Boxtown is an indie animated noir buddy comedy about a con man detective (Alex Hirsch) who teams up with an innocent, true-crime-obsessed orphan with a hidden murderous side (Sarah Lew).
Bill's "ORD" - Oppositional Rage Disorder - might scare others off, but Tim sees an opportunity. In Boxtown—a city ruled by gangsters, crooked cops, and corporate overlords—Bill’s lethal instincts might be the only thing keeping them alive.
When con-man detective Tim Standing (Alex Hirsch) stumbles upon 8-year-old Bill (Sarah Lew), a sweet orphan doomed to live with nuns due to a rare condition that turns him into a terrifying killing machine, Tim sees an opportunity.
But in Boxtown—a city ruled by gangsters, crooked cops, and corporate overlords—Bill’s lethal instincts might be the only thing keeping them alive.
Because after all…
"Everybody Ends Up In A Box In Boxtown"
Demo performed by @61tchy_lesbian
The world of Boxtown harks back to the noir classics of Chandler and Hammett—a city where the underbelly is the town. A company town under the watchful eye of the Argus Corporation, where even the law is privatized and your fellow citizens tend to fall into two camps: criminals, and detectives who also happen to be criminals.
It’s no place for a kid like Bill, an orphan with nowhere to land but the cracks in the pavement. So he finds a father figure in Tim, who, despite taking him in for his murderous rage, provides the only understanding point of view the boy has ever known. Is it genuine? Is anything? We're all being watched by the big private dick in the sky—and perhaps the ultimate father figure is just the guy who gives you the skinny.
A parent-child act reminiscent of Paper Moon, Dick Tracy, and The Professional—theirmentorship still somehow allows for rare moments of grace, amongst the spritzing blood.
Tim Standing is a mediocre detective but a great con-man. After years of ripping off and scamming his clients instead of actually helping them, he’s created a lot of enemies for himself. Tim used to be a star detective at Argus Investigations but left due to his own pride to strike out as a solo sleuth on the streets of Boxtown. This hasn’t been working out very well for him. Sarcastic, cynical, and always creative, Tim will stop at nothing to show up his former employer and achieve glory as the top detective in Boxtown.
Bill the Orphan is a sweet kid with a few problems. He harbors a lifelong obsession with detectives, the celebrities of the Boxtown world. Bill idolizes the detectives at Argus Investigations and wishes to join their ranks, despite being 8 years old. Bill is the only orphan remaining at St. Anthony’s Catholic Home for Boys because his rage condition has caused him to be adopted and returned multiple times. Now that he's partnered up with Tim, he'll stop at nothing to become the great detective he knows he can be.
Hi everyone! Welcome to the inaugural update of the new Boxtown Production Blog on our brand-spanking-new website! The Boxtown crew has been busier than ever and we're excited to bring everybody up to speed on what we've been working on!
Animation
First off... animation! GLORIOUS animation! We've been staffing up our animation team as they set out to execute the scene where Tim "adopts" Bill as our first animated scene. We want to be able to release the as a proof-of-concept with the launch of our final crowdfund.
(Animation by Avery @24movements)
Model Sheets
Meanwhile, our art director Chelsea has been creating the final model sheets for our animators!
A model sheet is a document used to finalize the design and proportions of an animated character to ensure consistency across different scenes and animators. Creating the model sheets requires a lot of back and forth discussion as we look at our drawings of the characters and start to get really specific about how they look and turn in 3D space.
(Art by Chelsea Landaverry)
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