Noun en Scène (aka Mise en Scène with Noun 'Muppets')
Sponsored through lil nouns DAO
TL;DR
Cinematic stills from a television series that doesn't exist (yet!) starring Chip - a cookie Noun - and Benny - a rabbit Noun- in the surreal, funny and over-the-top adventures they find themselves on while trying to do good in the world.
TELL YOU MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT? WHY OF COURSE!
A single frame can tell an entire story. It can draw you in. Make you think. Send you tumbling towards what happens next…
(let’s put some Noggles on Roger)
It’s what the best films do. I mean look at that Roger Rabbit still. What are Roger and Eddie looking at? What’s about to happen? And why are they handcuffed together?! Not to mention location, costumes, use of lighting or even the colors! There’s a palpable tension and curiosity in that single frame that makes us care.
I want to bring that to a fun art project focused on a pair of Nouns - Chip and Benny - and their adventures in the - slightly (or sometimes very) heightened and over-the-top - world of ‘Noun en Scène’.
Think of it as a cinematic one-shot storytelling project that takes our pixelated, digital little Nouns, turns them into real life ‘muppet’-like puppets and then throws them into film scenes with flesh and blood people.
(cinematic scenes that make you ask questions and keep looking)
Every one-shot tosses our sweet, little Nouns into a new dramatic scene where they're forced to deal with the crazy situation they've gotten themselves into by trying to help or do a good deed for a random human they've met.
And through these scenic moments, the world of Chip, Benny and the 'Noun en Scène' project will grow, evolve and hopefully become something people want to see more of!
By utilizing ‘muppet’-like characters mixed with real people and heightened, cinematically-lit scenes, the absurdity and beauty of life will become that much more stark, profound and hopefully very funny.
Taking cues and paying homage to a variety of influences including Alex Prager, The Far Side, world cinema, the Kermitage Collection and many more, this project aims to utilize a couple Nouns to create captivating characters we just can’t get enough of.
Chip and Benny are just a couple innocent, little guys trying to help and do good in the world, but instead they keep finding themselves entangled in situations way beyond their depth.
COOL. SO WHAT’S THE PLAN?
These shoots will be treated like an indie film production - the difference being that we are capturing single shots that tell full, rich stories while still requiring casting, makeup, lighting, location scouting/rentals, puppet styling etc.
On the casting front, while at first it will make sense to work with local working actors/models and friends, as the project gains traction and grows - or when I’m working on my next tv show - I think there is a fun way to bring known name actors into these scenes and add a whole other level of playfulness to the project.
The first step will be designing, modeling and manufacturing our Noun ‘muppets.’ Luckily, I’ve gotten a very exciting collaborator on board for this!
PUPPET HEAP!
Puppet Heap is a unique design and production studio specializing in storytelling through the creation of iconic characters for all sorts of media including film, television, advertising, theater, and new media. The company was founded by artist, designer, filmmaker, and teacher Paul Andrejco after observing the burgeoning pile of puppets that had accumulated in his Hoboken apartment back in the early ‘90s. Now, just a few blocks away, Puppet Heap is home to teams of artists, designers, writers, and producers creating character based narratives for clients around the world including The Walt Disney Company, Sesame Workshop, and Nickelodeon. Puppet Heap has been entrusted with the care, maintenance, and creative support of the Muppets for Disney’s The Muppets Studio since 2006.
(Puppet Heap team on set of Imagine Dragon's 'Radioactive')
Puppet Heap loves the project - I nounspilled them - and will be joining to design and create the physical puppets of Chip and Benny. And as scale and scope continue to evolve in their journey (we have big plans), they’ll be there, helping to tell their growing story - and all the other Nouns that come into play too.
AWESOME! AND WHAT ABOUT ME?
My name is Chris Martin - not of Coldplay, sorry - and I’ve been making independent, global film and television productions for a decade plus now - primarily in Korea.
Most recently, I co-created, co-wrote, directed, showran,and EP’ed 20 episodes of a show called 'Dramaworld' currently streaming on Amazon that stars well-known actors including Liv Hewson (‘Yellowjackets’, ‘Santa Clarita Diet’), Brett Gray (‘I’m a Virgo’, ‘On My Block’), Daniel Dae Kim (‘Lost’, ‘Hawaii 5-0’), Ha Jiwon (‘Secret Garden’) and K-pop star Henry Lau.
With everything I create, I try to lean into a playful, magical realist tone that’s grounded in heart, which is the kind of storytelling that I think is not only a perfect fit for Nouns, but also an incredible way to bring people into this journey of Chip and Benny as they go around trying to help.
I love everything about Nouns - the ethos, the support for creative, weird projects, and did I mention the freakin’ Noggles?! - and have been trying to figure out how I could do something creative that furthered that mission for quite awhile now.
Then suddenly, while wandering around a street festival the other day, I saw this:
And bingo! 💡
The idea for ‘Noun en Scène’ landed fully formed in my brain! And I knew I had to make it a reality and see what it could eventually become!
WHY SHOULD NOUNS FUND THIS?
Storytelling is everything - always has been. And in a world where we are inundated with ‘content’ online, a playful, quirky and precise project like this will be a breath of fresh air to stand out against the noise.
Utilizing photography as a medium and consistent characters as the subject will allow fans to come back, excited to see where the journey of Chip and Benny will lead and who they'll be trying to 'help' next.
And by staging everything down to the last detail, each photographic story that comes out of ‘Noun en Scène’ will simultaneously be a fine art piece, a Sunday (web)comic and continuous character development leading to a broader (and very Noun-curious) audience.
And in the spirit of 'mint everything,' we are planning to utilize Zora to mint and document our progress - design sketches, scripts, behind the scenes, etc. It feels like a great way to document the process of creation and build something creative in public.
Speaking of creative, meet Benny!
Here's Paul's initial design for Benny:
Arms and legs, oh my! With our puppets, we want to keep what makes Nouns distinct while adding a whole new flavor that brings them to life and gives them character.
The (mis)adventures of Chip and Benny
By creating empathy and connection with our two little Nouns through visual storytelling, the project will help spread Nouns and nounish-ness far and wide - just how Chip and Benny would want it.
(One-shot example sketch - 'Chip and Benny Check for- AHHHHH!')
And we plan to have this first leg of the project culminate in a fun droposal that takes Chip and Benny IRL in eye-catching ways (see below for a tease).
THE ASK AKA THE BUDGET
We want to propose a tight, but realistic budget that still allows us to execute this at the highest professional standards, so that we can first not only prove the concept, but create something that rivals the quality of anything you'd see in a high budget studio release.
We want to go above and beyond everyone’s expectations for what 'Noun en Scène' can be because seeing is believing and we think this initial batch of scenes will prove the potential of building out characters in a uniquely nounish way and make people want to see where we can go with Chip and Benny in the future.
BUDGET:
- $40,000 USDC (2 puppets x $20,000 USDC/puppet) one-time cost for the design and fabrication of our ‘Noun Muppets’ - this allows Puppet Heap to design, costume and build out Chip and Benny in their physical ‘muppet’-ish forms (to be used again and again as the project continues and evolves).
- $50,000 USDC production budget to shoot and finish 5 'one-shots' - this will be a fully crewed up shoot with actors, set design, hair & makeup etc. and the budget will be used to pay crew, rent equipment, secure locations, finish photos in post etc. (all the production related expenses)
- Detailed breakdown to give a general idea of how the funds will be used HERE
- 1 NOUN post delivery (cookie head Noun 483) - A big reason I want to do this is to become a more active and involved part of the Nouns community so I can more fully participate and build together with other Nouners
TOTAL BUDGET: $90,000 USDC + 1 NOUN (post delivery)
TIMELINE
Upon prop passing, we can make our puppets and be in production in approximately 2.5 months and aiming to have finished images ready ~1 month later.
All the while minting our progress and creative developments on Zora.
FUTURE STEPS
My aim for is to use the project to develop the characters and story of these two best friends on their journey to help and do good - even if it always seems to go a little sideways - in a surprising novel and onchain way. 'Noun en Scène' as the first piece will allow us to capture surprising, fun and shareable bitesize stories, which hopefully utimately brings Nouns into the real(ish) world and helps people fall in love with Chip and Benny.
Which brings me back to the aforementioned droposal!
What better way to drum up curiousity than a droposal to help take Chip and Benny IRL. More on 👇 soon!
(⌐◨-◨'s on billboards?)
Paul and I have a ton of fun ideas for where to take this and how to grow it, so we're looking forward to what we can achieve this go round while keeping our minds open to how it can be expanded (cough a full blown live-action series cough).
Thank you for taking the time to read and look forward to making the world a little more Noun-ish!
Time for Chip and Benny to save the world. One good deed at a time!
Keep Nouns weird.
-Chris