OVERVIEW

This project is designed as a fictionalized PSA warning viewers to remain alert for aliens in disguise in
one’s own neighborhood. These aliens can, as this piece’s narrative tells, be distinguished by their socially
unacceptable behaviors (tipping one percent, making unreasonable requests of clients, etc.).

OBJECTIVE
To provide a humorous, aesthetically pleasing “warning” to viewers regarding the risks posed by
disguised aliens. This “warning” carries a real message encouraging the audience to remember
to express a few commonly-forgotten tenets of human decency.

Target Audience: 18-26 Y.O.

DELIVERABLES
A finished version of the project, uploaded as an .mp4 to Vimeo and shared via its associated URL.

TAPE RUNNING TIME: 45 SEC

TIMELINE
11/27-12/2: Complete pre-production and prepare all assets for animation. Record voiceover.
12/2-12/7: Animate in After Effects and render.
12/7-12/10: Put audio and animation together in Premiere, upload video to Vimeo and submit assignment.
TREATMENT
“Neighborhood Watch” conveys a lighthearted warning about aliens hiding in one’s local environment through careful
use of color, motion, and interview-style headshots bracketed by wider establishing shots. A wide variety of bright
analogous and complementary colors, in both flat layers and subtle gradients, characterize this piece’s crisp and
minimal vector animation. Transitions between characters and scenes are rapid, blurring or geometrically distorting in
and out from shot to shot. A matter-of-fact voiceover overlays a bed of quiet electronic music in a major key, allowing
text to appear only in the video’s final shot (to state the title of the piece and reiterate its theme) Aside from ambient
sweetening to unify all audio clips, no sound effects are used.

AESTHETIC RATIONALE
“Neighborhood Watch” loosely follows an artistic trend set by makers of short online educational videos - bright
and playful vector shapes representing figures and concepts, with overlying text and/or narration to tie visuals
firmly to the purpose of the video. This informal, yet clean aesthetic (mimicking some aspects of interface-based
Material Design) is meant to facilitate the wry, mock-serious carrier (inconsiderate people are aliens in disguise)
of this piece’s central message: try to match up to basic standards of human decency.
RESEARCH
A recent trend in online educational videos (such as those made by Kurzgesagt & The Infographics Show) is the extensive use of vector
art combined with non-cinematic voiceover to disseminate information in an easily-consumable, entertaining way. “Neighborhood
Watch” draws some inspiration from these videos’ aesthetic and narrative tone. This piece’s script also draws inspiration from a more
mundane source - the interpersonal interactions I see and experience every day.

My narrative is intended to gently nudge viewers towards being more considerate of others in these interactions, by likening common
thoughtless behaviors to those of dangerous space aliens. At the end of the video, voiceover and distinct visuals combine to present a
dual call to action to the audience: directly, watch out for the risks posed by aliens masquerading as humans in your neighborhood, and
indirectly, avoid the rude behaviors these aliens display.

Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i-nMWgBUp0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1i3ESnliMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU14JY3x81A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtbbBWeLCM
CONCEPT SKETCHES
SCRIPT
NARRATOR: You already know our planet can be a dangerous place. But what you may not know is that approximately 90% of the menaces we face every day don’t come from Earth at all.
ALIEN #1: I only tip 1%.
ALIEN #2: I leave my dishes in the sink.
ALIEN #3: Just make it “pop.” Oh, and we need it in an hour.
ALIEN #4: I only date models.
NARRATOR: Help keep our planet safe. Watch for signs of suspicious alien activities like these in your workplace, home and neighborhood.

STORYBOARD DESCRIPTIONS
Storyboards sequenced left to right in single rows.

Board 1: Wide shot of Earth against a starfield. Transition by zooming in to neighborhood.

Board 2: Wide shot of neighborhood at night. UFO descends in foreground, landing in the street. Transition by zooming towards houses in background, motion blur out.

Board 3: Closeup of Alien #1 in front of house, with hair covering most of face.

Board 4: Alien #1 tucks her bangs behind her ear, revealing a vertical mouth in the center of her face. Sharp cut & rapid blur out.

Board 5: Closeup of Alien #2 in a dormitory hallway, hoodie covering most of face.

Board 6: Alien #2 pushes her hoodie back, revealing glowing yellow eyes and a froglike face. Sharp cut & rapid blur out.

Board 7: Closeup of Alien #3 sitting in an executive office, looking like a regular human.

Board 8: Alien #3’s human appearance melts away from the bottom up, revealing a green turtle-like face. Sharp cut & rapid blur out.

Board 9: Closeup of Alien #4 against a park full of trees, hat shadowing his face.

Board 10: Alien #4 tips hat up, revealing three sets of black arachnoid eyes. Dip to black.

Board 11: Dip from black into the wide shot of Earth used in opening. In a plastic edit, Earth dissolves into a Neighborhood Watch logo with one pair too many eyes.

Board 12: Logo displays on screen, and the words “Alien Neighborhood Watch” fade in letter-by-letter in Rift Demi.
STORYBOARDS 1-6
STORYBOARDS 7-12
STYLE FRAMES