Inspiration 1: Cbeebies Bedtime Stories
I fondly remember the CBeebies bedtime stories where a celebrity, actor or an actor playing a role that they play. I recently revisited this programme when David Tennant recently went on playing his role of The 14th Doctor from Doctor Who.
It usually features a frame by frame animation with sometimes hand drawn pictures, It also usually features a slow frame rate to not stimulate the brain too much before sleep.
It always attempts to teach a lesson to enrich and develop young minds. Teach right from wrong and that sometimes there are neither, that in the world there are people that disagree and that this doesn’t mean either is wrong.
I hope to emulate life lessons that the show uses to develop children in to great people.
Inspiration 2: Studio Ghibli
As a teenager I would get bored often flicking through TV channels until I’d give up. However one day I switched over to the Film 4 channel and the film Howl’s Moving Castle was on. I thought I’d give a go as it was only five minutes in and I was still there nearly two hours later when it finished. And when the credits roll I made note of the name of the studio that produced it; Studio Ghibli.
After this I kept a close eye on the Film 4 schedule to ensure I didn’t miss the next showing of a Studio Ghibli film, since then I have been able to watch more work of the studio like Spirited Away, Ponyo, The Cat Returns and most importantly the first five minutes of Howl’s Moving Castle.
I loved the moral lessons the films taught and the beautiful animation and I can only hope to emulate the amazing work this studio produced.
Inspiration 3: The Pokémon Anime
The Pokémon Anime was an important part of my childhood and adolescence , the value of friendship and the endless determination of Ash has stuck with me for years.
A episode that has stuck with me since I first saw it is The Semi-Final Frontier! In which Ash faces Tobias a trainer that conquered the entire Sinnoh League with the legendary Darkrai in a 6V6 battle. Ash’s first two Pokémon go down quick but when he brings Septile to the battle it’s speed, Ash’s strategy and faith in his friend is what allows them demonstrate their true strength and defeat Darkrai. Showing that any insurmountable obstacle can be overcome through the bonds we create with each other.
But the key thing that sticks with me is learning that the best of us can be flawed and make mistakes but that it helps us grow. That is what I want my main character to go through, a failure that helps them grow.
Sublime Theros 