Thinking of a title for 'Project Enzo'

Most of my animations stick to a one word title as I believe it's easier to remember. This is a tradition that I would like to keep for Project Enzo.

Currently, have a long list of potential title names but none of them feels perfect yet. Of course, I have a lot of time to decided on this so it's not really an issue.

The kind of title I'm looking for should represent the themes of escape, confinement, friendship and relate to Enzo and Bird. It'll be interesting to see if the final title does reflect these themes.

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I have recently watched two films: Big Buck Bunny and Sintel which I find amazing! They are both created using Blender instead of an expensive software such as Maya or 3DS Max and the quality of animation and visuals are awesome.

Whilst I enjoyed big buck bunny for its humour and impressive visuals (the colour palette is beautiful) I enjoyed Sintel more. This is the kind of animation project I would love to work on and it kind of reflects what I have already been aiming for in my project: A story about the bond between two characters. If you haven't watched it, head on to YouTube and check it out. It's a 15 min short film.

Connected worlds

An idea I've had for quite a while now is the use of references to past animations I've made which would pretty much function as easter eggs. Those who know my past work may be able to recognise some of the visual cues to existing work.

My ideas so far:

------References to Beyond------
- Posters of the piloted robot could be placed on one of the walls

- At the ending when Enzo looks out into the world, somewhere amongst the establishing shots a white cube
will be seen where one side of it falls out.

------References to Sentry------

- A picture of the tiny sentry bot could be placed somewhere or actually be present in physical form as a deactivated machinery where other robot parts may be kept.

- The other sentry designs could be placed somewhere as blue prints in the construction site

- A picture of the environment at the beginning of Sentry could be placed somewhere as landscape painting

------References to Beat's Audition----

- A portrait of B.E.A.T and V1RU5 could be placed somewhere as a poster for the advertising new entertainment for the Overlords

- Pieces of B.E.A.T could be stored with the tiny Sentry bot


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Of course, this will be something I'll only put in once the core animation is done.

The background of Project Enzo

The majority of the animation takes place in the mines where the slaves are forced to work day and night under the watchful eyes of the Overlords. The Overlords enjoy their superiority and will some times dish out punishment for their own amusement.

The Overlords are large robots who order the slaves around and are obsessed with obtaining all the precious ore from the mines. Their greed for riches never being satisfied.

The slaves are born in the mines and die in the mines, the dirty air they breath has no effect on them. perhaps evolution has given them immunity but for any outsiders the environment is lethal.

One bird's curiosity to enter the mines will change everything...

A friendship will form and grow...

and for the first time in the history of these mines, one slave will escape to see the outer world...

This is the second setting of the animation, which will be pretty fun to create and render out. It will feature gigantic plants and flowers and a surreal landscape. Instead of the reds and oranges of the mines it will showcase greens and blues in contrast.

Although most of the animation takes place in the mines, the design will gradually change. What starts off as a very rocky, natural cave will evolve into a facility like environment with small remnants of the caves remaining. Metallic rooms will be present instead of the large mining caves.

A film about Power, Greed and Slavery

This post will focus on the themes of power, greed and slavery that will be explored in 'Project Enzo'.
Whereas my previous theme related post focused on friendship which reflected the story of Enzo and the bird, these themes are the existing themes present in the world of Project Enzo. They are represented by the intimidating Overlords.

Rule 1: Overlords are the masters!

Primarily set in the underground mine world, the Overlords are the rulers whilst Enzo and his species are slaves. The Overlords are fond of  valuable ore that are found in the mines, the feeling of superiority and dishing out unnecessary punishment to the slaves for their own amusement.

Rule 2: Overlords are happy as long as they get richer

These themes are already in place and make the world seen in the animation. It is this group of themes that will become obsolete by the end of the animation thanks to a simple frienship between a bird and a slave name Enzo.

A film about friendship

This post will focus on the theme of friendship that will be explored in 'Project Enzo'.

The protagonist, 'Enzo', and 'Bird' will meet each other early in the film and become friends, willing to protect each other from any harm. Enzo is a slave working in the underground mine world when he is introduced to Bird, who gradually teaches him how to enjoy his life and smile.

Enzo attempts to smile for the first time; thanks to his new friend, Bird.

 Indebted to Bird, he must now return the favour by releasing his small friend to the outside world when the atmosphere turns poison.

One of my goals for this film is to successfully show their friendship and how far a friend can go to save the other.