Concept development with John Kenn Mortensen

A couple of weeks ago we had the freakishly handsome John Kenn Mortensen creator of post-it monsters and cartoonist in Politiken. The workshop focused on concept development.
The first assignment we got, were to make a concept based on Nick Cave and the badseed's song "The curse of Millhaven" from the already highly conceptual album Murder Ballads.

The thing that caught my attention the most in the song was the part with the mother saying Loretta had always been evil. I then went down that tangent and twisted it into being Loretta's Mother who had been home schooling her. The reason Loretta keep killing people was because her mother needed new pupil dead or alive.

The second assignment was to create a high concept also called a Hollywood concept. We made some a what if sentences, like what if Hitler was really an alien. Then we had to find two films or stories that sort of described the concept. I came up with this

What if the children AI robots and human played together in the ruins after a doomsday battle between their parents. 

Stories: Peanuts meets Terminator

Setting: Post war ruins

Target audience: Playful adults

Synopsis:

The war between Ai robots and humans has reached a stalemate and earth is in ruins. The robots have killed most of the adult human population. The orphans play in the ruins their only care in life is passing time. A few years back the robots started sending their new personality efficient AI robots known as P.E.A.R’s out to play with the human children. So they can learn from them and in the end take their place.

Format:

Webcomic strip:      

The third assignment was to steal some part from one of the others concept when they pitched it. We then had to make a low concept which is what most Indie stories usually fall under. Low concepts are also harder to explain in a few words. I stole Evil space wizard from my classmate Eydi's story. 

I then came up this concept:

 

The concept or story is about an old stoner type who finds a real magic mushroom growing from a dead unicorn. He gets stuck in the powerful trip believing he is a evil space wizard. He sells drugs to the kids in the neighbourhood, believing they are lazy his henchmen. He has turned his handicapped blood hound into a chariot by fixing a bicicle seat on the dog. The lower picture above is how he sees himself. How he sees himself is actually real in another dimension. He meets himself later when he tries to tear a hole in time and space.