Story Outline

      A private eye sits nervously in his office, recounting the events that have brought him here. He tells the viewer how a woman hired him to tail a powerful gangster, and how against his instincts, he accepted the job. Now, the gangster has found out and is out for the private eye and the woman. Back in the office, this woman arrives and embraces the detective. A moment later, she is followed by the gangster, who is waving a revolver. A fist fight ensues and a shot rings out. The scene ends with the private eye and the woman fleeing the office and the dead gangster inside it.

Treatment Outline

      The animation will draw heavily from both the film noir genre and modern animation. The lighting will draw more from film noir, being greatly exaggerated and contrasting. Shadows will be deep and highlights will glow in post-production as if being seen through a greased lens. The colors will be smoky and slightly sepia-toned to push the 1950’s setting.

      The characters, however, will be stylized in proportion, shape, and movement, drawing on the principles of 2-d animation and character design. Character designs derive influence from Rodolphe Guenoden and classic Disney (especially 101 Dalmatians).

       Textures will be stylized as well, drawing from movies like the Incredibles, which utilized sub-surface scattering to give the characters a life-like glow without attempting to imitate real human skin. The shapes of characters will be exaggerated with sharp corners offsetting large curves and adding to the cartoony feel. Sound, and dialogue especially, will be dramatic approaching the point of satire but not crossing that point.