1 Aspects Of The Television Audience
The psychological and cultural development of children being particularly fast,
it is advisable to consider the various factors:
Gender: girls and boys
Age limits: 8 to 16 years
Cultural level: school (level)
VB 3000 satisfies the 3 criteria.
Indeed, it is about a mixed volleyball team without hero / heroine leader
so that girls and boys can identify themselves with any characters.
Our target is education.
indeed, some notions in the cartoon will result from the knowledge learned in school.
it is possible that our tv viewers know nothing about infrared glasses
used to see objects that are invisible to the naked eye.
But the episode tries to explain that cats can see at nights what is not perceptible to us.
As for age, a lot of people, more than one would believe, watch cartoons
(the more, the better). grown-ups (?) usually keep it for themselves
so as to know what their children or teenagers (yes!) watch.
Let us not forget that grandparents are more available and buy what their grandchildren see on television.
2 The Sport: An Universal Genre
Not only is sport universal but it also allows people of all ages to unite
and to bridge the gap which sometimes remains between boys and girls.
All sports cartoons have been successful(Slam Dunk, Touch, Attacker you,Captain Tsubasa,
Ganbare Kickers, Yawara, Aim for the Ace )
even with long television programmes (13 or 26 minutes).
However, sport is not enough.
It should include some unreality (attack laser, shot of eagle, unstoppable smash,)
which rivets the attention of the viewer.
3 Identities Of The Heroes
Practically impossible to master 100 %, one knows
nevertheless that the mechanism of identification to the
hero (heroine) is a big part of the success of a series.
The identification to the hero (heroine) is made possible when
the given hero possesses an appealing physical appearance, a savoir-faire,
a great outfit and interesting attitudes for the viewer. If these conditions
are met, the child - especially the boy - tries to imitate gladly the hero
whose adventures he tries to re-create during the games.
In terms of "production", this same analysis almost justifies the stream of
series of " great hero" particularly intended for boys. This examination of
the facts, done by the manufacturers [of elapsed copyright POKEMON] toys,
allows most of the time to create a range of BY-products (figurines,
T-shirts, shoes...).
Every child of the 70S-8OS generation played Grendizer (Goldorak),Captain Harlock(Albator) or Zorro.
The problem which was always arisen : who was going to play the hero leader?
What roles were going to be given to girls?
And who would play the role of the bad guys?
Also to target the feminine market, the production companies have created
mixed teams in the series such as Liveman (Bioman), Powers Rangers and launched
designed cartoons intended more particularly for girls (Sailor Moon, Gigi,
She-Ra...). They are practically assured to obtain a great success with
children, on the obvious condition, that the fiction is good and targeted to
the intended audience.
4) The Concept Of The Series
VB 3000 is a cartoon with characteristics of fantastic sports
The title like the majority of the current productions has an
Anglo-Saxon touch.
Volleyball has been chosen for several reasons
Cartoons dealing with this sport are successful.
We needed a collective and mixed sport (for the identification and the
psychology Girls / boys).
As the powers are not unlimited, we needed a sport which requires the smallest
possible teammembership 6 and 6.
The basketball would have been able to help us 5 and 5.
But the main inconvenience of sports except for volleyball,
it is that if one of the persons has a great power and if there is no limit to stop it
there would be no interest whatsoever.
Volleyball offers us a natural limit: the net.
Volleyball is characterized by the fact that the six players of both teams
never meet physically as they are separated by a net.
The players have to comply with the rules of the current game.
The persons and the powers should not cross the opposite ground
unless otherwise stated or except for sonic shouts for example.
The two most recurrent powers are the great force and the ability to fly.
The great force is countered by the bearing of special bracelets which soothe the impact.
They are shockproof bracelets.
Mental powers such as clairvoyance, telepathy, illusion can not be used
against the other powers.
It would be far too simple. Exhibition matches take place
in these precise cases.
The Wise men are very strict on this point.
5) Definition Of The Main Actors
It is about teenagers.
The action revolves around the use of powers (mastery, use)
and the use of psychology (friendship, anger, team spirit, love...)
and involves mutants and non-mutants.
To avoid routine enjoyment = victory / sadness = defeat, some episodes put
people in situations other than sporting.
Team 18
Jennifer STIEHLSCHMEYER (Invisibility): She is a complete athlete. She is discreet very studious and very logical.
She is very into her looks.
Dorothy NANDAYA (Sonic Power): She always says what she thinks
and can be cheeky.
She does not like to be for granted. She is aware of her sex appeal.
Dita GATINO (Super Jump): she is greedy, gullible, romantic, generous and absent-minded.
She is very touchy except with Justin.
Nicolas POCKSKI (Teleportation) : Captain of Team 18.
He is a little bit too perfectionist, as cunning as a fox, determined, full of fantasy and spiritual.
Alexander COSTAUD (Super Strength): He is energetic, curious and altruistic and likes gossip.
Justin LOIRET (Super Speed): He is the cheerful guy of Team 18.
He always looks on the bright side of life.
He is impulsive and oversensitive and really loves teasing people.
Aristide Napoléon SAVAX (coach): He is a former champion and now Team 18's coach.
He is protective in spite of his size. He is philosophical.
He tries to inspire Team 18 with an urge to win.
To him, team spirit is everything.
Betty AGRI: She is Mr Savax's assistant, she has no power
and takes care of Team 18 a little bit like a mother.
Kamina : She is 9 and she is a huge FAN of Team 18!
The Tornadoes
Brian Belcher (The Tornado): This is the opponent everyone dreads the most.
He is, of course, incredibly unlikeable/unpleasant and his Power is tremendous.
He is (or thinks he is) the tallest, the best-looking and the strongest…
Jutta KLEINERT (Power of Flying): She's not bad at heart but lets others influence her.
Sophie RIVIERE (makes Smoke Screens): She is a real nasty piece of work. She manipulates everyone.
Matt DOYLE (Power of Flying): This is the moron, the brainless member of the team.
Alberto MIZRAHI (Super Strength): This is the follower-on. He's got an inferiority complex.
Garmia MAGHRAOUI (Power of Electricity): He considers himself to be the Tornado's equal,
and this makes him violent sometimes.
Adam SONLIM: This is their coach, and he'll do anything to win.
His players are just machines for winning. Power is all that matters to him.
The Conquerors Volleyball players are grown-up mutants.
Mister SAVAX was a part of this prestigious team until his departure.
They are the idols of all the galaxy because they won the Big Tournament.
There are also other grown-up teams.
They are going to meet Team 18 several times and teach them many things.
We wanted our characters to be a little bit more genuine
than those of some productions and not to fall into the pitfall of stupid stereotypes.
That is why Dita is fat (and yet she will not be excluded from the team for that),
that Alex wears glasses and he is neither the intellectual,
nor the ugly character in the group.
There are very few persons of different races except for
cartoons such as (The Mysterious cities of Gold, Captain Planet and
the Planeteers).
Therefore we decided so to integrate it into VB 3000.
Mister SAVAX is black.
Kamina is Asian with dark hair, slanting brown eyes and a real colour of skin.
We wanted the outfits of team 18 to be of a classical trend
(t-shirt - pair of shorts - training shoes) except for Mister Savax.
The silver outfit brings an innovative effect.
The characters do not really put them on.
it is about unstable molecules which obey the voice.
When pronouncing the word outfit,
the molecules move so as to create this silver sports outfit
the training shoes are made of silver (like the rest of the outfit, by the way)
can be removed and become a new useful thing according to the wish of its owner thanks to the molecules.
When the match is over, one can change clothes very quickly and wherever needed.
To underline that we are in the year 3000, the colours of hair are futuristic.
Cartoons have already used this process (Jem and the Holograms, Saint Seiya...)
The action takes place in the year 3000. Space has been colonized by Earthmen.
A natural genetic evolution has occured since then.
Some human beings are endowed with fantastic powers which appear only at the beginning of puberty.
To avoid misuse of their powers, Mother Nature produced
four wise men who are telepathists.
Nobody knows who they are and where they come from.
They are there to guarantee that the mutants use their powers well.
One has never seen their faces and they inspire respect.
It is them who had the idea to mix volleyball and the powers
so that the mutants learn how to master them and to live with them.
Thanks to the Wise men, being a mutant is as natural as getting up in the morning.
There is neither free violence, and nearly no xenophobia.
Money still exists and the world in the year 3000 looks like our current world
(It is neither "1984", nor " Brave new world") except for technological and
medical breakthroughs.
6) Merchandising Post Production
These various arguments quoted first are taken into account in the
conception of our series. Besides, an extension in the cartoon could lead to
the manufacture of by-products such as the conception of a video game, an
OAV, figurines, T-shirt...The reason WHY the technology that is requested
for the creation of this cartoon would be the motion capture.
7 VB 3000: A SERIES TO BE ANIMATED
Up to now, it seems to us that a similar production such as
Volleyball 3000 has not yet been realized.
Translation : David Martinson and Jean Marck Molignier and JF Schwaiger
copyright Jean-François Schwaiger