Damocles

yaaaay animatic done

gonna go sneeze and be sick now

Damocles

Logline

Tormented by a talking shapeshifting sword, a depressed young woman struggles to keep going through her dull life as the sword works to make her end it all.

Treatment

We open on a woman lying in bed as her alarm clock begins to buzz. She reaches for her bedside table before realizing the sound isn’t coming from there, but rather above her. She looks up and sees Damocles the talking sword holding out an alarm clock. It taunts her briefly before we get a smash pose and title.

Cut to a close-up on a phone covered in youtube videos (Brainrot Compilation) and the woman’s finger quickly swipes away a few notifications from her friends. The woman is eating breakfast, center angle, from a bowl (cereal or oatmeal, whatever’s easier) before Damocles clears its throat above the shot. We pan up to see Damocles having transformed into a Counter before it jeers at the woman about her weight. She tosses the bowl into the dirty sink and leaves for work.

On the train, Damocles morphs into a camera, and the woman bundles up to hide from its view. Cutting to her on the line as a cashier at a hardware store, she contemplates leaving early before the sword transforms into a house dripping money and coins and convinces her to stay late. Cut to the woman shopping, and the woman is buying ice cream before Damocles morphs into a doctor’s scale above her head, prompting her to drop all of her shopping and leaving. 

Cast of Characters

An: A young woman living on little and working at a convenience store. She is depressed and has been putting off talking to her friends and loved ones as she spirals.

Damocles: A magical talking sword constantly floating above An. He wants An to kill herself and uses his ability to shapeshift to evoke images of anxiety and self-hate to achieve this goal. Damocles views himself as a good force, someone trying to either better An’s life or better the world via her absence.

Scene 1

Setting: An’s bedroom, unkept at the crack of dawn.

Open on An, lying sideways in her bed sleeping. An alarm clock begins to blare, waking her up. She immediately looks up. Above her, Damocles is holding a classical alarm clock.

DAMOCLES

Rise and Shine, Slacker!

(Title appears on screen before a crosswipe of color and teeth fades us to the next scene.)

Scene 2

Setting: An’s Kitchen. We open on a shot of An’s phone, covered in brainrot shorts content she’s scrolling through. She is eating a bowl of cereal in her PJs as she watches the videos.

DAMOCLES

(Clears his throat)

(An Looks up and the camera cuts to another up angle of Damocles.) 

DAMOCLES

If you’re just gonna laze around all morning, I may as well hand you your pink slip now!

(We transition to a mid shot as he transforms, zooming out to a wide of the kitchen as he takes his new form.)

DAMOCLES

That way you can keep on being a bum all day!

(An Stands up, leaving her cereal half eaten.)

DAMOCLES

There you aaaare! 

Scene 3

Setting: The hardware Store.

(Opens on an establishing shot of the hardware store. Cuts inside to An, handling a sledgehammer at the checkout lane. She looks towards the exit, through which she sees a nicer sunny day. Damocles lowers himself besides her, shifting into an apartment complex.)

DAMOCLES

I love that view. But I think I prefer being able to have the one from your apartment better. Why not stay late to make up for this morning?

(Damocles cackles as he ascends back to the ceiling, leaving An angrily growling at her post.)

 (Cuts to her leaving, now late into the evening.) 

Scene 4

Montage - A few quick scenes.

(An goes shopping. She looks at clothes before Damocles turns into a group of laughing people. She gets a call from her friend again, to which Damocles responds by becoming a larger copy of her phone reading with the text “We need to talk.” Finally, as An shops for food, Damocles becomes a scale, leading An to toss the groceries to the ground and leave.)

Scene 5

Setting - Back to An’s Apartment.

1/13/2026