The person I decided to interview for my animated documentary was an online friend of mine named Jonathan "Troy Baines" Sedlacek, a furry from Ohio (Troy is his fursona's name). As a member of the furry fandom (myself included), what I aimed for with this interview is to gather the positive experiences of being in a fandom, and how it's helped someone overcome their social problems and shaped them up to become the person they are today.
I had a four-minute voice interview with Troy via a voice chat on Discord. His high-quality microphone was a bonus so that the audio I would be using is crisp and understandable. Below is the transcript of the condensed 40 seconds I plan to use for the animated documentary, which is under the working title of The Joys of Being Furry.
Transcript
Troy: Well, it started out with me watching my favourite movie called Balto, and then I found a fan site, and it turns out it was chuck full of furries. The art, the friendly folks around here. I do a lot of charity events, so it makes me happy seeing people happy like “Oh my god, it’s so cute, a furry!”, or “Oh look, a fuzzy creature, I need a picture with you!” When I see smiles on people’s faces or on kid’s faces, it just brings me joy. Becoming a furry actually helps with my social anxiety and a lot of people in the fandom have social anxiety. So, a lot of people what they do, get a fursuit. It’s just like a better way to communicate with somebody. Some people say it’s a confidence booster. Made me a little bit more social, try to get out of my personal bubble that I’m stuck in.
(Note: Although not mentioned in the condensed transcript, the website Troy refers to is Animation Source, a site I once volunteered to work on recently.)
With the interview audio obtained, I then had to describe the narrative of the documentary through two premises and a treatment. The premise gives a brief summary of the documentary, and the treatment gives a detailed outline of all the events that happen throughout the documentary's runtime.
Premise 1:
Troy gives his backstory on how a fansite dedicated to the 1995 animated film Balto got him to discover the furry fandom. He later explains what he especially loves about the fandom, especially with participating in charities and bringing happiness to other people. He then concludes how being part of the fandom and wearing fursuits has helped with his social anxiety and has improved his confidence in socializing.
Premise 2:
Troy is seen happily watching an animated movie in front of the TV. He then uses his computer and realizes that furries are widespread, convincing him to turn into one. He is then hanging out with another furry performing at a charity event. Smiling bystanders who participate are delighted to see him in his fursuit, who then proceed to him Tory and get photographs from him. Troy is then seen alone in the darkness but then proceeds to put on his fursuit gaining confidence, then he bursts out of his personal bubble and proceeds to hug two other furries around him.
Treatment:
The documentary begins with the title screen showing canine paw prints slowly appearing on a linear path. The camera then pans up departing from the title into a shot behind a TV that is being viewed by Troy in 2D human form. It is then shown that the TV is presenting a 2D animated wolf howling. Troy is then seen using the computer accessing the internet, followed by several anthropomorphic animal heads popping up and surrounding him, followed by Troy being turned into a 3D anthropomorphic black-and-white wolf in a split second.
Following a transition to a quick sketch drawing animation of Troy and other furries, the scene then transitions to Troy in anthro form hanging out with two other furries, followed by the camera zooming out to reveal they are hosting a charity to support children in need. Several kids notice Troy and his friends while gaining a big smile. They then proceed to hug Troy, and a photograph is taken with the Troy, the two other furries, and the kids in it. This causes the three furries to grin in delight. The laughter of the children is audible during this scene. The photo is then displayed on a black background before being blown away.
The screen then fades to black showing Troy back in 2D human form trapped in darkness. A silhouette of Troy shows him placing his fursuit head on. Now in 3D anthro form, he then leaps into the air bursting the bubble he was trapped in, followed him by performing a “superhero landing” on the ground next to his furry friend seen previously at the charity event and proceeds to wrap his arms around him. The scene fades to black, and the credits roll.