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Story
About True Treasure
True Treasure is a 3D animated short with six human characters, a sea serpent, two grand pirate ships, an ocean that is technically impossible, and 2D animated effects. Our film is about the ‘true treasure’, and no it's not silver and gold, it's about love. We all have our own personal treasures whether it’s money, electronics, or even stuffed animals. It is easy to get distracted by our own desires and to lose sight of the people around us.
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Though Bonnie and Jordan are rivals, about to kill one another in the first 30 seconds of the film, Bonnie shows incredible empathy to Jordan and her crew when they are in danger. She sacrifices her greatest desire -the treasure- to offer Jordan her hand and save them. We then see Jordan immediately return the favor by taking a hit from the serpent in Bonnie's place. Together, they are able to put their differences aside to defeat the sea monster and save all aboard.
One of the first things we did as a team was rework the entire story. Using our story beats, each person on the team drew a section of the storyboards, regardless of drawing skill. From there, our concept artists continued to refine the boards with team's feedback and collaboration.
With only 3 minutes for an entire story arch and character growth, a lot of concepts had to be cut. One of the largest cuts was the story arc of Jordan being a woman disguised as a man, similar to her inspiration, Mary Read. In the original plot, Jordan's shirt is ripped open revealing her to Bonnie. After the defeat of the serpent, there would be an intimate scene between Bonnie and Jordan, where Jordan chooses not to go back into hiding. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to represent this idea properly, so the concept was cut.
