The World We Created
The Original Pitch
The Original Pitch Packet by Louise Wong
This was the original concept Louise pitched to the class. It was inspired by the Haunted Mansion at Disney parks, initially planning to replicate that sort of atmosphere in the short film.
The main hook of the pitch was that the short would center around creatures of horror commuting to their desired destinations to stalk, hunt, and terrorize humans.
However, the pitch was open to drastic changes, allowing creatures or figures of mythology to be included. Thus, by putting everyone’s ideas together, Team Ravenscroft was able to evolve this pitch into something much greater.
Who Will give the Tour?
The concept for the Vanderbilt Skeleton.
by Louise Wong
The original concept for
the train conductor,
Thaddeus Ichabod III.
by Louise Wong
Originally, Louise's plan was to have a Cornelius Vanderbilt type of character give the tour. The rich owner of the railway giving us a tour with his best British demeanor.
However, we all agreed that it would be much better to have a more relatable character, someone whom the audience can understand and root for. Thus, we decided on a train conductor as the job is very busy and quite demanding.
Thus, the train conductor was born.
Taking inspiration from the headless-horseman, the train conductor would be headless, expressing his emotions through action (Also, eliminating the need to animate lip-syncing.). We also originally planned to have his train be horse-like; having the bells and whistles sound like horse neighing or mixing in galloping sounds as the train chugs along.