Kiwianna

This semester we have been working on our own personal projects. I have decided to create my own animated web series. The web series that I am developing will be intended for New Zealand children from the ages of 9 - 12 years old and will contain 100% "kiwi" content. A majority of children's cartoon and television series shown in New Zealand, come from America and everything about them screams out America. New Zealand children need more exposure to things that are iconically kiwi including cartoons and television shows. I am creating a web series because viewing things online is fast becoming the way that everybody views videos, their favourite television shows and even films. Viewing these things online, means that the viewer is able to have control over when and where they can watch these videos, shows and films.

Kiwianna logo design

Kiwianna is not only the name of this web series but is also the name of the town that the series is based in. Kiwianna is an average sized town where there is little opportunity for young people to progress and there is also not many good activities for young people to participate in and so once you have done each activity in Kiwianna that is all there is to do.

The characters are humanoid New Zealand native birds and animals. They have no human attributes though. Their legs have been extended to make them walk upright like a human and their wings have been lengthened to make them work like arms, hands and fingers. The characters have been influenced by the character designs of Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show.

 Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show

The style of this web series will be having 2D animated characters with black outlines and solid block colours on 3D backgrounds that have a neutral colour pallet to make the characters stand out against them. The influences of the style of this web series are Regular Show and The Amazing World of Gumball. These two cartoon series have 2D animal characters that are humanoid without having actual human attributes. Both series also use neutral backgrounds that make the characters stand out against the backgrounds.

The Amazing World of Gumball

Hey Arnold!

The cartoon series Hey Arnold! has influenced the story. Hey Arnold! is a cartoon series that follows Arnold and a bunch of his teenage friends. It follows their ups and downs and all the issues that this group of teenagers come across. Just like Hey Arnold!, Kiwianna will follow a group of teenagers and watch how they deal with every day problems as well as introducing each character. Pipi Potaka and Tuibelle Turner are the main characters and are best friends. Each episode will follow both of these girls as they deal with new problems and will also let the audience meet Pipi and Tuibelle's friends.

KIWIANNA CHARACTERS

PIPI POTAKA

Pipi is a 16 year old only child who was bought up by her Mother. She is a well read and intelligent girl. Her Mother is a cleaner at the local primary school and they are a lower class family but Pipi's Mother always sacrifices everything and provides Pipi with everything she needs. Pipi appreciates everything she is given and every opportunity that arises for her and never takes anything for granted.

Pipi is well liked by all of her peers, although she has a couple of enemies that are jealous of her intelligence. She is kind and caring and always tries to help people in need. She tends to help too many people at once which usually ends with Pipi having an overload. She has a terrible temper when things have built up on her and everybody is a target when her temper rears it's ugly head.

Pipi's best friend is Tuibelle Turner. They have been best friends for years and years and they compliment each other nicely. The two girls are more like sisters than friends and they integrate into each other's home/family lives seamlessly.

TUIBELLE TURNER

Tuibelle is a 16 year old girl who lives with her Mother and Father in an upper class family. Tuibelle's older brother is studying engineering at university. Tuibelle's parents are very supportive of everything she does. She is Pipi's best friend and the pair are inseparable.

Tuibelle is a beautiful girl with an amazing singing voice. Everybody wants to be as beautiful and talented as her. Tuibelle is very competitive at times and does not always take rejection well. She can also come across as too sure of herself sometimes which can make her rub up people the wrong way.

WENDY WATSON

Wendy is 15 years old and is highly competitive. She is the sporty, athlete of this group of teenagers. Her competitiveness comes from her Mother who is a big time lawyer in Kiwianna. Wendy’s competitive streak can make her come across as aggressive and nasty. Her friends refer to this as beast mode and some people dislike Wendy purely because of this behaviour.

FERNELL FOSTER

Fernell is 16 years old and is a very spoilt girl. Her parents are very wealthy and give in to her every whim. She is left to her own devices a majority of the time as her parents are always away running their company. Fernell is a social butterfly and is constantly on her cell phone text messaging, calling and using social media. She is an awesome social events organiser and her parties are the best to be invited to attend. Unfortunately, this is all Fernell is good at and she is not very liked by anyone because she has little tolerance for people and is very bossy and bitchy. Her friends just tolerate her because it’s not worth getting on the wrong side of her.

KARL KAKARIKI

Karl is a 15 year old boy who has had a little bit of a rough upbringing. He has two younger siblings that his Mother spends most of her time dealing with, so Karl is the forgotten child. He is a clown and makes people laugh. He has the best intentions but tends to get himself in a little bit of trouble from time to time. He has a problem with stealing and will sometimes just steal something because he can. This makes Karl not trustworthy but his friends and people that don’t judge him for the trouble he has been in, find him to be a likeable rogue.

KEVIN KAWAI

Kevin is 16 years old and comes from a rugby crazy family. He is the youngest of four boys. Kevin might look like the stereotypical rugby player but his secret passion is flower arranging. His Mother is a florist and because he is the youngest, he spent a lot of time helping his Mother out in her floristry because he was too small to do bloke stuff with his Father and brothers. Kevin is not the normal boisterous rough and tumble sort of rugby bloke but instead is very caring, quiet and sensitive. He is constantly taken advantage of by people because of his kind, caring nature and he really needs to learn to stand up for himself every once in a while.

METUA MORRISON

Metua is a little older than the other teenagers in the group and is 17 years old. He is an orphan as his parents died when he was just a baby. He has no othe natural family and has been bounced from one foster home to the next. Metua has been living in his current foster home for the last four years which is the longest home he has had. He is wickedly talented at drawing, painting and just art in general. Metua is very pessimistic and spends most of his time depressed. Whenever it looks as though something positive is about to happen for him, Metua sabotages any chance of a positive outcome happening.

TERRENCE THOMPSON

Mr. Thompson is a 76 year old man who has seen many historical events happen in his lifetime. His wife passed away approximately 12 years ago which turned him into a grumpy and bitter old man. He dislikes everybody and especially young people. Even when the young people are nice to him, he cannot tolerate or find a way to like them at all.














The web series will consist of six episodes that run for no longer than three minutes each. I have come up with a plan for all six episodes and an idea or theme that each one is about. In the first series/season, the episodes will introduce each character and will show in depth, each character's personality. The very first episode will be the one that I am making this semester and it will introduce all of the character's briefly, so that the audience can get a rough odea of each character's personality.

TREATMENT

EPISODE ONE

Pipi and Tuibelle are best friends. They are both unique and completely different from
each other but they have a few similarities which is what compliments their relationship. They hang out with a group of teenagers who come from all different walks of life. There is Kevin the rugby player, Wendy the competitive athlete, Fernell the party and drama queen, Metua the quiet artistic orphan and Karl the likeable, delinquent rogue. Then there’s old Mr. Thompson, the grumpy old man who sits on the doorstep constantly yelling and waving his walking stick at the group of friends.

Pipi and her friends are bored and hanging out in Pipi’s garage. They decide that they are going to go fishing but unfortunately, the path that leads to the river is being upgraded and the only way to get to the river is through old man Thompson’s back yard and he does not like people in general, especially not teenagers! The group devise a cunning plan to try and make it through Mr. Thompson’s property undetected while the old man is asleep on his porch in his rocking chair. After many close calls, with a ringing cell phone and fishing gear being dropped, the friends make it through to the old river gate at the back of Mr. Thompson’s property. As Karl fumbles with the latch on the gate, it makes a huge screeching noise which wakes Mr. Thompson. The old man instantly springs to action and walks as fast as he can towards the back fence. Karl panics at the sight of the old man advancing and accidentally latches the gate with his t-shirt stuck in it. Karl is trying to run and can not pull his t-shirt out. All of the friends rush to his aid and pull him with all their might and just as the grumpy old manreaches out to grab Karl, the t-shirt rips and the friends go hurtling to the ground. They all jump up off the ground and start running away down the riverbank with the angry cries of Mr. Thompson getting further and further away.

While the group are running, Pipi reminds the friends that they have to go back home
that way and all the teenagers grimace as they continue running down the bank.

EPISODE TWO

Pipi and Tuibelle team up to sell chocolate bars for their school fundraiser. The student or student’s who sell the most bars get a prize. The girls decide to work together and go halves in the prize. Wendy finds out what the girls are up to and due to her competitive nature, teams up with Fernell and challenges the pair to their own personal chocolate selling competition. The four girls go to war in a chocolate bar selling frenzy. They sabotage each other and come up with creative ways to sell the
bars. This competition makes the girls dislike each other and when it comes to a close, both sides believe that they have done way better than the other. Unfortunately, somebody else entirely, wins the prize for selling twice as much chocolate as all four girls put together. The girls are shocked and stunned but are also forced to apologise to each other and make a mends.

EPISODE THREE

Pipi and Tuibelle go on a mission to help Karl stop stealing and to try and find a way to cheer Metua up. Karl’s stealing is out of control and the two girls work with him to find ways to manage the urge to steal. Meanwhile, Metua is so down and out that the girls decide to find different ways to try and cheer him up. There is a small glimmer of hope that Metua will cheer up and he shows signs of this until something reminds him about his dead parents and they are back to square one. As for Karl, he ends up being accused of stealing old man Thompson’s New Zealand flag from his porch. The
girls have to help Karl clear his name and find out who the real culprit is as well as stop Karl from re-offending. Just when they think they have reached a break through with Karl, he has gone back to his old ways.

EPISODE FOUR

The group of teenagers have had enough of old man Thompson and his constant
yelling and disapproving of everything they do, so they decide to reap revenge on the old timer. They prank Mr. Thompson by covering his entire yard and house in toilet paper. To their surprise Mr. Thompson breaks down in tears when he sees the destruction they have caused. The teenagers start to feel sorry for the old man and approach him to apologise. After speaking to Mr. Thompson, they decide that he isn’t such a bad old guy after all and that he is just misunderstood. The teenagers offer to clean up the mess. They clean it and the old man is very thankful but when the group try to talk to the old man the next day, he is just the same as he has always been –grumpy and sour towards them. It seems the teens just cannot win when it comes to grumpy old Mr. Thompson.

EPISODE FIVE

Pipi and Tuibelle head out to go down to the local skate park. They are chatting about school and life in general when suddenly something grabs Pipi’s attention and before the girls realise, they are reminiscing about how they first met and became friends. They take a trip down memory lane to find out what made them like each other and what caused them to meet.

EPISODE SIX

Pipi and Tuibelle try keeping Kevin’s secret after they accidentally stumble across it. Somebody else also finds out and tells everybody and Kevin automatically accuses Pipi and Tuibelle search for the big mouth and once they find out all the details, Kevin apologises and life in Kiwianna goes back to normal for all the characters once again.

INTENDED OUTCOMES

I would like to get this web series funded first and foremost. I will be putting a proposal together and applying for some funding to make this web series and get it off the ground. The other intended outcome for this web series is for it to become a transmedia product.

The web series has the potential to have more seasons than just the first one. The seasons that follow would expand on the themes of being a teenager living in a small town and the angst and awkwardness that teenagers face in their daily lives.

A social media following will be built up using Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. YouTube and Vimeo will also be used to showcase behind the scenes footage and interviews with the characters in short skits while the next episode is in production to help keep the audience and fan base captivated and interested.

Merchandising is also an option once the fan base has been built up. Once Kiwianna has a strong following and there is much interest in the series, the merchandising can slowly expand as the fan base expands. T-shirts, coffee mugs, stickers, posters and stationery will be amongst the merchandise that will be available for fans to purchase.

Eventually the series could be made into a feature film and the story could expand further on the daily lives of the characters of Kiwianna and the problems faced by New Zealand teenagers all over the nation