Developing The Story
and the trials along the way.
Tea Dragons is an animated short film full of tea references, cranky old men, and dragons all wrapped up in a heartfelt drama with a touch of action on the side. The original pitch for Tea Dragons was about two competing tea shop owners arguing over a potential customer, too distracted to notice her running for her life from the dragons manifested from their teapots. The central focus revolved around how pride is harmful and can have external consequences, even if that was not the intention. The three main characters we developed were Earl Grey, Oolong, and the tourist, Jasmine.
Halfway through production, we had to make the decision to cut down the story in hopes of meeting our deadline. The solution came in the form of removing Jasmine from the story all together, cutting a montage showing the different methods of brewing tea, and completely altering the ending of our film. It was a massive change to adapt to, but when we focused on the core of our story, it was about the relationship between Earl and Oolong. As it stands, our film still holds the essence we did our best to capture.
Tea Dragons centers on Earl and Oolong, who are so blinded by their competition that they don't notice they have entirely run off their customers. It is only when their pride manifests physically that they are forced to stop arguing and conquer the beasts they created. In doing so, they damage what they hold most dear and, in the end, come together to fix what was broken. As the credits roll we see Earl and Oolong grow alongside each other to create a teashop together - one that attracts loyal customers, such as our dear Jasmine.
