TITLE: Marbles
WRITTEN BY: Danielle Olson
FORMAT: Short Animated Film (10-15 minutes) | Drama
SYNOPSIS: Marbles is set in a world where lives are measured by a jar of marbles. With each passing day, a marble disintegrates into bright, sparkly dust, representing the passing of time and one day closer to their last. In this world, we follow a family through many happy memories together, then the struggles and emotions of the mother’s final days with her daughter and husband.
CHARACTERS:
Lisa, the wife and mother, knows her final days are coming. Not wanting to burden her daughter and keep her happy, she tries to hide that her final days are approaching. As time goes on, she’s finding it harder to tell her daughter.
Chloe, the daughter, is unaware of Lisa’s situation at first, but when she discovers her mother’s jar of marbles is nearly empty, she races to make the most of the time they have left together. She will be animated in different ages throughout the film as she grows up.
Eric, the husband and father, supports Chloe and Lisa throughout the film. He helps them reminisce, love, grieve, and support one another until Lisa’s last marble disappears.
WHY THIS STORY: The sudden passing of my mother is what inspired me to write Marbles. It takes place in a world where everyone knows when they will pass away which is represented by how many marbles are left in their jars. In this world, people can plan for their death and spend time with their loved ones before they are gone; something I wish I could have done with my mom.
MARBLES WORLD: Marbles is set in a world where each individual is given a jar of marbles at birth. Each marble represents one day in a person’s life. At midnight each night, one marble in the jar will disintegrate into bright sparkly dust. This represents the passing of time and one day closer to death. Given the format length, there is no plan to explain how many marbles are determined at birth, but to leave this to the audience’s interpretation.
ANIMATION STYLE: The idea is for the film to be primarily done using 2D animation, but to potentially use 3D animation for the marbles and all sparkly dust effects.
DIALOGUE/MUSIC: There is one line of dialogue. The intent is for the animated visuals and musical score to move the story through its emotional arcs. The only line of dialogue will be my mother’s actual words/voice from one of our home videos.
We put together a Marbles Music Inspirations Playlist on Spotify. Feel free to save the playlist and listen to the musical tones that are inspiring our film.
