My Imaginary Ride The Cyclone Hybrid Live-Action and Animation Feature Film that only exists in my head: Part 1
I originally wrote this in response to @sleepboysummer 's post about wanting to bring back the "imaginary rtc production in my head' trend, but it got so long I felt like it deserved it's own post. And then that got so long that I had to split it into multiple parts 😅
Anyway, here's my concept for what I would want for a Ride The Cyclone movie. This part covers everything from the beginning (Introduction + Uranium Suite) to "Talia".
The majority of the movie is shot in live-action, but colored in sepia (Think like the Wizard of Oz but while Dorothy is still in Kansas). The coloring is meant to represent how dreary the choir felt like their lives were living in Uranium.
Karnak will be a life-size animatronic creature puppet from Jim Henson's Creature shop.
The warehouse, despite presumably being abandoned for years, appears to look no worse for wear (for now). Sure, lots of old carnival stuff is stored here. Yet for some reason, nothing seems to have fallen into significant disrepair. It just looks kinda old.
Karnak's opening dialogue will have different jokes depending on whether the audience is watching the movie in theaters vs if they're watching it on home video. The theater version can keep the "armrest bit". But the home video will have it's own joke to replace it.
The first half of "Uranium Suite" is shown as a flashback. We see the choir in competition, snippets of them getting their fortunes read and enjoying the other rides at the carnival, then boarding the doomed Cyclone rollercoaster.
When Karnak says the line "hurtling the children to their deaths", we watch the choir's rollercoaster cart fly off the loopty-loop. But rather than hitting the ground, they stay floating through the air for a while. It's only when they say the lines "round and round and round" when they slowly start to descend toward the ground. Right when they're about to crash and hit the ground, the scene changes. We see the choir land in the warehouse, their souls summoned by Karnak. They get back up, almost robotically, and perform some (Karnak-controlled) choreography for the end of the song.
When it comes to the choir's individual songs, the visuals change to animation. And to reflect the individuality of the choir members, every song uses a different art style.
"What the World Needs" will use 3D CGI animation that has a classic Disney/Pixar look to it. This is meant to reflect multiple aspects at once (the happy/poppy style of the song, Ocean's bubbly personality, etc.)
During her number, Ocean dons a dramatic costume change. She's got a bright pink power suit (think like if Barbie was a businesswoman)
After her number, the world returns to normal (live-action and sepia). We see Ocean standing on the human pyramid wearing a loose pink necktie. This is meant to show that the animated sequences are "dreams" acted out by the choir. The costume pieces they get in real life were from storage.
"Noel's Lament" is animated in 2D black and white animation. Think like the classic Betty Boop cartoons from the 1930s. Additionally, his entire song is recorded through a radio filter (think like how Alastor sounds in Hazbin Hotel). That way it really makes him sound like he's from the "olden days".
"This Song is Awesome" will have a gritty, graffiti type art style. Whereas "Talia" will be done entirely in watercolor.
The transition from "This Song is Awesome" to "Talia" will be different from the stage version. "This Song is Awesome" will be framed like Mischa's dream bachelor party. We see him living it up as a world-famous rapper, partying with his friends, then taking the private jet to Ukraine. When he says "And then I see this girl. Shawty." at the end of "This Song is Awesome", there's a visual gap between where Mischa is standing (still in the graffiti art style) and where Talia is standing (in watercolor). We can hear the beginning notes of "Talia" being played in the background. Noel leans close to Mischa and asks, "Who's that?", referring to Talia in front of them. Mischa says, "That is my girlfriend. I was saving up to move back to Ukraine just to see her. Natalia Muruska Bolinska." As he says her name, Mischa steps between the gap, changing his appearance (and the rest of their surroundings along with him) to the "Talia" watercolor style.
EDIT: Here's the link to Part 2! Sorry for splitting it up. Tumblr literally wouldn't let me post it as one large chunk. ^^;