The following is an animatic idea from me, Zachary Goldman, for the Voltaire song "This Ship's Going Down". With each line of the song comes the idea of the sketch to be shown in the animatic. There are 13 members of the crew, the crew being dubbed "Misfortune's Privateers", and I thought 13 was a good number because superstitious sailors are uneasy with that number. First comes the crew listing, then comes the lyrics.

Captain Voltaire (His story is told through the song, and his narrative lends the other's life of their own. Plenty of character, likable.)
Cabin Boy (A lovestruck little kid, despairing that he will never see his foreign love again.)
Chinese Cook (A Chinese cook who won't let even the storm stop him from fricasseeing a sea anemone at the bottom of the sea!)
Crow (Seeing certain death all around him in the lookout's nest, he drowns his fear in rum.),
First Officer Williams (Somewhat like Lieutenant Williams at Raven Rock; awkward, bumbling, prone to mistakes, simply doesn't know what went wrong?)
Seaman Shaft (A nasty jerk who stuffs his pockets full of gold while everyone sinks. Then, he pushes people off his lifeboat so he keeps all the treasure to himself.)
Gaunt Ratface (A skinny and scruffy looking fellow, gets shoved off the life raft by Seaman Shaft with an oar.)
Ship's Priest (Gives one last sermon for the doomed sailors, giving a screaming prayer to God with the sea spray whipping all around him.)
Navigator (A bookish looking fellow with a backpack full of scrolls, bailing out the ship with a bucket, and is one of the sailors with the Ship's Priest in the end.)
Rigging Man (We see him trying to cut the sails, and is with the Ship's Priest at his final howling sermon.)
Burly Boatswain (Big strong guy, we see him mostly trying to save the ship, with the Captain at the end.)
Gruff Veteran Goldman (A grizzled and bristled old sailor, as the ship splinters around him he simply lights a cigar and gives a salute to Death, who appear before him.)
Recordskeeper (A bookish looking fellow as well, earlier he is trying to save his books, and later drowns alongside the Captain.)
The Rigger's Cat (The only survivor, we see him with the Rigger at the sermon, but he hops into a small wooden barrel bobbing along, and the barrel closes shut).

(During the initial music, we see the ship struggling in the sea, then smashing it's bow into a spire of rock jutting out of the sea, like an iceberg with the Titanic. First Officer Williams bursts into the Captain's Quarters, and Captain Voltaire looks up from his various maps. We then see sailors running past a room with the door sign "Loot Room" or something similar.)

A gargantuan hole in the bow, (We see the water rushing into the treasure room.)
Will the ocean to enter allow, (The Boatswain was trying to pull Gaunt Ratface and Seaman Shaft away from the treasure to run for life, but gives up.)
Oh but more a sin than letting it in, (Gaunt Ratface and Seaman Shaft keep filling their pockets with golden treasures while the room is filling.)
It's letting our good fortune out. (We see the gold glinting in one of their eyes.)

The nest to the storm did succumb, (Lightning cracks over the Crow's Nest.)
While the Crow hid his fear in the rum, (Inside the nest now, the Crow swigs from a rum jug, laughing and crying.)
And the mast, it broke, (We see the mast snap violently, sails twisting and lines fraying.)
And threw out the bloke, (Crow is flung tumbling into the ocean.)
And well now he's surely my chum. (Rum jug bobbing in the violent ocean.)

Love letters from under his bed, (The Cabin Boy is scrawling a letter on his desk with a feather pen, water at foot level, the lantern on the desk sputtering, we see this from above his head.)
Holds the cabin boy over his head, (The Cabin Boy scrolls it and shoves it in a bottle.)
A futile try to keep it dry, (We see the Navigator attempting to bail out the room with a bucket in the background, and the Cabin Boy tosses the bottle out a window.)
What tears have already wet. (We then see a close up of the desk, a bundle of tear stained envelopes, slightly yellowed, that the Cabin Boy grabs.)
They were penned by a girl in Merak, (Water level rises to the Cabin Boy's chest.)
And the Javanese value their tact, (The Cabin Boy is looking frantically back and forth, turning in the water, holding the bundle of letters above his head.)
She'll conclude he's horribly rude, (Water sloshes up in level and douses the lamp on the Cabin Boy's desk.)
'Cause he's sure as hell not writing back. (We see the Cabin Boy's face, weeping.)

(Chorus)
'Cause the ship's going down, (From the outside hull of the ship, we see tentacles slowly creeping up the side of the ship.)
All on account of the weather, (The tentacles are poised over the deck, a couple having picked up things like a cannon or piece of timber.)
Though we'll drown, (The Burly Boatswain, Chinese Cook, and First Officer Williams are in the center of the deck, all with their backs to each other.)
There's no need to frown, (They look at each other with a look of grim determination.)
'Cause we're all going together, (The three men roar and charge at the kraken.)
And I won't say "Woe is me", (The Chinese Cook swings his big sushi knife at the kraken tentacles all around him.)
As I disappear into the sea, (First Officer Williams fires off two flintlock pistols quickly, then sinks a hatchet into a tentacle, pinning it to the door to the Captain's Quarters.)
'Cause I'm in good company, (The Crow is seen pulling himself up over the side of a floating row boat.)
As we're all going together. (Then, a flailing tentacle from the dead kraken smashes the tiny boat to smithereens.)

I've had women of every kind, (The Captain is stumbling through a hallway, being supported by the shoulder of the Recordskeeper.)
But the only one truly was mine, (The Captain pulls out a small, worn sepia photo from his coat.)
Is the one at home who'll be alone, (We then see his younger, less bearded face smiling warmly in his best suit with a young woman and small child, in the photo. A tear falls on the photo.)
When I am full-up with brine. (He stows the photo away, tears in his eyes.)
For my son I had always a plan, (We go to the ship's deck, where the Grizzled Veteran is shuffling along, cupping his hand to light a cigar.)
For to raise him as best as I can. (He slowly exhales out the cigar, a fine, expensive, exotic one.)
Oh well you can bet, my only regret, (The grizzled veteran sailor smiles and salutes to someone we can't see.)
Is to not see him grow to a man. (But then we see from behind him, he is saluting to Death, who has taken the guise of a tax collector, but still holds his scythe.)

(Chorus)
'Cause the ship's going down (We see part of the ship still above water, the stern, with The Priest giving a final crazy sermon with the Rigger and Navigator, as lightning strikes.)
All on account of the weather, (The Priest reads from the bible he holds, then shouts at the heavens, as if challenging God.)
Though we'll drown, (The Rigging Man is holding his cat tightly in his arms, weeping.)
There's no need to frown, (The Navigator is devoutly praying, lips moving, hands together.)
'Cause we're all going together (The Priest points up at the heavens shouting at god, his mustache soaking, as lightning strikes the remaining mast.)
And I won't say "Woe is me" (The Rigging Man's cat leaps from his arms.)
As I disappear into the sea, (And into a floating wooden barrel, intact, with the lid ajar.)
'Cause I'm in good company (The Rigging Man looks away from the sermon to the barrel with his cat in it, a face of pure surprise.)
As we're all going together (The wooden barrel is seen quickly being swept away from the storm, bobbing in the waves.)

(During the music between these lyrics, we see a shanty band of skeletal pirates are playing the violin and other instruments, with soul and passion, on the bottom of the sea floor in their own sunken vessel.)

I was sinking down into the brine, (The Captain is slumped over a piece of wood, head hanging.)
When a curious sight caught my eye. (The Captain looks up, surprised appearance, wide eyed.)
Seaman Shaft had found him a raft, (Seaman Shaft and Gaunt Ratface are rowing on a life raft with heaps of the stolen gold aboard. Seaman Shaft laughing while doing so.)
And was makin' a speedy goodbye. (Now Seaman Shaft shoots Gaunt Ratface with a flintlock in the side of his head, and the sickly looking sailor drops over the raft side.)
At the risk of sounding absurd, (The Captain has a furious face.)
I have always been good as my word. (We see the Captain pick a fish gig from the waves, and he throws it.)
So a fish gig I lanced into his eye, (We see the fish gig spear Seaman Shaft through his eye.)
And I knocked his ass overboard. (Seaman Shaft falls off the raft backwards and sinks quickly, with a splash.)

(Chorus)
'Cause the ship's going down (The Captain spots a body floating by and pulls it up, it being the Recordskeeper.)
All on account of the weather, (He hits the Recordskeeper on the back, expelling some water.)
Though we'll drown, (The Burly Boatswain swims toward the mast with the Cabin Boy slung across his back.)
There's no need to frown, (The Boatswain reaches the mast, grabbing it with a large hand.)
'Cause we're all going together (The Recordskeeper splutters, coughing up water, as he, Captain Voltaire, and the Burly Boatswain are hanging onto the sinking mast.)
And I won't say "Woe is me", (The three men glance around at each other, scared and helpless.)
As I disappear into the sea, (The Captain's head lowers in realization that there is no other fate.)
Oh hell! (The Captain gives a mad grin, saying "Oh hell!")
'Cause you've all been so good to me, (The men all look at each other warmly, finding brothership in the darkest of hours in each other's faces.)
So we're all going together. (Then we get a view of the ship from a further distance, seeing it broken in two and flaming, sinking, and close to the viewer's location the Jolly Roger floats by. That or the barrel cat's barrel.)

God, I feel so great after writing this! And after writing this, I can't stop imagining it! Who will join me, and make this a true animatic?