To help Paramount celebrate the upcoming holiday season, create a short, festive, and fun holiday-themed animated social video featuring different Easter Eggs from a selection of Paramount movies and TV shows.
It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year again! We're talking hot cocoa, ugly sweaters, festive celebrations - and of course, cozying up with loved ones around a warm fireplace to watch our favorite Paramount movies and TV shows. To get in the holiday spirit, Paramount is looking to create a short, festive, and fun animated social video that’s filled with “Easter Egg” visual references to a variety of popular Paramount titles.
The goal here is then to create a single animated winter holiday-theme video, up to :15, that incorporates key visual references to Paramount movies and TV shows in a way that feels relatable and enjoyable for people from any religious background, and does NOT actually tie everything to one particular holiday (e.g. Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Years). You'll find the full list of titles down in the Background, and you'll see that they represent a very wide range, both in terms of their audience and their tonality, with everything from SpongeBob SquarePants to The Daily Show and the horror franchise Smile. In terms of your creative approach, look at the video as more of an illustrated and festive environment that contains dynamic movement within it, rather than something with a fully fleshed out narrative. Paramount is essentially looking to blend the styles that you see in two of their past two holiday posts, below.
In those examples, Paramount likes the movement and the holiday-agnostic colors that you see in the 2022 post, but they also like the detailed illustrations and Easter Egg nods to Paramount titles in the 2023 post. They now want to take those elements and merge them into your video for the 2024 holiday season. You'll note that these examples are 2D, but we're open to other forms of animation too, including stop motion.
For some thought starters, your video could take place around a decorative fireplace with Yellowstone, Tulsa King and other holiday cards on the mantel, or you might consider revealing a holiday feast, surrounded by Gladiator paraphernalia. You could also take us inside a snow globe featuring the iconic character homes from SpongeBob SquarePants, or with snowmen from your favorite Daily Show correspondents. The idea is to pick a festive environment, and then find ways to add key visuals from as many Paramount titles as possible. You do NOT need to include references to every title in your holiday scene - but Paramount would like to see as many titles included as possible.
Importantly, you CANNOT feature the likenesses of any actors from the titles. If you choose to include illustrations of animated characters, any depictions must be wholly original works (i.e. not still images pulled from the show), and the characters must stay as close to the original designs as possible.
We also encourage you to submit an optional proof-of-concept video that illustrates how your idea would come to life. Your proof of concept should be designed for social media, shot in a 9x16 aspect ratio, and up to 15 seconds long. Feel free to include links to any existing social videos (they don't have to be your own) that represent the style you'd be aiming for. So let your imagination run wild!
Check out more information in the Background, and for any questions or other project updates, check out the Project Forum.
DELIVERABLES: There are two total video assets.
EXPECTED TIMELINE: HERE
EXPOSURE: We expect content will be used on the platforms below, you should also review our Music providers in the Project Requirements, as well as the platform best practices.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
TONE/FEEL: Festive, cozy, fun, spirited, celebratory
EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES:
OPEN BID:
KEY PARAMOUNT TITLES TO HIGHLIGHT: Below is the list of key titles the Paramount team would like to highlight as Easter Eggs in the festive holiday scene. You do NOT need to feature every title, but they do hope to have as many of the below featured as possible.
In order to be considered, include the below materials in your submission. For examples of effective pitches, check out this gallery. All Pitches remain private, even after a Pitch is selected, and Tongal strives to have Pitch selections made by the end of the Evaluation period, but additional time may be required by the Sponsor, depending on any number of factors.
The most compelling pitch will be greenlit by the Sponsor, and the responsible creator will then receive an email from Tongal producers detailing next steps. All submitters will also receive an automated email notification that a selection has been announced. To ensure you’re receiving project updates, review your email settings to check that you haven’t unsubscribed.
Creators who’ve been selected will receive funding upon completing the Winner Affidavit and the IP Assignment. Payment of the pitch funds is subject to a payment schedule determined by Tongal, typically included with the project timeline.
PRE-PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS: Prior to the commencement of actual production, creators MUST receive final approval from the Sponsor on the elements below. There may be multiple rounds of feedback until an element is approved.
If you begin production before you have received final approval, you may need to reshoot or reanimate at your own expense.
For convenience, we've provided some helpful templates that you can consider using for pre-production materials, and they can all be accessed here.
BUILDING YOUR TEAM: Looking for help? Post crew and production opportunities connected to Tongal projects on Backlot. Backlot includes search tools to help you find collaborators and crew by role, skill set, location, and more, for productions of any size and type. Tongal also supports inclusivity in all productions, and strongly encourages you to hire diverse talent for your team. To find additional options for staff & crew in your area, check out these resources and partners.
REVISION REQUIREMENTS & RESOURCES: Once Content has been submitted and the initial Production Phase completed, greenlit creators will enter into Revisions. Creators will perform reasonable edits on their videos according to the Sponsor's feedback. Check out our Filmmaker Resource Portal to access helpful post-production resources like Text-Safe Guides for different platforms, Project File Organization Tutorial, Export Presets, and Captioning services.
MUSIC: If you use music from a library for your content, you MUST use one of Tongal's music providers: Jingle Punks and Universal Production Music. Music from these providers is available to registered Tongal members at no charge solely for their incorporation into submissions to this project, and will not require a Music Release Form. To learn more, click on any of the providers' names above.
If you choose to use original music, you must fill out and submit our Music Release Form. Please ensure your composer reviews and signs this form BEFORE beginning their work.
STOCK FOOTAGE: Tongal has partnered with the stock footage library STORYBLOCKS, which can be used to source video clips, photography, and After Effects templates for your video submission to this project. Video or photo content from Storyblocks is available at no charge, solely for incorporation into submissions on this project, and will not require a separate Release Form. If identifiable people or intellectual property appears in a video clip or photo, you may only utilize assets that are clearly marked “Model released: Yes” or “Property release: Yes” on the clip description pages. You may not use any audio.
If you intend to use Storyblocks, inform your Tongal producer, and an account will be created for you to access the library. Once assets are approved for delivery, you must provide a complete list of all Storyblocks content that you used via our template HERE.
ASSET DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS & RESOURCES: You must also provide all project files, editing sequences and a 1080p .mov master file, using a ProRes, Animation, or Uncompressed Codec in order to submit final payment. You are responsible for any costs associated with the hard drive and shipping. Tongal also reserves the right to request all raw files associated with the project.
To ensure a smoother delivery, please review the Export Presets, Specifications, and Project File Organization Tutorial in our Filmmaker Resource Portal.