Episode Pitch for Bluey

As part of my university dissertation, I decided to make a pitch for an episode of Bluey with a new character. This is the presentation I gave for the theorised pitch. This is an unofficial fan project for the purpose of education.

Transcript

1. The Making of By Katie Illsley
2. Joe Brumm inspiration from his own life with being a new father. However, it became difficult to create the pilot from his animation company Joho Studios, which he runs with Mark Paterson, as it was a hire to work studio, so, they struck a deal with Ludo studios to co-develop the project. They went on to pitch the projects at conferences where companies Commissioned a longer pilot episode including ABC and the BBC. This developed into the BBC paying for a third of the series to be distributed by ABC and taking the merchandising and distribution rights. (creator worked animator in of Bluey) as a lead the UK working on CBeebies Lola but when Australia, he had create more anim- to make the an Australian it local to where he grew up. A with a blue heeler called Bluey! The show Charlie and he moved back to the intention to -ation with the aim Peppy Pig and produce fun fact is that Joe Brumm pilot episode of Bluey took
4. Episode Plan Basic plot of the episode: A new family move onto Bluey’s street with a single child called Ruben. The child is nervous about moving into a new area and is very shy. When Bluey tries to interact her energy scares Ruben. Bluey confused speaks to her Mum who explains that sometimes people take a little time to warm up and just wait and see. Determined Bluey tries again but seems to fail. She then spots Ruben drawing and decides to do a drawing for Ruben. Bluey puts the drawing in Ruben’s mailbox. The episode ends with Bluey and Ruben meeting properly for the first time.
5. Why this subject? This episode will show: • Bluey understanding everyone is different, and some people need different approaches as most her friends are outgoing. • Shows a family actually moving and opens the door to showing this more following the 30-minute episode ‘the sign’. • Will show a character who is timid which children can relate to and show that if somebody cares they will learn how to interact with them.
6. Where is Bluey set? • Bluey is set in Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is where the show is actually made as well!
7. Environment Bluey’s
8. Bluey's Street Ruben’s House Front Yard towards road Front Yard towards Ruben’s Front of Doreen’s
10. Character Design With designing a new Bluey character, I researched into the dog breeds. As part of the story, the new boy who moves onto Bluey’s street is quite nervous to be moving into a new area and is very shy, so I investigated dog breeds which match this characteristic. I also wanted a breed which hasn’t been in Bluey’s class yet and I stumbled upon the French Bulldog. Although a French bulldog has been in Bluey, it has only been in a short section of an episode, there also hasn’t been any young Frenchie's in the show.
11. Character Development Take inspiration from Joe Brumm I named the new character after my childhood dog but changing the gender turning Ruby into Ruben When developing Ruben I investigated the muzzles of the previous dogs in the show. Winton, the English bulldog, has a more distinct wrinkled muzzle and so does the old pug character, however the young pug in the show Buddy does not so I tested the character design with both and opted for the wrinkled muzzle as it made it more obviously a Frenchie. Buddy Old Pug Winton
12. Too bright, stands out too much. Too similar to character Jean- Luc. Looks too much like a pug. Too bright again, doesn’t suit the character. Too big of a contrast with the dark blue. Shows the personality of Ruben well.
13. Ruben Expressions
14. Final Character Design Quick Facts Name Ruben Age 6 Breed French Bulldog Personality Shy Creative
15. Ruben’s Family • Ruben has moved from another city (like the heeler family were supposed to). • Ruben has a single parent which is his Father and has moved due to his parents splitting. • Ruben’s Dad has had to swap jobs with the move. • We hear and see part of Ruben’s dad but not the full character. • Ruben’s dad is mainly white with patches of the same grey as Ruben
16. Bluey Ruben • Age 7 • Inexhaustible • Loves adventures • Playful VS • Age 6 • Likes the ordinary • Loves stories • Creative
18. The Script Originally Bluey was going to speak to Chilli twice about having problems connecting with Ruben but this was changed to Bingo as Bingo herself sometime has issues with Bluey taking over games and such. Plus, her friend Lila is also shy, so Bingo has experience becoming friends with people like Ruben. BLUEY The new kid doesn’t want to play with me. BANDIT Oh, sorry kiddo. BINGO Why? BLUEY I don’t know. He just doesn’t want to speak to me. BINGO Sounds a little like Lila. BLUEY What? BINGO Well Lila is shy. BLUEY So how did you become friends? BINGO I don’t know.
19. Scratch Audio • Script read by myself. • Lines recorded on my iPhone as a temporary audio. • Music is samples from Bluey. • The end section is from the episode ‘Onesies’.
20. Sample Storyboards
21. Colour Samples Morning Evening afternoon night
22. References • VanArendonk, K. (2024) How bluey became the best kids’ show of our time, Vulture. Available at: https://www.vulture.com/article/bluey-best-kids-tv- show.html (Accessed: 05 December 2024). • Top 15 quiet dog breeds - wag! (no date) WagWalking. Available at: https://wagwalking.com/breed/top-quiet-dog-breeds (Accessed: 05 December 2024). • Ludo Studios (2024). 21 April. Available at: https://youtu.be/nFFb2EQx30A?si=PSDweD7f5rERYvOc (Accessed: 05 December 2024). • Ludo Studios (2024) Bluey characters: Learn more, Bluey Official Website. Available at: https://www.bluey.tv/characters/ (Accessed: 05 December 2024). • Ludo Studios (2022). Explore Bluey’s Hometown of Brisbane - Bluey Official Website. [online] Bluey Official Website. Available https://www.bluey.tv/blog/explore- blueys-hometown-of-brisbane/ (Accessed 17 Dec. 2024].