Whacky Racing Animation (dont knock it!)

Started by AntiDumbFrogQuestion, October 07, 2004, 04:20:28 AM

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AntiDumbFrogQuestion

I was just curious for some suggestions or tips on how to do this:

For a small project, this being my Senior year of college, I thought 'It's about damn time I do some animation!!"
I'm ok at working on Flash and can definitely do character design and concept.  Writing? Heh, uhm....
But please try and help me, because more ideas= always good!

The Idea is using those stupid-ass, Wacky Race/Yogi's Space Race cartoons as a spring board for a more modern, less cutesy yet still "fuckin' funny" Racing film.  It's set in a futuristic world where the characters race across multiple dimensions as opposed to interstate/planetary.  There are full teams, teams of two, and single drivers. Winners recieve a decades worth of 1/2 off coupons for Tim Horton's!
 Their vehicles are uber-quirky to the point of non-feasible, and uber-bombastic (like when Huckleberry Hound had a lounge chair on top of his ship!). In fact, the vehicles are hardly the problem for me, just the story.
I want to do at least 10 minutes worth of work (and yeah, that probably means alot of static images who turn away from the viewer when they talk!!! WHEE!!!!!)  
As for the Tone, I want it to have that 'lame on purpose' feel, yet with biting humor, like an Adult Swim cartoon.

So far I've got some characters wit deys quirks:

- the H2Mobile: driven by character who wants to prove her car is Aquatic but never gets the chance to in the sundry dimensions
- 'Cranky'- A guy who accidentally gets into the race on the way to work and doesn't know how to get out of it
- The Zebra Team: Genetically mutated Zebras who...no, that's all really
- The Clone Team and the Crow Team: Both ran by fellows who think the other is ripping his idea off of having Henchmen. One has generic Clone Henchmen, the other has a murder of Crows as Henchmen.
- Rainbow and Ashy- Two guys who seem like Antagonists (Rainbow has the infamous HandleBar moustache!) but their only crime is robbing stores along the races' route for panchos.

So maybe you can get how this is random and goofball.
I plan to write in a few parts where one character tries to sabotage the race for another with dumb inventions. Just not sure how to make that NOT seem cliche.

I just ask for what anyone would look for in a 'Thinking Man's' race movie and still make it funny without being too damn superficial.  What about the folks who think those race movies are terrible? I kind of did until recently.
Seriously, what would YOU look for in this type of movie to draw you in with your specific tastes?

Aight, I hope somebody can choose to respond to this with positive feedback, and even if you have something negative to say, shoot for it. This be an open-MuthaFuckin'-forum.

Other sources of racing idea: The Great Race, It's A Madx5 World (I'm Lazy), Rat Race.

K,Cool?Thanks!

Recce

You should watch Death Race 2000. It's not anime, but it might give you some ideas. You've completely ignored the more adult oriented but nevertheless hilarious possibility of mindless violence in your film. Do you plan on drawing this or is it stop-animation type stuff?
"The idea had been growing in my brain for some time: TRUE force. All the king's men
                        cannot put it back together again." (Travis Bickle, "Taxi Driver")

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: AntiDumbFrogQuestion- The Clone Team and the Crow Team: Both ran by fellows who think the other is ripping his idea off of having Henchmen. One has generic Clone Henchmen, the other has a murder of Crows as Henchmen.
Have you seen The Triplets of Bellville?

AntiDumbFrogQuestion

hah yeah, I've seen Triplets of Belleville. I came up with most of those ideas about 6 months ago.

BTW, Mindless violence is a GREAT idea!  We do plan on having those moments where boobie-traps are set up (even pointing out the oft-ignored fact that whoever went ahead to set up those traps was winning initially).  
The animation will most likely be done using Flash, since it's a more organized way of piecing together the work, yet most of the drawings will be done by hand and scanned. After this they'll be colored and 'inked'. It also gives it a more solid feel to the look of the images and is the 'way of the future'.  Some of the best flash can be found, of all places, at www.happytreefriends.com, where they have done work that is quite fluid for the limits of technology.