Tuesday, September 13, 2011

A Rough Idea

Hi all,

I'm pretty excited for this project, but I have to admit, I have not had as much time to work on it as I would have liked. The downside to having a real-person job I suppose. I wanted to have a complete script, some sense of length, and maybe some rough layout sketches...but I'm just not there yet. I do have a rough concept though. I will be going with the "water is the oil of the 21st century" prompt.

It will open with a very bored looking man at a gas station. Soon a boy will come by on his bike/skateboard/scooter (not sure which...i originally thought bike, but man I hate drawing bikes) and they will exchange conversation about how no one comes by the gas station any more. The boy will have many empty containers on his back. He will scoot along and get at the end of a long line. As we pan toward the front of the line we will learn that he is in line at the water pump with a bunch of other scraggly thirsty people, and some big man in a fancy suit will be smiling as he jacks up the water prices.

One of the biggest problems in the world today is that many people do not have access to clean drinking water, especially in less fortunate areas. There is also a concern for the future about who "owns" the water. Even today, the term water baron is already in use, to describe the privatization of water rights. I have included an excerpt from http://projects.publicintegrity.org/water/ below:

Cholera and the Age of the Water Barons
February 3, 2003 — The explosive growth of three private water utility companies in the last 10 years raises fears that mankind may be losing control of its most vital resource to a handful of monopolistic corporations. In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public waterworks. The companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent. They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatize their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world's increasing water scarcity. The companies argue they are more efficient and cheaper than public utilities. Critics say they are predatory capitalists that ultimately plan to control the world's water resources and drive up prices even as the gap between rich and poor widens. The fear is that accountability will vanish, and the world will lose control of its source of life.


Just a little something to give a bit of background to my concept. Now I just need to find a little more time to solidify my ideas and work out the details. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's ideas!

-Kelsey

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