Josh Seal, The Tortoise and the Hare commercial story, Week 2

The Tortoise and the Hare

A Commercial for Water by Josh Seal

Plot

Going off of the classic Aesop fable of the same name, the commercial would follow the same basic storyline. The hare challenges the turtle to a race and the turtle ends up winning. However, the way that this achievement is done is completely different  for this interpretation. 

Our characters, a plump clumsy looking rabbit and a relatively slim turtle, are introduced at the very beginning. They are both have school supplies on, to show that they have just gotten out of school, and both are carrying a drink. The turtle has a bottle of water, and the hare has a can of soda. The scene opens with the rabbit hitting the turtle exclaiming that he is small and weak, and in return the turtle challenges the hare to a race to the end of their street. Laughing, the rabbit accepts the turtles challenge saying no one so small could ever beat him. 

The turtle then shrugs and takes a gulp of water from his bottle, and starts running. Still laughing, the rabbit chugs the can of soda, crushes it and speeds off after the turtle. (the process of running off should be very “looney-tuney” with a big step and then speeding off with dust cloud behind) He quickly passes him up, laughing and mocking at him as he runs past. (shows from rabbit’s perspective, that he’s running extremely fast) The turtle watches the rabbit run by but just keeps the same pace that he started with (seen from turtle’s perspective, that the rabbit just runs by). Soon though, the rabbit starts slowing down, breathing very heavily, and as he looks ahead he sees the finish line is still far away, but the turtle is far behind as well. The turtle notices the hare slowing down, but still keeps the same pace.

The rabbit slows down, completely out of energy. His ears are drooping, face and tail heavy, and breathing very heavily. Again the turtle notices, but keeps the same pace. At last the finish line is close, but the rabbit has to crawl to it he’s so tired and dehydrated. Only a few feet away, the turtle jogs past the rabbit to the finish line and wins the race. (wide shot, with the rabbit’s crawl very exaggerated and the turtle runs across the screen to win the race) With his defeat, the rabbit completely collapses on the sidewalk, with the turtle taking another big gulp of water in victory. (then the camera would look at the turtle as he says “don’t let soda slow you down!” as the slogan comes across the screen and the commercial ends)

Characters

Turtle: slim, short, nerdy

Rabbit: chubby, arrogant, clumsy

Pivotal Points

Exposition-when the two characters are introduced, with the rabbit hitting and mocking the turtle, it shows the basic outline of their relationship and how they act. 

Conflict-when the turtle challenges the rabbit to the race, and the turtle drinks water before, while the rabbit chugs a can of soda

Climax-when the rabbit starts to slow down, giving a hint that the turtle has a chance of winning

Resolution-when the turtle wins the race and takes a drink of water, saying “don’t let soda slow you down!”