Article: How "Lost" Influenced the Creators of "Once Upon A Time"

Source

Just in time for tonight's next episodic installment of Once Upon A Time, TV Guide has released an interview with the creators, who also wrote for Lost.

Once Upon a Time Bosses on How Lost Influenced Their Fairytale World:

The duo began the groundwork for Once eight years ago, but it took working on Lost to really hone their idea. "We were really young and we didn't understand how to execute the idea we had. We called it our eight-year writer's block," Kitsis says with a laugh.

...Though the series is ripe with mythos springing from the original fairytales and what the Once writers have also created, the producers believe the real strength and appeal of the series lies elsewhere. "We never thought about Lost or Once really as mythology shows, even though mythology obviously is a part of [both]," Horowitz says. "They are character shows to us. That was the greatest lesson on Lost: Really learning how to approach the story through character."

Prince Charming & Snow White in Fairy Tale Land (ABC's Once Upon A Time)

 ...Horowitz and Kitsis have also pieced together their own "bible" to keep track of the Once timelines and character histories, not unlike the one used by the Lost writers. "It's just to keep ourselves straight as to what we're doing," Horowitz says. "But we're allowing ourselves freedom. It's not like we said, 'Here's what all three seasons would be, or five seasons.' We've got some goal posts, but we're allowing ourselves to create a freedom to change our minds."

 I don't know if fairy tale enthusiasts were/are fans of Lost in general but it definitely has a Lost (show) feel to it. I'm hoping having writers and experienced producers like Jane Espenson* of successful myth-based shows on board will keep that mythology strong and, as a result, use the best aspects of Lost and combine them with something truly fantastic.

Not having a solid myth-base was one of the things about Lost that, well, lost me. During the first season it seemed to me that the writers weren't solid on the rules of the world, it's mythology or where the stories were ultimately going (something that the writers have apparently now admitted was the case, since the series finished). As a result it just felt like a prime time soap set in an unusual location (at least to me and others I know). I have much higher hopes for Once Upon A Time and hope it will ultimately resonate with more people than those just wanting character drama (ie. soap) without losing that audience either.

One fun thing to expect for fans of Lost are inside references and jokes in the set and script of Once (I hear there have already been a couple) and for Lost cast members to appear in very difference roles. Eg one very buzzed about appearance is that of Emilie de Ravin as Belle in episode 12. (Yes - it's Disney's Beauty that's being referenced here).

 Details of her role are scarce, but we hear Once's Belle will have a connection to Rumplestiltskin. No word on whether the titular Beast will appear, but Gaston is slated to pop up as well. Source.

I just have to mention a separate little niggle here (yes another one): I really don't like how they're casting and dressing the actors for their various dual life roles. (I could write a whole post on this but it feels too early in the series to do more than mention right now.) Despite trying to echo the "Disney look" the results don't 'feel' like the characters to me but more like a trip to Disneyland gone sideways. For example, I think this look HERE for Emilie de Ravin looks far more like the character of Belle from the fairy tale (albeit a little too sexily dressed) than the above production photo. Then again, her fair hair and skin, although completely gorgeous, don't say "Beauty" (of Beauty and the Beast) to me at all. If I was matching her to a fairy tale I'd go with Sleeping Beauty. But maybe that's just me. :D

 
You can read the whole article with executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis HERE (it includes hints on what they know they have to achieve over the series and what areas are open to "evolving storylines") .

*Ms. Espenson dealt wonderfully with the many complicated worlds and mythologies created by Joss Whedon. She also wrote the Jiminy Cricket episode "Still Small Voice", which aired last week. To my mind, despite still having criticisms, it seemed more solid than the past fairy tale character-focused episodes.

Tam Lin - Wallpaper by Stephanie Pui Mun Law

© Stephanie Pui Mun Law

 I love* the story of Tam Lin (Child Ballad 39A - a.k.a. The Fairy Tale Ballad) so am always on the lookout for new art and media based on it.

First I have to show you this beautiful wallpaper. (Click on image above to see fullsize please or go to her website and see the images even larger with detail image options - recommended.) I've been following artist Stephanie Pui Mun Law since before she when to college and have been so pleased and proud to see her develop into a much sought after full-time fine artist today. You can see a lot more of her amazing work on her website HERE (lots of fairy tales!) and on deviantArt HERE. I didn't realize she had been working on a triptych of the story until recently so am over the moon to find it.


*I even have several projects gathering dust based on it at this typing! Whether I will have the opportunity to do with them what I want to is yet to be seen but they're never far from my mind.

Tam Lin - Sims Animation (New)

(This was originally part of the above posting but in the end I thought each person should each have their own. :)

I don't think I've ever seen an animation of the story of Tam Lin (oh how sad the project Neil Gaiman and Wendy & Brian Froud were attached to a few years ago tanked!) but someone has been working very hard at home with a medieval Sims program to create the characters and world so they could.

Screen capture from Sims animation by BonnieLaurel

 As you can see from the screen capture above, this type of animation isn't the professional movie studio animation we're now taking for granted on our screens but more like gaming animation. That's, in fact, where it came from (kind of like build your own characters, put them in an environment you 'dress' and play the game). Unlike where Sims started current Sims can be very sophisticated and is a far cry from where Sims began. The medieval world and costuming here is quite impressive, as is the range of movement and animation possibilities now available gamers (and others) at home.

This is the result and I thought it worth posting for anyone who loves Tam Lin as much as I do:

If you liked this, do go let creator BonnieLaurel know. She must have lost weeks and weeks of sleep putting this together!

The music is by Coyote Run who make wonderful contemporary Celtic music, retelling Celtic legends and other literature in song. If you love Celtic music you must check these guys out.

Once Upon A Blog Is Going Through Some Changes

I thought it was about time I updated the look of the blog so I will be experimenting over the next little while until I settle on something I'm happy with.

Please be patient! I'm not likely to get it right the first time. Or the second time. Or... ya know!

Think of it as Once Upon A Blog going through some transformations. ;)

In the meantime, this is what we've looked like for almost a couple of years...

And I honestly have no idea where I'm going with things this time yet!

PS Expect frogs - at least at first. ;)

Honeycrisp or Red Delicious? Jiminy Cricket or Jiminy Grasshopper?

Disclaimer:

Please know that despite these criticisms I am enjoying Once Upon A Time. Yes, I have issues with the series; of course I do. I care about the material very much. That doesn't mean I throw the baby out with the bathwater. By definition I am a fan and enjoy tuning in. I do, however, think that certain things are worth commenting on, especially considering this is a fairy tale blog. I hope all this is understood by other fans and any of the production that may come across this. It's all fantastic fodder for discussion - and about fairy tales, no less!

I know, I know. It's kinda picky but it's bothering me as now I've seen the second more obviously incorrect visual-vs-script I've seen in ABCs Once Upon A Time. (Please know, I'm not looking for these to be critical - they're jumping out at me.) *

My first "visual frowny" came when Regina-aka-Evil-Queen was picking apples from her personal orchard and offered what she called a Honeycrisp to Emma Swan. Except, it wasn't a Honeycrisp. It was a Red Delicious (the difference is obvious to anyone who buys apples regularly). Turns out I'm not the only one who's noticed either. I've seen a few "creased-forehead-posts" around the internet mentioning it, like this one HERE which fellow fairy tale blog readers may have seen).

Here's a visual for you with the comparison:

Source HERE

 See what I mean?

I'll come back to this one in a minute. For now, let's look at the most recent one that caught my eye.

Last week, we saw Archie Hopper (aka Jiminy Cricket) in fairy tale land, both in human form and transformed to... um... and insect. Being very familiar with Disney's Pinocchio, in which Jiminy does vaguely represent a cricket, I was surprised to see human-Jiminy become, what appears very much to be, a grasshopper.

Here's the design by talented artist  Jared Krichevsky for the ABC's series:

Design for Once Upon A Time's Jiminy Cricket-as-insect

It's a little harder to find a strong visual to give you for grasshopper vs cricket but there are many descriptions - like HERE - which outline the differences, including visual ones, clearly. Here's one, which, although is an illustration, shows you most clearly:

Source HERE.

 According to these, we have a nocturnal grasshopper as our Jiminy Cricket, although he does have large cricket eyes.

But back to the apples...

The Jiminy Cricket design aberration is niggly-annoying, I'll admit, as many people confuse crickets with grasshoppers but it's not nearly as annoying as getting food wrong. Why? Because food in fairy tales is very important. I appreciated THIS ARTICLE HERE, titled "Feeding Snow White", by insightful author Paula Young Lee, which also had issues with the Red Delicious-not-Honeycrips being offered Emma Swan, and have had it in my posting queue since before I decided to try blogging again.

Of course, I’m nitpicking—but with a purpose. The apple-breed mix-up is a handy symbol for a larger pattern: Food has always played a surprisingly important role in the Snow White tale, but the significance of that food has been erased over time—and, with it, much of what this seemingly familiar story once meant. Once upon a time, this tale was, in part, about the restoration of rightful royal authority. And you can see that more clearly if you know something about what people used to eat.

 Go on and read the rest of the article. It explains the apples gaff but goes on to talk about how illuminating the 'original' request of the Queen's is in asking for Snow White's organs. You'll be nodding your head and begin to understand why I just HAD to say something.

Oh, and if you like that, you'll like this too: I've had this article bookmarked for many years now but go back and read it often. Considering the dark side of fairy tales are coming to our screens with a vengeance at the moment, it's definitely time for another read through "Snow White," "Sleeping Beauty," "The Juniper Tree," "The Virgin Mary's Child": The Wicked Cannibal Queen.

Enjoy. :)


*One of the things that's annoying me most about this series is actually the lack of research but that's really a different topic and a different post - if that's worth writing at all, since really I'm just so pleased to be tuning into fairy tales twice a week at this point!

"Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters" Gearing Up For Release

First look image from Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters

I haven't seen much on the web about this film yet, there's not even an official movie poster* (Argh! Lack of official visuals to post!), though it's release date is quite near (March 2, 2012) but all that's about to change.

(You can see my original post about this movie from October 2009 HERE - the details on the film start about halfway down.)

We can expect a trailer on Thursday next week and since yesterday, we're getting our first looks at how Hansel and Gretel have grown up.

As Entertainment Weekly puts it: "What kind of adult does a kid become after surviving a trip to a cannibalistic witch’s gingerbread house?"According to Director Tommy Wirkola, that would be fairy tale meets Quentin Tarantino (think very dark), with a somewhat comic edge. Oh, and shotguns.

The (current) official synopsis:

“Fifteen years after their traumatic gingerbread-house incident, siblings Hansel and Gretel have become a formidable team of bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world.”

Gretel by Chris Rahn (thanks Roderick!)

The two lead actors are starting to take interviews on the film, explaining a little of what the film will be like and what drew them to the project:

Excerpts from an interview with Jeremy Renner (playing Hansel):

"It's in a wonderful fairy tale world that's a bit gritty, a bit fun. It should be a good ride... Unlike other films of its ilk, "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" takes place many years after the fairy tale look place. Let's just say having a witch almost eat them when they were children left the young candy-happy kids a bit emotionally scarred.

"Fairy tale endings. Doesn't it sound like they're supposed to be happy? Well it's not. So it takes Hansel and Gretel, we last left them killing a witch as children after they were left in the forest to die," Renner said, setting up the plot. "It's many years later and they have a grudge against witches so they decide to become bounty hunters and they kill witches for a living. Sounds actually kind of the right thing, I suppose."

 Excerpt from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Gemma Arteron (playing Gretel):

EW: How does this movie incorporate the original Brothers Grimm tale? Is that story kind of a prologue?
Gemma: Yes, it continues it. You see a series of flashbacks with their experience of killing that first witch, which is brilliant. I remember being on set for the final few days of that. The candy house, and the witches are really repulsive and quite frightening. The makeup is out of this world. It’s this bone-chilling scene. Very dark. The girl who plays my character is brilliant, with the horrified expression she has.

“You see a series of flashbacks with their experience of killing that first witch, which is brilliant,” the 25-year-old actress teased. “I remember being on set for the final few days of that. The candy house, and the witches are really repulsive and quite frightening,” she added. “The makeup is out of this world. It’s this bone-chilling scene.” (source for 2nd quote HERE.)

Gemma Arteron & Jeremy Renner on set of Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters

I recommend reading this interview. Ms. Arteron provides quite a bit of insight into her understanding of fairy tales as well as the movie and her character.

So I'm thinking Buffy and her brother Van Helsing go on witch hunts - but on steroids. It won't be everyone's cup of tea but it may just be mine. ;) I'm looking forward to seeing the trailer next week.

*The one movie poster around is actually from a Michael Bay project (see it HERE) about which we haven't seen much of either. It's easy to see how the details get mixed up.

"Little Match Girl" in 3D from Vietnam

 

A new animation company in Vietnam, True-D, has just released a trailer for their first short film, "The Little Match Girl" and it's getting good reviews.

Why, you may ask, is a Vietnamese studio doing a western fairy tale when their own culture is so rich with stories? My guess is to appeal to the western world (ie. market).

Take a look (I've posted the trailer with subtitles and voiceover):



From the article:

True-D Animation’s representative said that “The Little Match Girl” is the first project in which the group’s members practiced their skills. The group now works on the second 3D animation project, based on a Vietnamese story. The company aims to make long 3D cartoons in the future.

True-D Animation is seeking the distributor of its first product this Christmas. If the cartoon cannot go to cinemas, the producer will post it on Youtube as the New Year gift.

 The studio currently has only a 10 or so person crew, so this achievement is additionally impressive. I wish them the best for finding representation.

Donkey Skin by Jason Levesque

Donkey Skin by Jason Levesque

This has been in my posting queue for quite a while and was originally drawn for a Fables and Follies art show in 2010 (warning - some macabre images at the link). While the rest of the show isn't really to my taste, I thought this was so beautiful. The artist, Jason Levesque, has a wide range of styles and doesn't seem to work much in this medium, which is a shame since there's a real "Golden Age of Illustration' feel to this work. Maybe our interest will encourage him to try some more fairy tale themes in this vein in the future. ;)

Wooden Bones by Scott William Carter

Cover Illustration by Edward Kinsella

There's a new Pinocchio book on the way and it's definitely on the dark side. The book is aimed at 9-12 year olds but, as author Scott William Carter says, he hopes adults will enjoy it as much as they did Coraline, which is of a similar ilk.

“The untold story of Pinocchio, with a dark twist. Pino, as he’s come to be known after he became a real boy, has discovered that he has the power to bring puppets to life himself...” 

Photo by Heidi Carter

 Although it's not out till August 2012, it's already available on amazon.com for pre-order. This author has been very prolific in the fantasy short story market. (You may have read his short story"Heart of Stone" from Hags, Sirens and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy.) Wooden Bones is his second novel sold to date and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's done with Pinocchio.

Grimm Confessions by Fans of the Series

It's no surprise there are fan websites and blogs popping up for NBC's Grimm, just like they have for ABC's Once Upon A Time.

This blog, which can be contributed to by anyone, is titled Grimm Confessions and not only highlights the thoughts - pros and cons - about the series by various fans but their wishes for where it might go too. The day after an episode airing is a good time to check the blog for new entries though they appear more often than that.

Here are some examples:

There are many gif captures and multiple gif "arrangements" (sees to be the new trend!) so you can check those out too. One of the most creative "gif groupings" adds lines from the song "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics (used throughout the pilot episode) and pairs the lyrics with key scenes to underline their gravity. You can see that on this page HERE (I've linked to the posters own page so it's easier to find). I wonder who thought up the connection of that song with Red Riding Hood? It works chillingly well.

Comic Book Stores Gear Up for the Holiday Season With Fairy Tales

With two popular TV series based on fairy tales and lots of buzz about fairy tale movies in the making, comic book stores are looking to grab a piece of the pie during this season-of-selling.

In this article - written for Black Friday sales - a number of comic book stores tell what - beside many, many copies of Fables - these stores are stocking up with and recommending for fairy tale fans.

See this article HERE and scroll down for the lists of recommendations. There may be a few ones here you haven't heard of.

Also - Fables Covers by James Jean is still on sale at Amazon.com.

Advertising: InterfaceFLOR's Once Upon A Tile

Cinderella

"Our latest collections are right on trend so it seemed only natural to promote and showcase them in a way that is equally of the moment.  Modern takes on fables and fairy tales are a major theme this year in movies, social events and design, so we decided to explore this mysterious world and delve into the darker side of some of the best-known children’s fairy tales. The result is a visually stunning, dramatic and edgy backdrop which shows off our new collections to spectacular effect.

Michele Iacovitti, Vice President of Marketing & Branding, InterfaceFLOR EMEAI"

Without doubt, the most intriguing thing about the floors would have to be this ad campaign using well known fairy tales (and their characters) to highlight the floor. 

 

Goldilocks

 

Beauty & the Beast

 The interesting thing is only one of these fairy tales is usually associated with floors (ie. Cinderella) but I thought they did a very nice job of integrating the idea of Goldilocks ending up on the floor and using Hansel & Gretel's forest path.

 

Rapunzel

 

Hansel & Gretel

And it actually works. You do find yourself looking at the floor!

Here's a videos from the campaign - also very nicely done.

Source: HERE.

Grimm Reality in Portland

We all know the evil things done in fairy tales have their counterparts in the real world and although awful it doesn't seem quite as chilling as when it's paralleled with the present day.

The NBC series Grimm is filming on location in Portland, Oregon - by all accounts a perfect locale for the subject matter of dark fairy tales with its terrain, forests and moody-weather atmosphere. As it turns out there's a much darker reason it works too.

This article, written by a local, shows both the excitement of having Grimm being filmed there but also how close to home the subject matter has already been for the town.

From the article, after a brief description of the crimes in the pilot episodes:

Kyron Horma

Why is this chilling?  This is where reality intersects with the TV show.  In the spring of 2010, a young boy named Kyron Horman went missing from our city of Portland.  The school he vanished from? Skyline Elementary. He has never been found and the mystery surrounding his disappearance still has the Portland police bureau following tips and leads.

I see Grimm has been picked up for another season on NBC. The Brothers Grimm wrote 209 dark tales back in the early 19th Century.  It seems we are in for a lot of these modern age fairy tales, too dark for children but just right for grown humans that like a little suspense. And I for one, will be looking for a little reality in each show.

 You can read the full article with its real life parallels with the series, HERE.

I Will Always Find You & Other Graphics of "Once Upon A Time"

This is a beautifully done comparison of Snow White's fairy tale coma versus the her Prince Charming's real-world coma. (Click on image to see full size.) Though the original graphics are from the show, of course, the way of seeing and presenting them is this photographer/journalist's own.

I do so love seeing what the concepts in Once Upon A Time are inspiring and hope the network has no problem with people manipulating these sorts of graphics. Seeing creations like this make me want to revisit the show even more and do a great job of creating further underground interest in the show. Kudos to the "jess"*, the artist for this one.

There are a few lovely blogs now dedicated to Once Upon A Time graphic tributes and gif collections: you can find one HERE and another HERE. I particularly like all the parallel images -the 'mirror concepts, if you will. :)

Here are some random images and gifs that caught my eye:

   

It appears the gifs are not always appearing in their correct formatting so please click HERE and HERE to see how they were originally placed.

* This artist's blog has quite a number of artfully arranged image captures for different shows. The colors are tweaked and the images cropped according to taste and it all works so beautifully. If you enjoy graphic design this blog is definitely worth a browse. The other two blogs are dedicated to Once Upon A Time and Snow White/Charming - they highlight some of the lovely graphics and photography that's so easy to miss when you're watching the actual show.

Fan Art of Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard

This lovely piece of fan art popped up yesterday, showing the dual role and real-world dilemma of Once Upon A Time's Snow White beautifully. I had to share. I'm looking forward to seeing what else people create as a result of this series.
Source: tooyoungtofight

ABC's Once Upon A Time Roundtable

If you're anything like me, you would love to finish up your weekly viewing of the most recent Once Upon A Time episode to discuss the fairy tale aspects revealed and tackled that week.

Since this blog doesn't currently facilitate that, I thought I'd point you to the next best thing: TV Fanatic's round table/series fan discussion.

I meant to put this up before this week's airing, since it covers the Rumpelstiltskin & Cinderella episode, but it's still fun to read through, especially as we now know more than we did. Don't forget to keep reading through the comments - there are at least a couple of pages. That's the only place I see anyone bringing up the point of  names being so important to Rumpelstiltskin and how that may have something to do with why Henry hasn't deduced just who Mr. Gold is yet.

Of course there are questions (and issues) they didn't ask that I'd love to see discussed but perhaps another time... :)

You'll see there's quite a variety of people watching too: Disney fans, people who only know Disney versions of fairy tales, classic fairy tale aficionados and also regular people who barely have any passing acquaintance with fairy tales but are really enjoying all the drama-with-mirror-world layering. One thing I really like about the series is how it's clearly appealing to a wide range of people.

I do hope they continue this round table. Reading various summary reviews online, in which they mostly re-hash that week's plot with a couple of conjectures added for good measure, isn't nearly as interesting as hearing what questions and topics the series is causing people to think about.

I'm not sure how many of my old readers realize I'm posting again but for the few that are following again  - thank you! and I have some questions for you:

What aspects of Once Upon A Time are you interested in? 

And the all-time big question:

Even though Emma Snow doesn't (currently) have a fairy tale counterpart we know there are things about her that are currently hidden. Who do you think she will turn out to be? What will be her big reveal?

Music: L'il Red Riding Hood...

You all know the song Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs (it's on every other Halloween party CD) but it comes across very differently when a woman sings it.

I only heard this cover of Little Red Riding Hood for the first time recently and am so disappointed there isn't a full version of this song! All that was arranged and recorded is heard in the ad. (Argh!)

Note: The 7Up commercial itself (from 2000 I think) is suggestive, as you would expect in any modern update of LRRH, and Red herself is, er, rather assertive. Considering she's being stalked by a wolf, I'm OK with it but not everyone may feel the same way.



From the comments: 

Rosnick Mackinnon was the music house that did the arrangment and used session musicians to record. Vocals by an actress, but not the one in the spot.

In case you didn't know Amanda Seyfried (star of the recent Red Riding Hood movie and playing the daughter in the movie musical version of Mama Mia) also covered this song recently. You can hear that HERE.

Today Only: Score Of ABC's "Once Upon A Time" For Free Download

 

This is kinda of cool.

Music freebie from abc.com for TODAY ONLY (Sunday 27th):  

The score for Once Upon A Time,

by composer Mark Isham,

as a FREE download!

1. Go to http://abc.go.com/music-lounge
2. Click on the Once Upon A Time option
3. Click the download link (before Sunday is over!)
4. Enjoy!

 Shortcut to download page HERE.)

You can also see a behind-the-scenes video on the music for the show as a bonus. (Link on same page.)

Why is ABC.com giving away free music today? You can read all about it HERE.

Neat, huh?