This story cosiders what would happen if artificially intelligent robot workers began to gain something like independance, and looks at how humans would respond to it. At the same time I was considering how the goals we sometimes aim for, no matter how important they may seem, often lead us back to where we started.Â
The animation development was really frustrating because talented people who wanted to be involved didnt end up doing anything due to other commitments, probably. I kept working on it anyway hoping to finish it before my student Maya subscription expired, but I didnt get there. Maybe I will be able to import the files into blender at some stage and complete it. The other option is to do it as a 2D animation. I like the story so hopefuly I will sort it out one day.
Below is the work that I did on it anyway, I started with a blank room and just kept filling it up with the scene components, developing and rigging the robots, and then created a very rough animatic. The story, and the animatic doesnt make alot of sense at the moment, partly due to the rough animation, but mostly because the ending is when you find out why all this is happening, and I didnt get that far.
FADE IN:
INT.LOUNGE ROOM.DAY
POV MR.185 slowly awakes, his eyes zoom in and out as he tries to focus. He notices a robot foot (or hand) and looks along the appendage to see the face of a fembot sitting next to him.
INT.LOUNGE.MEDIUM.DAY
We see a MED SHOT of both of the bots as he gives her a bit of a shake to try and wake her.
INT.LOUNGE.WIDE.DAY
He gets up, composes himself,and POV MR.185 looks around the room. He finds himself in a living area of an apartment, lightly lit by skylights above him. He sees a picture in a frame on a wall to his right.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
At closer inspection, the picture is of him and her together, he is wearing a tophat, she is wearing a brides headress. He pauses for a moment, maybe he is wondering why their eyes are closed. As he looks at it, 'love is in the air' softly crackles over speakers above him, he looks at them, then looks at the picture again.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
He zooms in on the hands in the picture and notices he is wearing a gold ring. Looking at his own hand, which at first appears to be huge. he zooms out and sees that he is indeed wearing it.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
He looks POV MR.185 at MS.296 slumped on the floor.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
He is wide eyed and surprised as he looks at her. 'Love is in the air' begins to play and he looks up towards the source of the sound.
INT.LOUNGE.POV MR.185.DAY
He notices a speaker on the wall.
INT.LOUNGE.MED SHOT.DAY
He moves over to MS.296 Pausing for a moment to admire her beauty, she seems to glow slightly as he does. Shrugging it of, he focuses again on his wife, checking out her control panel.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
He checks her battery, she has no power, he checks his own and finds that his charge is fine. He flips up a panel on his control panel and pulls out a retractible power cord which he plugs into her panel. Her battery level changes for a moment then drops to nothing again.
INT.LOUNGE.CLOSE.DAY
He looks around the room and notices a power point. He plugs it into the wall socket and he flicks the switch, nothing happens. He plugs his own cord in, and still nothing happens.
INT.LOUNGE.WIDE.DAY
He tries a light switch, nothing. He tries the door, it is locked. He looks towards a set of stairs.
EXT.STAIRS.WIDE.DAY
The cam BOUNCES THROUGH, as he passes a series of photos showing them in various places as he walks up the stairs. A photo of him with his wife, wearing a dux hat and holding a diploma is the first one. Once again they have their eyes closed.There are certificates on the wall, and newspaper clippings of their achievements. He arrives at the top of the stairs and pauses to take in his environment.
INT.WORKSHOP.WIDE.DAY
He arrives at A well used workbench covered with tools and mechanical bits and peices. There are tools, mechanical bits and pieces here and there, and a well used workbench. The plans are technical, and he is surprised when he realizes that they are intructions describing an invention, that may be able to power a robot. He stops at the page showing the device being lowered into position via a wheel with a handle on it. Looking up from the page, he sees the wheel. Going over to it, he turns it and when he does, More light shines in and a contraption slowly moves itself into position.
INT.WORKSHOP.CLOSE.DAY
He races back over to the workbench to look at the other pages, and realizes that the design is unâfinished, there seems to be a page missing. He frantically goes to work, studying them. He picks up a pen and ruler, pauses momentarily to switch on the radio that softly plays 'eye of the tiger', he nods in agreement with the automatic selection and sets to work completing the missing page.
INT.WORKSHOP.CLOSE.DAY
The music level mysteriously gets louder in volume as he begins to repair the contraption. As it turns out it was only one repair, a large fuse had fallen out of the contraption and was lying on the floor, he fits it in with a flick of his wrist and its ready to try.
INT.WORKSHOP.CLOSE.DAY
He crosses the room and returns with his wife, strapping her into the machine. He climbs in himself and begins to pedal, slowly at first then gradually begins to build up speed. He notices sparks appearing and pedals as fast as he can go. Then bam, a massive jolt of power goes through everything.
INT.WORKSHOP.CLOSE.DAY
The final design he had drawn up catches on fire, the fusefalls back out and onto the floor, both robots are thrown onto the floor, and the machine returns to its original position.
FADE OUT:
