Friday, June 24, 2011

Mariachi-dachi (working title) - Kevin Merriman

BETA!! best class ever? i think so.






idea 1 = A Mariachi band is hurled back through time, and they find themselves stuck in ancient Japan.

origin - was doodling about 5 years ago, and then the idea just sorta happened in my sketchbook.

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idea 2 = All wishes made at special locations are linked and can only come true if two wishes fulfill eachother.

origin - walking past some Mom telling her kid to make a wish on something he through in the pond thing next to the MOA while on my way to this very class a few days ago.. and then bouncing this experience off a friend, in regards to time travel and Mariachi bands.

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THE BIG PICTURE:

(1) a dormant wish is awakened and hurls an unsuspecting Mariachi band back through time to ancient Japan.

(2) mariachi band members struggle to hold on to their identity and play their music, since all music throughout the land has been outlawed by an evil Shogun music critic.

(3) the band discovers they must quickly end the Shogun's tasteless tyranny in order to fulfill the wish and return to their own time, before it's too late!!

(4) while the clock ticks, the individual band members scattered throughout the land must fight through all the various Shogun henchmen in order to find themselves and reunite for the final showdown with the Shogun.

(5) while defeating the Shogun, the Mariachi band witness the fulfillment of their own wishes by receiving an additional member(s) to their team, thus completing the missing components to their to-be legendary Mariachi band, thus restoring balance to the universe and the time continuum as we know it.


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STORY:

(1)
a shogun-thug with anger issues is beating up some innocent villager when suddenly, a mariachi band appears out of thin air, landing on the shogun-thug and temporarily stunning him...

(2) the shogun-thug comes to his senses, enraged. he quickly summons his underlings and challenges the band to a fight in the middle of town...

(3)
the clueless band, surrounded by onlookers, come to the conclusion that a concert is in order, and immediately break into song and dance in typical mariachi fashion. the shogun-thug believes he is being dishonored, and angrily charges at the band with his henchmen.

(4) the mariachi band unintentionally defeat the badguys with foregin hip movements, exotic instruments, and an unconventional/haphazard fighting style...

(5)
the villagers rejoice, the bad guys are defeated (one however, runs away out of fear). many wish to become disciples of this new powerful fighting philosophy (but really, it's just your run of the mill mariachi band). though victorious, the mariachi band is somewhat confused and begin to feel a bit out of place.


thanks for all the help guys!!!

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style test and stuff


(a) This is a heavily driven event story (time travel is essential)

(b) Primary Conflict - Whether the Mariachi band will fulfill a wish made from someone in ancient Japan or not.

(c) Theme - Helping yourself by helping others.

(d) Major World rules and limitations: (currently refining) time limit in time travel, nature of wish making, language/culture barriers and willingness to break through, consequences of complete and incomplete wishes,

8 comments:

  1. this could lead into a really original run of events. deciding on whether you keep the conflict low-key or high will greatly set the tone for this story, I think.

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  2. The mariachi band doesn't feel the need to learn to communicate in the same language as the Japanese. I notice a lot of latins expect others to learn their language and find it rude if you won't.

    The Mexicans might be a little ignorant but the Japanese fear them because they are so strange.

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  3. Their instruments break/can't adapt to the weather.

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  4. Any wish made in the location (a well?) can only be reversed if you use your same coin you used when making your first wish. Maybe the mariachi band wants to reverse the wish but someone has stolen the coins from the well.

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  5. The longer they are in the japanese time, they slowly lose the things that the cherish and feel define them. (Mustaches, rinestones, sombreros, etc.)

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  6. No more tequila or jose cuervo. Only sake.

    One of their band members is injured or killed, so they need to induct a japanese person into their group.

    Time limit. They must find out what they need to accomplish before time runs out for them to be able to return home. Kinda cliche, but it works.

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  7. (Younhee)
    They need all members of their band to return, at least alive and around. If one or more members are killed or go missing, they cannot return.
    (Except, maybe one of the member end up dying, but it turns out the reason they ended up in Japan was because one of the Japanese wished to be in a Mariachi band, and so by formally becoming a member of the band, the wish is fulfilled, the missing member is replaced, so they are able to return)

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