The Story of an Animation Ch. 2

Where Story Begins

First comes story. Let me repeat. Story comes first. Before you begin your film making journey, make sure you have a great story first. Don’t be tempted to get skimpy or gloss over this step—trust me you’ll regret it later. Story is the bones that you hang everything else on.  If you don’t want a leg where your ear should be or a chin on your forehead—then take your time to craft a good story. Despite that stern warning, don’t be intimated! Start, with something you’re passionate about. You are the first audience of your own story. If you don’t get excited, how do you expect anyone else to do so? Story is everywhere. You just have to look for it. Ironically, it often comes when you’re not looking for it. It doesn’t have to be grand and epic. Let me show you how I stumbled across my story for the animated short “The Fishy’s Tale”.

Several years ago, I and my partner spent a week’s vacation in Helsinki, Finland. While we were there, we visited the National Museum of Finland—a cathedral-like building with an imposing stone façade—all guarded by a regal, yet disarmingly cuddly, stone bear.

If you step inside and look up in the cupola, you will see striking murals painted on the ceilings depicting the Finnish mythological poem/tale called the Kalevala. (Paintings can be a great source of story inspiration—take a walk through a museum and try to imagine a story for your favorite paintings or sculpture pieces.) However, in this case, the inspiration for my story was much more humble and came from an unexpected source.

Much of the museum is arranged by time period, so that as you wander through, you pass back through Finnish history.  As I entered the Dark Ages room, my jet-leg had started to kick in. My mood was not helped by the low lighting swathing a sea of wooden crucifixes depicting the sheer, abject misery of a suffering Christ. (The Dark Ages were apparently not a happy-go-lucky period.) To complete the effect, the museum pumped in oppressive, ominous church music through hidden speakers.  I scurried through and onto the next room with the somber medieval chants still intoning in my ears.

Eventually, I stumbled my way into a prehistory room populated with various artifacts displayed in glass cases. At this point, I was slightly delirious with fatigue as I fixated on a strange looking wicker basket in one of the cases.  Curious, I bent down to read the info card and discovered that the artifact was actually a fish trap. The trap was diabolically simple. A large, funnel- shaped opening led the fish into the basket. However, inside the ends of the funnel were pointy and sharp, to deter the fish from getting out again. With the medieval chants still throbbing in my brain, I began to sing : “Sad, sad—very ,very sad. A fishy’s life is not so glad. You can go in, but you can’t go out!” Much to the dismay of my partner, this catchy little tune stuck in my brain like an earworm.

Fast- forward to the night before our return flight home. We had just settled into our snug hotel bed, turned off the light and begun to nod off, when a dreaded buzzing began. The light clicked back on. Warfare was declared. A game of cat and mosquito ensued with me clicking the light off to lure the insect to my bare face, then using “echo location” to pinpoint the buzzer, followed by a loud slap, as I smacked my hands together hoping to squish the little vampire. But the bloodsucker was crafty and evaded my death slaps. Finally, I decided that since it was clear that I wasn’t going to get any decent sleep that night, that I might as well try to be productive. Calling a truce, I sat up, turned on the light and began to write verses to the “Fishy Song” I had begun at the museum.

The Fishy's Tale

Hear my tale and heed it well!
 Beware the beasts that on land dwell!
 The two-legged one
 Is the one
 To shun;
 You can go in, but you can’t come out!
  
 Chorus:
  
 Sad, sad 
 Very, very sad
 A fishy’s life is not so glad—
 You can go in, but you can’t come out.
  
 
 They ride with oar upon the sea
 Bringing fishies mi-se-ry.
 Don’t be a fool,
 But stay in school!
 You can go in, but you can’t come out!
  
 (Chorus)
  
 The gapping maw of fishies’ fate
 Is fashioned like a wicker gate!
 Luring you into it’s woven lair.
 If a fishy 
 Had a wishy—
 Then it wouldn’t be there!
 You can go it, but you can’t come out!
  
 (Chorus 2x)
  
 ***To read the  actual script, go to majkentalbot.com and look in the Short Scripts page. ***
   

The moral of the story is—well—to have a story. Have a beginning, middle, and an end. First, we need to meet your characters in their environment. ( BEGINNING)  Then, something needs to happen. (MIDDLE) Finally, something needs to change. Either the situation changes or the characters change or both. ( END).  A story doesn’t have to be super complex. Look around you—a great story could be lurking anywhere! Go visit a museum or take a walk or take a hike in a national park.  Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” was inspired by the Oregon Dunes.  Did the container cranes in the Port of Oakland inspire George Lucas to create the AT-AT walkers in the Empire Strikes Back? Maybe not. But, it’s easy to see how something so ordinary could have inspired a Sci-Fi film scene and maybe even a whole film franchise. Now go find your story!