
Sunny & Gerd: Training Daze is looking to explore new ground for the characters in the form of VR interactive entertainment. Establishing more S&G’s world in this new project will allow me to build the awareness by having a staging platform to show the potential of the IP and grow the audience.
I love the immersive and fully transportive power of virtual reality. I want to create an engaging, standalone interactive 3D VR piece that also serves to establish the tone of the episodic series. Sunny & Gerd in TRAINING DAZE will give us a real feel for Sunny and Gerd’s world by immersing us in their work environment. Through crafted dialogue and interactive moments we’ll feel like a part of the team and that we’re contributing to the story’s progression. I love nothing more than exploring environments, pushing buttons, pulling levers to see what happens. The idea of gaining access to forgotten secret labs and the experimental goodies that might lay within makes me giddy with excitement.
Factory Planetoid
From its humble origins as a deep space probe to amass data on colonizing space to a bustling metropolis of robotic citizenry.
Streamlining the production process would be a benefit for any project, and it’s especially beneficial for a small team. Building on the experience at Nimble, it’s logical to seek out additional powerful tools that bring efficiencies to the table. UE does this in speeding up the iterations with realtime feedback that allow deeper exploration of ideas for characters and environment.
Part of my intent is that the S&G project would show the potential of an indie creator bringing a project to the world. With the funding from Nimble I was able to work with some very talented industry creatives who helped bring Sunny & Gerd to life. For a few of the animators, this project was their first paying job out of school. Seeing them jump in with both feet eager to learn was awesome. Receiving Mega Grant funding would allow me to work with many of the artists again and also work with some new ones.
Sunny & Gerd’s Training Daze - Sub-Level Work Station Sculpted in Medium, paint over in Photoshop
Sunny & Gerd’s Training Daze - Sub-Level Work Station Sculpted in Medium, paint over in Photoshop
Project Road Map_
Funding will cover expenses for a small team for 10-12 months comprised of a dedicated UE Engineer, another concept artist, 3D Modeller, (2) 3D Animators, and Sound Designer, each being brought on at the appropriate phase. The funding would allow me to push forward on development, adding to the assets from the first short. I envision a four phase development plan. Phase one was the completion of the animated short so this submission is for Phase two.
There are two key components to what I’m building in order to achieve my goals. The first is the framework for a virtual space I’m calling the ‘Hub’. This is central jump-off point where the range of Sunny & Gerd content can be experienced and allows the delivery of additional content in the future.
The second component, the building the initial offering in the catalogue of content itself. From 3D comics, 3D animated episodic ‘skits’ and mini-games that stem from, connect and expand on each piece of content.
The plan is to release the project in VR, while elements such as the 3D comic and animated skits will also be available on mobile.
Phase Two_
Create the HUB
The HUB is the point of entry to the experience and a place to glimpse the hustle and bustle of the factory systems. As a trainee, players are free to explore the futuristic design of the hub’s different areas like the Alpha Lab, where tests on the latest inventions are performed. Or the Automat, to hang with other worker-bots on their break. They might even catch whispers of strange goings-on down on the sub-levels.
Interactive VR experience - ‘Training Daze’ (Full script linked below)
A 00:45 sec short animation ‘tag’ that picks up where the first film left off entitled ‘Next Level’ (Anamatic and storyboards linked below)
Phase Three_
The 4 mini games based of S&G’s adventures in the factory.
3D comic - ‘Earlier That Day’ Detailing Gerd’s morning leading up to the events of the short film.
Phase Four_
00:20 minute Short film. Sunny & Gerd in “Solid State”
First set of 8 short form animations ‘Skits’
The Team_
DaCosta Bayley (Concept Artist / Writer / Director)
A self-taught, robot obsessed illustrator who has been creating professionally since 1995 and currently works independently under the studio name ‘CHOCOLATE SOOP®’. He has produced designs across various media and collaborated with artists around the world, including work for major international studios and brands like Spin Master, BRON Animation, Atomic Cartoons, Hasbro, Wacom, LEGO, Nintendo, Nexon, LYFT, Sony and Google.
DaCosta’s passion and philosophy are grounded in the belief that visual art must be appealing while challenging convention, be it a toy project, an illustration, an app, or an animated film.
2016 DaCosta was invited to the Nimble Collective’s inaugural Pilot Programme. April 18, 2017 saw his Directorial debut with the short film
AWARDS: Sunny & GERD in Spring Cleaning
Best Short Animation - Los Angles Independent Film Festival - 2017
Best Short Animation - American Filmatic Arts - 2017
Honourable Mention - ONIROS Film Awards - 2017
Award of Excellence - Canada Shorts & International Shorts Film Fest. 2017
Best Animation - Peak City International Film Festival - 2017
Best Short Animation - SHORT to the Point 2017
Best short for Youth - Cinema Crianza 2018
Best in Show - PENSACON Short Film Festival - 2018
Best Animation European Cinematography - 2018
Best Short Animation - Ouchy Film Awards - 2018
Best Short Animation - Largo Film Festival - 2018
Best Short Animation - Global Film Festival - 2018
Best Short Animation - Honolulu Film Awards - 2018
Best Short Animation - Mexico International Film Festival - 2018
ROB DAVIES (Executive Producer)
PARTNER, SLAP HAPPY CARTOONS/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Rob is an award-winning series director/producer/series creator with over 30 years of animation experience, 15 of those as the founder and owner of Atomic Cartoons. His directing credits include the Warner Bros. series PINKY AND THE BRAIN (for which he won an Emmy Award) and THE ZETA PROJECT. He is also a BAFTA-nominated creator and producer on the international hit series, ATOMIC BETTY.
With creative credits on over 50 animated series, Rob brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the team.
Glen Southern (Advisor / 3D modelling)
Glen runs SouthernGFX, a small Cheshire based studio specialising in character and creature design with clients including SKY, Roald Dahl, Mackinnon and Saunders, Nike, Lenovo, Logitech, Sainsbury’s, Adidas, Netflix, Lego, Pixologic, Wacom. He's been using and training ZBrush (The leading digital sculpting program) in the UK for over 15 years and is a Xencelabs Ambassador for the UK. More recently he has been creating in the VR space working with companies like Adobe Medium and now Gravity Sketch in the UK.
His Youtube channel 'SouthernGFX' is all about helping you you create in new and innovate ways and is packed with ideas and suggestions to help you get creative in eye catching ways. Glen has been contributing to 3DWorld Magazine almost since it’s began. He and his team spilt their time between client projects, training for both corporate clients and in colleges and universities around the UK and presenting cutting edge digital tools at events.
https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernGFX/
Mike Pan (Modelling / VFX Sooparvisor)
MIKE PAN is an established member of the Blender community with 18 years of 3D graphics experience and a keen interest in VR content for edutainment. He has previously worked on 3D research projects at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Medical School. He has led a team to produce hundreds of VR scenes for Google VR Expeditions that reached millions of viewers. He has worked as a visual effects artist for shows such as Man in the High Castle and Silicon Valley. Mike also held the roll of Visual Effect Soopavisor on the Sunny & Gerd in Sring Cleaning film. In his spare time, he is an evangelist for Blender and all things VR.
http://mikepan.com
J. Aaron Kambeitz (Advisor / concept Artist)
Aaron was one of the founding members of Relic Entertainment and the acclaimed lead artist on the sci-fi classic Homeworld. Since leaving Relic in 2002, Aaron has been in high demand as an art director, concept artist and intellectual property developer. He has worked for many studios including EA and United Front Games. Aaron provides inspiration and direction for the resident concept artists, and puts the fear into their dev teams.
https://blackbirdinteractive.com
Project Summary:
Sunny & Gerd:Training Daze is positioning itself as a family friendly experience. The target audience is families who are early adopters, enthusiastic about Virtual Reality. These families love to watch movies such as Minions and Monsters Inc together and play video games like the Ratchet and Clank or Lego series. These family friendly franchises have seen great success in traditional media and I hope to bring some of that success to the VR space with Sunny & Gerd
Gerd’s steely eye of determination.
As a freelance illustrator and designer for the past 25+ years, I’ve always been of the mind to find ways to self-fund my personal projects. I love telling stories and I get completely sucked in when I’m writing stories. I’m honoured and proud of the successes with Sunny & Gerd and a large part of that success is due to the technologies available today. Unreal Engine is a perfect addition to the toolset that will allow me to push my storytelling into new spaces.
I have the drive and determination to push this project forward. Ultimately a big part of this is to make something that will draw people into Sunny and Gerd’s world, bring smiles to people’s faces and hopefully become a little part of someone's nostalgia. That's really my main driver. This isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about adding tread and seeing where the Sunny & Gerd journey takes us.
Scripts:
Storyboard for the ‘NEXT LEVEL’ sequence.
DOMOARIGATOU Mister Robotto!