THESIS

Ever since I was little I have been fascinated by cryptids, I fully believed in them. To me they were real life fantasy creatures, nothing was cooler than a prehistoric dinosaur living in a Scottish lake. As I got older and learned more about these creatures and sightings I started looking at the skeptic side, not just the hoaxes but the mistaken identity and the psychological side. 

 

Currently I find myself in the middle of a warzone, you are either a die hard believer or a stone cold skeptic but I don’t know where I fall on that scale. I believe in the possibility however I will always question the legitimacy. I wanted to find a way to merge both sides in a fun show. Instead of just one side, I came up with the idea of “We’re Cryptozoologists''. Which has both real cryptids and more skeptical science. 

 

While researching I decided to look at the sociological and psychological aspects of cryptid sightings. Common examples are mistaken identity, confirmation bias, hoaxes for tourism and more. Mistaken identity is when someone sees something that is not there, common mental illusions like seeing a log in a lake as a serpent, triggered by your brain trying to make sense of incomplete data.  When biases are added it can make misidentification more common. Sometimes if you want to see something or think you should see something, like if others claim something is there, your brain will use that to fill the holes. 

 

It's fascinating how the mind does this and fascinating where these ideas of legendary monsters originally came from. Supposed research from the book Abominable Science says that the legendary Loch Ness monster was created in the 1930’s, encouraged by a Newspaper seeking attention and monster mania following the release of King Kong in Europe. All fascinating information that I had never seen in any cryptid show before.

 

Since I haven't seen these ideas incorporated in any cryptid media I thought I would do it by creating an animated tv show  A children's show about finding yourself and your place in the world as I want to find my place in the cryptid scene. With episodes referencing the social and psychological research I found. Examples: The Loch Ness Monster and two other lake monsters will appear and frequently be mixed up with each other and with logs drifting in the water. A fun reference and obstacle for the cast to overcome that is encouraged by the brown log-like coloring the Loch Ness monster is given in its character design. Or even delving into the great tourism of the cryptid trade as this little fictional town of New Hampshire gets more than they bargained for. 

 

I invite you to enjoy the pitch and concept art book I have created for this show from story to concept and feel free to become a cryptozoologist. Seriously though there really aren't many requirements the characters of the show could actually qualify for that title.