How a rejected idea leads to a new one
A couple of years ago I worked on a pitch for a DAF Trucks Christmas short, back when I was half of Matte! Nande?. The premise we came up with was sort of Christmas Candyland meets William Friedkin’s Sorcerer: a tenseful truck journey as imagined by a child. One of the possible ideas I did pitch sketches of was the truck being chased by a giant snow monster on a narrow mountain path. The client loved the overall premise, but was clear on one thing: no monsters. So this shot had to go.
I still wanted there to be a feeling of a presence of giant creatures in this world. So I started imagining ways to convey that without seeing them. What could be a non-violent result of them having been there? The image of a field of giant snowmen that had been built by them appeared in my head. I grabbed my sketchbook, a brush and some ink and quickly doodled it down. This idea got approved.
On slide 2 you can see I tried scribbling some alternative, more dramatic compositions of the shot. But the most simple version worked best to convey a mysterious atmosphere.
I like how that atmosphere invites the viewer’s imagination to fill in the complete story. The happy & weird vast landscape (hopefully) evokes questions like: “what impossibly big, possibly abominable creatures built these giant snowmen?”, allowing the viewer’s mind to wander off into their own imaginative answers.
As you can see, the idea of the truck having to drive up a narrow mountain path also made it in. A simplified version without too much going on worked best here as well.
This animated short was one of my favorite productions co-created during my time at Matte! Nande?. The premise was so much fun to sketch ideas and storyboards for. You can check the resulting animated short below. It’s never too early to get in the Christmas mood! Especially with these current summer temperatures.
I collaborated on this project with Douwe Beckmann🤍, Wijnand Driessen and Robert Jung of Dreikelvin Media & Sound.
🖤
Matty
