What if people vanished, but their technology kept running? Or, even worse, what if it stopped working at the most inopportune moment?
PURRING CHECKUP
Короткометражный мультфильм для рекламы настольной игры
Хронометраж: 8-10 минут
Жанр: комедия
LOGLINE
Four cats raid the lair of the Fire-Breathing Beast to destroy it and bring light back to their city, but during the battle, they realize that the «monster» shouldn’t be killed—it needs a good lick.
SETTING
After the disappearance of humans, the cats were left alone among human objects and technology. They continue to use what humans left behind, but they no longer understand the function of most devices.
Inspiration for the project came from various sources: the anthology «Love. Death. Robots, ” the animated film „The Secret Life of Pets, ” and the adventure game Stray. The first project provided the idea of exploring a world left behind by humans; the second offered the comical interaction of animals with the human environment; and the third contributed the atmosphere of an abandoned city where traces of human civilization remain.
CHARACTERS
Screw—a slender black and white cat with a black mask patch on its face. He is clumsy, fidgety, honest, and kind. Screw grew up with an electronics repair technician, so he has a good memory for human tools and intuitively understands the principles of how mechanisms work, although he often mixes up their names.
Vermicelli — a chunky, lazy peach-colored cat who constantly chews catnip. He is unflappable, slow-moving, and enjoys teasing those around him. Vermicelli was raised in a nano-kitchen by the chef, adores gourmet delights, and dreams of restoring the electricity so his favorite blender can work again.
Captain — a large, ginger cat with a fluffy tail and the bearing of a general. He is an incorrigible idealist, a worrier, and a natural leader. Captain tends to exaggerate dangers and struggles to make new decisions, but it is he who takes responsibility for the team.
Lineyka — a small, scruffy cat with stiff, unkempt fur. She is hyperactive, stubborn, and selfish, and is completely incapable of teamwork. In the past, Lineyka lived with a collector of construction sets, which taught her countless instructions and schematics.
SYNOPSIS
Preparation
In the nighttime darkness, a roaring, abandoned boiler sits on the hill. Emergency lights flash around it, and steam billows out. A squad of cats slithers out from around the corner. The Captain whispers dramatically about the danger: «We are at the heart of the Darkness, fighters!» Vermicelli melancholically chews catnip and grumbles that the noise is preventing his mouse mousse blender from turning on at home. Screw barely drags his paws along to the quick command. The cats argue about the gruesome monsters their owners left behind and how strange their people were. They realize they actually miss their humans. The Captain declares the attack plan: to suffocate the Beast by filling its belly with dirt and trash.
Assault
The Beast assault begins. The Captain commands, and the cats heroically drag clumps of mud and branches, hurling them into the Beast’s ventilation shaft. The Beast only worsens—it begins to howl wildly and spews suffocating black smoke. The Captain shouts, «Retreat!» In a panic, Lineka falls into the open hatch, right into the Beast’s stomach. She screams horribly. Trying to help Lineka, Screw peeks inside through the glass. Instead of intestines, he sees gears, a blinking red light, and an air filter clogged with soot. Screw recalls his mechanic owner and shouts that the monster isn’t angry; it’s coughing and feeling ill. At that moment, Vermicelli, stuck belly-down in the wiring, accidentally scrapes an old instruction sticker with a human drawing using its claws, and it flies into the hatch where Lineka fell. From inside, Lineka sees the diagram and recognizes the same pictures her owner used while assembling strange metal parts. The cat authoritatively declares that the monster needs to be licked.
Cleanup
The Beast is about to explode. The Captain sees that the team has rallied around a new, wild idea. He makes the decisive call: «Change of plan! We’ll give the Monster a spa day!» The Captain takes charge of the coordination. Screw, using fragmented knowledge, twitches his tail to turn the necessary valve, releasing the pressure so the steam can vent. Vermicelli uses its bulk to press down on the jammed lever. The Captain covers Line, while she furiously scrapes flakes of soot and grime—the mess they’ve made—from the air filter with her claws, like brushes. With the last clump of dirt pulled out, the Beast lets out a sigh of relief; its roar transitions into a steady, contented purr, exactly like a gigantic cat purring. The green lights turn on. The Captain proudly declares that they have achieved a great feat—they have tamed the Beast. Down in the cat city, the windows begin to light up one by one. Vermicelli smiles contentedly and says that the blender is working again.
Final
At the end of the story, the cats sit on the warm roof of the purring Beast, warming their paws, and the Captain establishes a new rule: once a month, the Beast must be given tribute. They must groom his fur so that the city remains warm.
