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Emmanuel: The TV series

For the TV series, I have chosen to work on Emmanuel.

Emmanuel is a mini-series that is set around the Christmas period; it's about a teenage blogger named Joel Timms who wants to shed light on the world on the real meaning of Christmas (the birth of Jesus) to a modern yet materialistic world.

Being a family-friendly program, it is mainly aimed at children up from the ages of 10 upwards, however, audiences of all ages can equally watch the series. Furthermore, being a Christian-based program, the Gospel message plays a vital role in the short animated series, as the focus is on the birth of Jesus Christ and the reason for why it happened, and how it impacts the society today. The reason why I have chosen this genre for the TV series is that others through animation can be more aware of the Gospel message and eventually accept it. Additionally, the message behind every animation is what makes any production good or bad; and animation should be enjoyed by all viewers of all ages.

While still strongly maintaining such vital part, I have to take the audience into consideration in order to make the Christian message understandable to all audiences without diluting it. An example of an animation that has beautifully executed both areas is Theo Presents by Michael Joens.



STORY CONCEPT & REFERENCE

Since the story is set during the Christmas period, there are several themes that will be discussed and addressed in the miniseries, among those is the birth of Jesus Christ. Other themes that follow include faith, hope and love. Subjects that will be addressed in the series include materialism which has been a major issue in the present world.

Reference-wise, the plot line is somehow taken from Chocolate Underground, an anime series based on the BBC's children miniseries Bootleg. This will serve a strong reference point to the storyline for Emmanuel.

BBC's Bootleg (2002)



Chocolate Underground (2008)

CHARACTERS

Main Character(s)
Joel Timms
A 16-year old blogger who always looks forward to celebrating Christmas because of the birth of Jesus Christ. Level-headed and optimistic, Joel sees all obstacles as bridges and hopes to share the Gospel to the world.

Supporting Characters
Asher Kingston
Joel’s best friend since primary school.
Jade Yamamoto
A 17-year old high school student whose parents are materialistic when comes to events such as Christmas and Easter.
Matthew Leonard
A pastor.

Antagonistic Characters
Mayor Ron Calloway
A cold-hearted, evil yet bitter mayor who seeks to attack all Christians, but nobody seems to know why.
Heston Arrows

A special agent working for the mayor.



ENVIRONMENT SETTING REFERENCE




The story is set in a modern but rustic village-like town called Springmount Oak. While it will have rustic houses, there will be city-like buildings in the town square. I'm going to be using a combination of animated and realistic references including Prato Della Valle which is a town square located in Italy. Due to the timeline setting, Springmount Oak will be covered with snow.


SERIES LENGTH

Being a miniseries, Emmanuel will not be a lengthy animated program; rather it will have a minimum amount 13 episodes, each of them with a timeline of 5-7 minutes; the last episode will be set during the latter end of Christmas Eve towards Christmas Day.

While keeping an economical time length is important in this production, it is important to strongly maintain the Christian message throughout the entire short series.

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