A young disheveled man opens an old puzzle and empties the contents over a table. He begins assembling the puzzle under a desk lamp in his dimly lit apartment. Time passes as the puzzle comes together, the pieces start to assemble an image of a busy park on a weekend afternoon. The man gets to the end of his puzzle and deflates. A single piece is missing. The missing piece creates a gap between a piece with a strolling gentleman and a piece with a golden dog; birds flying overhead; children and families enjoying their day in the sun. Defeated by the puzzle, the man goes off to bed without even a thought to turn out the lights.
The puzzle piece of the strolling gentleman sits up and looks around frantically. His companion piece is missing. On the opposite side of the missing piece, the piece with the golden dog gets up and goes to the gentleman’s side. The gentleman then too gets up and together they search from the edges of the table for their missing piece. Other pieces start to take note and join in the search. Pieces with children work together to direct the lamp like a searchlight. Birds take flight to get an aerial view of the apartment. The adult pieces work together to help the gentleman and his dog get to the ground from the table.
Once on thew ground, the gentleman and dog search far and wide for their companion puzzle piece. They spend what seems like hours checking in every corner, and under every piece of furniture. Finally, just when they are about to give in, the gentleman sees a box near the door labeled “Jenna’s Stuff.” The corners of old puzzles and games stick out of the box. The gentleman piece runs over to it, dog closely behind him. There is a slit in the edge of the box just big enough for him to fit through. There it is. A puzzle piece curled up in the corner of the box, sobbing. A piece with the image of a beautiful young woman looks up at the sound of them and rushes over to hug them. Together, they call off the search and all of the pieces return to their spot in the puzzle.
The next morning comes and the young man wakes up and returns to his spot at the table with a cup of coffee overlooking the puzzle. He runs his fingers over the place where there had been a gap the night before. The young man looks thoughtfully over the image now there: a gentleman strolling hand in hand with a beautiful young woman and her golden dog. With haste, the young man sets down his coffee, retrieves his coat and keys, and leaves his apartment.
This is a story I would like to turn into an animated short film. I am in very early stages and would like to really have a very concrete story before moving into screenwriting and story boarding. If you have any ideas on themes or ways to make the story stronger, please feel free to share.
-Critics welcome!!
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from Short Stories
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