At the company's monthly meeting, Rossi and Sammy, as team representatives, handed over the results of months of hard work.
Since the company has no big plans in the near future, and it is only a short animation of less than ten minutes, they were 'lucky' to get a valuable opportunity to preview it in front of the management.
This preview was not so formal.
The short animations produced by ordinary employees alone, although courageous, do not necessarily have any commercial value.
So, for the vast majority of people in management, this can only be regarded as a little relaxation after a busy work.
On that day, the 'audience' who attended the brief preview included:
Norris, the manager of the film and television entertainment department, is a rare middle-aged man in the management who is out of shape. He loves fitness in his spare time. He has just returned from a vacation in Hawaii not long ago. He has tanned skin and always has a bright smile on his face. People in the company are good.
He should be regarded as Sammy's immediate boss. Although the company has been severely exploiting and oppressing the lower-level employees, he is someone who takes care of the employees in his own department. And the reason why Sammy and the others were able to form a team to make animations, and now they can show the finished animations, all depends on his insight and full support;
There is also Fabian, the representative of the Legal Department, a man with a grim face.
This man is very capable, but has a ruthless personality. If he's your teammate, be lucky! Because he can help you solve some legal problems, even if you are on the edge of the law, he can give you the most reliable support. But once he becomes an enemy, he will definitely make people sleepless;
Ed, the manager of the marketing department, is a snob on the bright side.
He can even get down on his knees and lick your shoes if you make a big hit, but if yours doesn't get a hit, he'll quickly turn into an extremely mean villain;
The beautiful Helena of the International Affairs Department, the dream lover of all male employees in the company, is smart, capable, gentle and amiable;
Wesley from the experience and consumer products department, a beautiful man in the fat world, but his definition of love is very different. If the legal definition of marriage can be relaxed a little bit, he should be more willing to marry Mickey Mouse .
In addition, there are some emerging online new media, as well as important staff in charge of theme park business and so on.
But generally speaking, the work of each department has overlapping and overlapping parts, and the main decision-making people in the company are the above people.
At this time, a very boring meeting that lasted for more than two hours had just ended, and everyone was a little tired.
They sat in the screening room with no expression, because they didn't have any expectations for this short animation, so they didn't pay attention to the screening of the animation, but took the time to continue to discuss some work issues in the second half of the year in a low voice.
This kind of indifferent atmosphere is a bit embarrassing for many animators.
But Sammy is not surprised by this, because since joining the company, his creativity has not been recognized, and he is used to sitting on the bench for a long time.
At this time, Norris, the boss of his department, who is also the head of the film and television entertainment department, may have noticed them, and he came over and said jokingly: "Although I have confidence in you, if I wait for the screening to start, I will not even have three minutes. If you want to go out to the toilet without holding on to it, then it must be a bad work."
Sammy rolled his eyes silently, desperately wanting him to go to the toilet early, or tell him a relatively scientific reason: 'If you can't bear the remaining minutes, then it's not that it's bad, it's you The urinary system is very bad, please seek medical advice as soon as possible. '
In the end, however, he said nothing.
Well, actually Sammy doesn't have much confidence in the stuff he's made.
No one (except some super narcissists) can say 'my stuff is the best' from the start.
From the beginning, all Sammy wanted was to express himself, because he just liked telling stories, he liked to draw quirky cartoon characters, he liked to scare people, and he liked warriors slaying dragons.
So, his animation process has always been a natural process.
If the audience likes it, that's great, killing two birds with one stone; but if the audience doesn't like it, it's normal to be disappointed.
There are no two identical leaves in the world, and naturally there are not two people who have exactly the same ideas and preferences.
It is only when there are differences and differences that the brilliance lies.
Different views will make different voices, and different voices will make the world that should be desolate become lively. Think about it, it would be the most terrifying end of the world if everyone in the world looked the same and said the same thing one day.
Sammy hates everything fixed and institutionalized.
And this is also shown in the animation by him without any concealment...
When no one was paying attention, "Who Killed the Dragon" quietly began to show.
That's right.
Sammy changed the animation's title from "Kill the Dragon" to the current "Who Killed the Dragon".
Although Mai Qilong thought incomprehensibly that there was no difference between the two names, they were both killing dragons.
But Sammy believes that the latter is more moderate in terms of emotional color than the former, and it is less aggressive and will be easily accepted by (deceived) people.
Because this group is what the director says.
In the end, the name became like this.
Now, the audience sitting in the front row of the screening room raised their eyes inadvertently, and just saw the title of the animation clearly.
A few apparently simple words like "Who Killed the Dragon" appeared calmly and abruptly on the big screen.
It was a crooked line of naive fonts that looked like children's graffiti, but the color was as dark as blood. As soon as it appeared on the black background, it showed an indescribable feeling of depression and weirdness.
"It's kind of interesting."
Norris, the head of the film and television entertainment department, touched the unshaved stubble on his chin and said to himself, "But it's so different from the company's style."
Sitting next to him, Ed, the head of the marketing department, was obviously less eclectic.
He immediately frowned displeasedly, looking very disapproving: "The children won't like it."
But the next moment, the lively music sounded, and every syllable seemed to be dancing in a circle, putting on wings and flying into the air...
This made the viewers couldn't help laughing, and their hearts were relieved, thinking that the weird beginning just now might just be a grandstanding gimmick, and the nature of the animation should still be very relaxed.
But the background on the screen suddenly changed, and a super simple black and white background cemetery appeared again. It's like cutting out some old cardboard.
At the head here, there are many small graves with crosses on them. It may be that the post-processing of cartoons is specially done, and each one of them looks round and cute, but it still cannot hide the fact that this is a grave bag in a cemetery, and the grave bag will have dead people buried in it.
"What is this, can you show it to the children?" Ed from the Marketing Department muttered even more angrily.
He complained to Norris: "I told you already, that Sammy in your creative department has a completely abnormal brain, and the dragon slaying submitted last year was bloody and violent, very bad, you are still willing to do it Give him a chance to experiment."
Norris smiled as always, and patiently reassured: "After reading it, we will talk about it after reading it."
With just these two sentences, on the screen, a white grave with a black background cracked open, as if some monster opened its mouth, and a small skeleton jumped out of the grave.
At the same time, the narration of the animation also sounded:
[Mosley is a warrior who says he has killed dragons. ]
Accompanied by the soft narration, the little skeleton wielded a tattered knife lively, and the two bony legs, which were swayed, jumped with the music, making a subtle sound of bones colliding. In its hollow eye sockets, two red flames were burning.
The camera moved slowly, and a small house inhabited by humans appeared strangely not far from the cemetery.
A clay doll boy appeared on the screen, sitting quietly in the yard, with a strange appearance, a triangular head, round raised eyes, a rectangular body and two rectangular legs, strange but cute.
[Eight-year-old Mosley, also named Mosley, has an older brother named Matt. ]
[Matt is disobedient, but Mosley is mommy's good baby. ]
The clay figures on the screen sat upright, showing an obedient side.
And in the corner of the screen, a black figure representing his mother was ferociously tugging at the ear of another puppet.
[The adults will lock the disobedient Matt in the house. ]
There was a loud "bang" closing sound from the speakers!
The black figure representing an adult locked the little doll named Matt into the room. The little doll showed only a small head through the window, with a very blank expression.
[The adults then speak to the obedient Mosley...]
Eight-year-old Mosley was motionless, sitting more upright.
The black figure representing the grown-up became so large on the screen that it almost completely enveloped the puppet Mosley.
Waving his arms violently like a mantis waving his arms, shaking his body amidst the odd music and narration.
[Mosley, Mosley. ]
[No matter what you hear, don't go out. ]
[The dragon is wandering outside the house. ]
[Its howls will make you cry and make you bleed. ]
A larger black shadow appeared, as if it were a giant dragon.
Then, the shadow that symbolized adulthood disappeared.
The narration continued:
[But Mosley is actually not obedient, he is more rebellious than his brother Matt. ]
[He has a good friend who is Skull Mosley. ]
[Eight-year-old Mosley bravely walks out the door with Skull Mosley when others don't know. ]
[Work together to kill the dragon. ]
The music then became exciting.
The little doll and the little skeleton ran and jumped on the screen, waving the knife, all kinds of crackling sounds sounded, the tattered big knife slashed, there would also be screams and the color of red symbolizing blood, with the overall black and white background, clearly It's supposed to be dark, but it's magically uplifting to watch.
[People think I'm crazy, but I protect everyone. ]
[I struggle to run into the distance, and the dragons scream in pain under my knife. ]
[Evil dragon! I will tear you apart and let you go. ]
[You can never hurt anyone again. ]
[I am Mosley, the dragon slayer! ! ]
[Even if the fear makes me tremble, the dragons scream in pain under my knife. ]
[You can never hurt anyone again. ]
[You can never hurt anyone again. ]
"What the hell is this?"
Ed from the Marketing Department finally couldn't help but ask.
On the screen, the little dolls and skeletons in the black and white background continue to run and jump, as if they are fighting fiercely with the invisible dragon. The movements are exaggerated, funny, and very cute.
But for Ed, who pays attention to the commerciality of products, this still cannot hide the ignorance of the plot.
There was dead silence in the screening room.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.
"Well, how long does it take to end?" Ed asked again impatiently.
"Just a few minutes." Wesley from the product department laughed from the side: "Actually, look closely, the doll and the little skeleton are quite cute."
But then it was even worse!
The music got lower and lower, and the little doll and the little skeleton happily ran back to the previous human house. Then, the little doll slammed its head into the adult's lap.
Noticing this plot twist, the 'amateur' audience in the screening room finally paid some attention.
But what I never expected was that the plot began to take a sharp turn from here!
The voice of the narrator is still calmly reciting:
[Mosley, who sneaked out disobediently, was found. ]
[He said: I am going to kill the dragon and protect everyone. ]
[The adults laugh: There are no evil dragons in the world, it was made up to deceive you. ]
[Mosley says: Yes, I killed a lot of dragons with Skeleton Mosley. ]
[The adults said: There is no skeleton, no dragon, there is only one Mosley in the world, and that is you bad boy. ]
[The disobedient Mosley, like his brother Matt, is locked up. ]
On the screen, the little doll Mosley and the little skeleton Mosley are standing face to face in an empty room.
[Mosley asks lonely: Are you there, Mosley? ]
[As long as you still believe in me, I will be here. ]
[Skull Mosley rattles his bones, and two clusters of flames burn warmly in the hollow eye sockets. ]
[But it can't make a sound, it's just a little skeleton. ]
[The next day, the adults appear. ]
[They bring food to Mosley, and say sternly: There are no dragons in the world, so check your disobedience. ]
[Mosley pushes his arms through his hair sadly and says to himself: Are you there, Mosley? ]
[Little Skull Mosley continues to swipe his bones hard, the flames flickering in the hollow eye sockets, but still can't make a sound. ]
[Day 3… ]
[Day 4… ]
[Mosley is increasingly restless and lonely, like a puppy abandoned in a rubbish heap. ]
[He starts to waver: Are you there, Mosley? ]
[The little skeleton moved the bone arm with difficulty, trying to respond, but the arm snapped and fell to the ground. ]
[It stares blankly at its bony arm, silently. ]
[The day has finally come. ]
[Mosley's tears fall like crystal dew drops from withered rose petals: dragons are made up, there are no dragons in the world. ]
[The small skeleton makes a broken sound, the red flame in the hollow eye socket instantly extinguishes, and the bones fall apart. ]
[It crackles to the ground, turning into a rotting pile of white dust. ]
[The adults open the door, and the bright, brilliant sunlight bursts in. ]
[They swarm in, along with his brother Matt, hugging Mosley warmly, stroking his head, and complimenting him: Good boy, you're a good boy now. ]
[Mosley shows the same smile as them: yes, I'm sensible, there are no dragons in the world. ]
[A gust of wind blows, and the white dust left by the little skeleton Mosley disappears. ]
Everyone in the screening room: ... ? ?