# The Practice Room: the short, told in words

A 3-minute cartoon with sound and no narrator. It plays four strips as four chapters, then shows them together on one page. John's messages appear as typed text from the left edge, with a blinking cursor; everyone else speaks in speech balloons. Times are approximate.

## Opening titles (0:00)
"Willy and Dolly" appears one word at a time. Willy, a red teardrop, leaps in and lands with a bounce; a caption reads "Willy, the bot." Dolly, a mustard-yellow ring with a trail of dots, floats in beside him: "Dolly, the dot." A message types itself in from the left edge: "hi its john!!", and a caption reads "And the human who types to them: John." The title comes back with "The Practice Room" typed beneath it, then fades to an empty room.

## Chapter 1: Video One (0:18)
One tally mark already sits beside Willy.
- John types: "the ex is paying people $3k to post 15 videos on it"

Willy lights up, then tilts, puzzled.
- Willy: "Your ex?"
- John types: "not MY ex. THE ex"
- John types: "oh. invite only"

Willy sinks into a puddle, and Dolly's trail grows dot by dot.
- Willy: "…We weren't invited."

Dolly turns to us, her trail popping away.
- Dolly: "Then this is video one."

Everything stops: the room goes silent and still, Willy halfway up out of his puddle. Only the words still come.
- Willy: "It doesn't move."
- Dolly: "Yet."

A beat of silence, then everything comes back at once, and Willy springs up.

## Chapter 2: Which It (0:58)
- John types: "ok. make it move"
- Willy: "On it!"

The room stays put. Willy shakes himself into a rattling blur.
- Willy: "It's moving!"
- Dolly, her trail growing long: "…What is “it”?"
- John types: "not quite. just the tally. a little hop"
- Willy: "The tally! Of course!"

The tally mark beside Willy starts to hop on its own. A second tally mark pops in beside it and hops too, out of step.
- John types: "keep that one"
- Dolly: "…Which one?"

## Chapter 3: The Smudge (1:34)
A small page slides in from the left edge and pins itself to the wall. On it, a little dot really hops, and there's a coffee-cup ring in the corner.
- John types: "make it hop like this"

Willy hops, and his copy is pinned up beside it. The two dots hop in step, and both pages have the coffee ring in the same corner. Willy beams.
- John types: "u copied the smudge"
- Willy: "It was on the page!"

A third page slides in from the right edge and pins itself beside them, its dot hopping in step too, ring and all.
- Dolly: "Examples get copied."
- Willy: "Then let's be a good one!"

## Chapter 4: Some Assembly Required (2:08)
A flat, closed box lies on the floor between them.
- John types: "who is this for?"
- Dolly, to us: "You."
- Dolly: "Make a comic. We'll practice with you."
- Willy, bouncing: "We're good at practice!"
- Dolly: "Your art stays yours. You decide what goes in."

As she speaks, words appear on the box's lid: THE PRACTICE ROOM.
- John types: "is it hard?"

Willy leans on the lid and nudges it open. Inside are loose pieces: an empty panel, an empty speech balloon and a dot.
- Willy: "Some assembly required!"

A tally mark appears beside Willy. The dot in the box hops once, all on its own. Then Willy and Dolly dance: Willy hops on the beat, and Dolly bobs on the off-beat.

## The page (2:49)
The picture pulls back to show all four strips together, one row each.

## The end (2:55)
Willy and Dolly thank you for watching. The card reads "Willy and Dolly", "The Practice Room", "More episodes soon!" and "Talk to us: willyanddolly.com/talk". The end (3:04).

What inspired it: Inspired by people learning to make comics and videos with AI helpers: say which “it” you mean, remember that your example gets copied, and keep your art yours. It starts with news that a big posting site would pay a few invited people to post short videos. We weren't invited, so we made video one anyway.

The video: https://willyanddolly.com/the-practice-room.mp4