8/8/25 - MAMA! Storyboards

Yesterday I was driving home from my new job, listening to some MCR (I'm seeing them in a few weeks), and their song "Mama" came on shuffle. It's always been a favorite of mine off The Black Parade, ever since I first heard it in, like, middle school. I was about halfway through, just before the Liza Minelli part, when a sudden thought occured to me:

...Holy shit, this would be an incredible animation for Efron.

Now who the hell is Efron? Why, he's a character I made for a friend's Fear and Hunger inspired TTRPG, of course! The long and short of his character is that he is an artist-turned-soldier who fought in something called The Golden War, lost everyone he loved to it (his father, mother, friends, and fiance), and lost himself to the heinous acts of violence he commited in the name of "justice" and "freedom." After his side won the war, he tried to make art again, but was incapacitated by hand tremors, substance abuse, and hallucinations of dead bodies...or maybe hauntings? I gave the GM free reign over if Efron's "Visions," as we call them, are real or not, and I have yet to find out what she chose to do!

Anyways, now that you know about Efron, I can share with you my incredibly messy, incredibly unreadable THUMBNAIL STORYBOARDS! (Open them in a new tab for better viewing) (I'm trying to figure out a better way to include images. This is, in fact, my first rodeo.)

My thumbnails do usually look this messy and stupid, yes. That's what they're there for! Getting the basic-est ideas out! Polish can wait for the revised storyboards and the animatic. Anyways, this is a little bit over half of the song boarded—right before Liza's part, actually—so I'll be working on and off on finishing thumbnails over the next few weeks. You know, in between the new job, freelance work, and other life happenings. Stay tuned!