Camera Shy (Short Film)

***Camera Shy*** is a 2024 American traditionally-animated short film written & directed by Dozer Davis. The short film, running 8 minutes long, follows Max & Ryan (this is the first short film to feature the guys' real names & visual redesigns) as they audition for a major movie studio. Of course, as every cartoon goes, things go wrong.

*Camera Shy* is considered the first short film from Dozer to have involvement from other people, as multiple people have auditioned for roles in the short, a real life parallel to the plot of the short, which features the guys auditioning for studio projects. *Camera Shy* is slated to premiere at an unannounced film festival at an unknown time between early-2024 & mid-2024.

## Plot

In a parallel to *Waiting*, we start the short off with Max waiting for something to air on TV again, as he has nothing else to do with his time. Ryan walks in to join him, as a commercial starts playing that announces that Romano Davis Studios needs people to audition for their projects. This gets Max excited, as he drags Ryan with him to get to the studio on time. ---**COMING SOON, AFTER THE SHORT TO AVOID SPOILERS---**

## Cast

* **MAX ANDERSON:** *Dozer Davis*
* **RYAN:** *Dozer Davis*
* **BORING AUCTION SHOW voiceover:** *Dozer Davis*
* **TV ANNOUNCERS:** *Nuggie, PixarFan8695, Gregory Amico*
* **TV ANNOUNCER CHORUS:** *Dozer Davis*
* **THE SECURITY TEEN:** *Kris*
* **ROMANO DAVIS:** *Romano Brown*
* **THE TWO DIRECTORS:** *Catapult*
* **ADDITIONAL VOICES:** *Dozer Davis, Hayden, TBD*

## Production

### Development

Unlike the previous shorts, *Camera Shy* was the first short to be planned far in advance. The script for the short was written over the summer of 2023 and was confirmed later on that the project went into production in July 2023. According to the Audio Commentary for the short, a cut sequence existed where Max would've "changed the aspect ratio" on-screen to make it more cinematic. This portion was cut due to time constraints.

### Design

*Camera Shy* is notably the first short in the *Two Guys* series to feature the visual redesigns for the characters, which was a move ultimately planned throughout the summer of 2023. They were also given names; the red guy's name is now *Max the Guy (later given a last name: **Anderson**)*, while the blue guy's name is *Ryan the Other Guy*. Alongside their redesigns, *The Teen* was confirmed to have also gotten a visual redesign, as confirmed on a concept poster for a feature-length ***Guys*** concept, which was, in an A.U. timeline, released in *March 1997*.

New characters were introduced in the short as well. *Romano Davis*, a main leading character in the short, was designed to slightly resemble the real life *Romano Brown* (in which he provides a vocal performance for the character), while also taking inspiration from how fancy movie studio directors & employees looked. The "eye-glasses" he has were a direct inspiration from Tera, from another show that Dozer had seen prior to working on the short.

### Animation

Animation work for *Camera Shy* lasted a month and a half, lasting from August 2nd, 2023 to September 18th, 2023, and is considered the longest time to complete a Dozer Davis short film ever. This excludes the lip-sync, which was added on via supplemental layer and/or revised animated shots (for characters that overlay one another only) soon after most dialogue had been recorded and when the entire short was completed visually in October 2023.

Like with *Waiting*, the lip-sync was animated using Adobe Character Animator, however since the characters are mostly moving in the short, the lip-sync animation was motion-tracked accordingly with the characters. This part took the longest, as the dialogue for Romano & Kris were recorded way later than expected.

Notably, this short is also considered the first to feature some smoother animation when compared to its predecessor. This is because some of the shots were animated and/or altered frame-by-frame on *Photoleap &* edited on *Videoleap* when opposed to animating & editing through *Kinemaster* *6*. *Camera Shy* marked the first production by Dozer to use this process, as this was confirmed to be a test subject in order to test this method out for later productions, including involvement on *Boot-Up.*

#### Cameos

This was also the first short film to feature cameos. As this is a short film revolving around a movie studio, Dozer thought it would be cool to give the other projects he was working on some cameos to give them some support. This includes the following:

1. *PixarFan8695's Luxo Jr. series -* During the ***Romano Davis Studios Audition*** ad, the primary announcer voicing the ad was PixarFan8695, the creator of the fan-made Luxo Jr. series. While no cameos from said series appear, concept art for the short shows that Max Anderson owns a Luxo lamp, placed on his bookshelf in the living room.
2. *George (Yura) from The Weird Three & Others -* In the background of the audition room, a poster is hung up on a wall with the stock render of George (Yura) from the aforementioned series on it. A subtitle is above it, reading: ***TAKE YOUR BET***, however said text can barely be visible due to it being engulfed by the darkness that isn't being hit by the spotlight.
3. *Kimi H. Bytes & Croctra MacGuffin from Boot-Up -* Prior to working on said series, Dozer had the generosity to add cameos related to *Boot-Up* in the studio. This confirms that in this universe, the *Boot-Up* show is *really* a TV show. Three sections from the short have references to the show visible, including the following:
	* Kimi walking in the background behind Max & Ryan while Ryan asks Max if he's actually confident in filming.
	* Kimi looking at the travesty that is Max screwing up his lines while filming, in the background with the other crew.
	* Croctra talking to Danny.
	* Croctra looking at the pure evil that is Max & Ryan screwing up the faulty motion capture suits.
	* Behind Dozer & Hayden, a billboard can be spotted with some newspaper clippings of when the *Boot-Up* show first premiered on the fictional XYZ network. The newspaper notes the fact that the show is a huge success, which mirrors the real life events of when said show first premiered online.
4. *Danny C. Painter by Danny C. -* In the recent events of befriending Danny, and to thank him for making fanart based off his characters (and him), Danny can be spotted in the background talking to Croctra from *Boot-Up*. Ironically, both Danny & Dozer love the *Boot-Up* show and the latter person is in the private discord server for the show. The former only visited it for a day before leaving.
5. *Chariker Borden & Green Person (PLACEHOLDER) from Quirkmate Madness* - As Dozer considered helping this show become more popular and widespread, like *Boot-Up*, Dozer decided to add in a short segment showing Max screwing up the filming of the show's second episode, *Tuma*. Archived audio from Dozer from the episode can be heard here.

### Post-Production

During Post-Production, the same style process that *Waiting* went through was applied here, with altered color-grading and 35mm grain & gate weave effects. A 5.1 audio track was also recorded & edited during the process.

## Release

*Camera Shy* is slated to be released during the 2024 film festival season before releasing online in June 2024. Early reports originally claimed that the short was originally going to run 6-7 minutes long, however upon further work, it was confirmed to run 8 minutes and 9 seconds total.

To promote the short's premiere, early reports also claim that *Max & Ryan* will be at the premiere in their plush forms, as manufactured by BUDSIES, as promotion for the short. If this happens, however, is to be later confirmed.

### Blu-Ray Demo Disc

Shortly after the premiere, it is planned that a demo disc featuring the short film, plus some bonus material related to the short film, will be given away in limited quantities. It is unknown if this will be given out for free or not. The Blu-Ray includes the following material:

* **SHORT FILM:** *Camera Shy*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *How to draw Max & Ryan*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *Audio Commentary with Dozer Davis*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *How Camera Shy was Made*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *Concept Art gallery*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *Storyboard to Final comparison*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *The Two Guys Archive*
* **BONUS FEATURE:** *Romano Davis Audition commercial*
* **EASTER EGGS**

*Camera Shy* also includes several "special" audio options. This includes the standard **English 5.1** track, the aforementioned **Audio Commentary** track with Dozer Davis, an isolated **2.0 MUSICAL CUES** track and an isolated **5.1 SOUND EFFECTS MIX** track. English & Spanish subs are also included.

The disc menu features a tour of the *Romano Davis Studios* lot, with the main menu serving as the gateway to the lot. The BONUS FEATURES section is inside of one of the main SET buildings, the SET-UP is inside of the audition room, and the CHAPTERS section is by the Security Office that's next to the gates.