"The Ice Book" by Davy & Kristin McGuire

If you're a regular reader of this blog you probably know I love multimedia productions in which a number of artistic disciplines come together to "perform" or present the story or art. This is my favorite kind of theater and the ability to tell stories like this is one of the things I miss most in giving up theater to pursue animation and development.

The Ice Book, created by Davy & Kristin McGuire, is a multimedia production of a different kind, almost like a human-sized pop-up book that comes to life. In presenting scenes and story this way it becomes clear how much of life really is in fairy tales, if only we choose to see it.

From the description:

The Ice Book is a miniature theatre show made of paper and light. An exquisite experience of fragile paper cutouts and video projections that sweep you right into the heart of a fantasy world. It is an intimate and immersive experience of animation, book art and performance.

It's simply beautiful. Take a look:

The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.

Their website HERE has lots of information about the project and how they went about it. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Davy always had the dream of creating a theatre performance that opened up like a pop-up book. A show that would mix video projections with live actors to create a totally immersive experience. We wanted to create a full scale, life-size theatre production. 

The idea for the Icebook was to create a miniature maquette for this dream – a demonstration model to show to producers and other funders in the hope that they would give us some money to make the full scale show. (And we still hope that this will come true one day!) The Icebook has since however, grown its own legs and turned into a miniature show all by itself. An intimate performance for small audiences. 

We love the old pre-cinematic optical illusions, such as zeotropes and magic lanterns, and the magical way in which they can mesmerise audiences through basic mechanics. Rather than simply projecting images onto a screen, we wanted to create an object with a life of its own – a tangible and magical “thing” for an audience to experience. 

...Aesthetically, we were also inspired by early 20th century Russian fairytales as well as the work of Jan Svankmajer, Flatworld, the Judder Man from the Metz advert, Georges Méliès and the genre of German expressionism.

The couple spent much of last year touring with the art show to many enthusiastic and rave reviews. I hope they've had much continuing success and will produce more in this vein. For instance, I'd love to see them create their version of a fairy tale for the ongoing Re-Enchantment project or find another avenue/collaborator that can help expose their artistry to an even larger audience. 


Davy and Kristin McGuire can be followed and contacted on Twitter HERE.

"Mirror Mirror" TV Trailer: Focusing On Opposites

I only recently saw the TV #2 spot trailer for Mirror Mirror (see end of post to view) and was struck by the interesting use of opposites: height, perspective, expectations, color etc and reflections. It's quite interesting and I finally understood why they stuck with the film's title which focuses on reflections and images.

Now I'm looking for it, I can see this theme through all the other trailers released, though it's far more subtle. Almost every official movie poster, even the foreign ones, can be neatly split in half (just look how exactly face-on the characters in the middle of the poster always are - even the dwarves at the bottom), and within each poster there are further uses of opposites and/or reflections in design.

The one below that isn't so exactly balanced, still makes a clear use of opposites (foreground, background, negative space, age, youth, color contrast) and mirrors too. There are reflections of color, pose, attitude and concept. It's pretty neat.

A movie that explores the Snow White story by juxtaposing elements both internal and external throughout would be very interesting to me and actually have a lot to say...

Have I been missing the obvious all this time?

Have a look at the trailer with this concept of opposites and reflections in mind and you'll see what I mean:

Japanese Poster for Pixar's "Brave"

Just thought I'd share a lovely new image promoting Pixars' Brave in Japan.

I love the "spirit bear" in the background. It's a very powerful layout and I can see why it would appeal to Japanese culture.

Kristen Bell Signs On To Play Lead in Disney's "Frozen"

This concept art was for a Snow Queen attraction in Disney Land, which was sadly never made.

Still not much news on Frozen other than this casting news that appeared yesterday, but it does mean they're well into development and story on the project and that we should hear more soon. Kristen Bell (of Veronica Mars fame as well as House of Lies) will be voicing the lead, presumably Gerda (or whatever name they give her) although one IMDB news report (there are a number) has her as playing the character of the Snow Queen.

I'm guessing they've inferred this from the one sentence announcement, rather than Ms Bell confirming her lead role is actually the Snow Queen herself. I can't find an official or even "in development" IMDB page for Disney's Frozen or Snow Queen so until we get a proper quote it's all speculation. If it is the case that the lead is the Snow Queen character (ie the story is her story or from her POV), then the Disney version will be very different story from the Hans Andersen fairy tale we all know and love. Considering how complex the tale is there is plenty of room for unique creative interpretation. I just hope they keep some of the classic tale structure intact (and please keep the robber girl and the reindeer!).

Pre 2003 visual development for Disney's Snow Queen by Carol Kieffer Police

Ms. Bell will be singing too, confirming this will indeed be a musical as originally planned.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

She is also set to provide the speaking and singing voice as the lead in Disney’s upcoming animated feature Frozen. Directed by Chris Buck (Surf’s Up), the film is being produced by John Lasseter and Peter Del Vecho.

Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast) was working on the music before it was last put on hold and there has been no official word on that either continuing or changing. With a release date set for November 2013 (a Winter/Christmas release would be perfect for this) time's a-tickin' on getting the elements in place, though I did read a vague post about the theatrical release now being planned for "sometime in 2014". Since so many things change day to day in development it's really no wonder they remain so quiet - even if they're incredibly busy - until they have something well and truly concrete. Casting the lead is a big bit of concrete. :)

Pre 2003 visual development for Disney's Snow Queen by Carol Kieffer Police

In the meantime, here's an interesting tidbit buried in one of the release articles I thought I should bring to light and clear up any issues about (as far as I can for now anyway):

Our guess is that "Frozen" will be a computer generated feature (released in 3D, naturally), and that the next traditionally animated Disney feature will be "The Name Game," a quirky take on the Rumpelstiltskin tale being readied (in secret) by Ron Clements and John Musker. Supposedly the reason why that project is gaining momentum is because of the runaway success (and synergistic opportunities) of ABC's Sunday night series "Once Upon a Time," which features Rumpelstiltskin as the show's main villain.

Pre 2003 visual development for Disney's Snow Queen by Carol Kieffer Police

While there is apparently a Clements/Musker "secret project" titled The Name Game coming in 2013, Disney people in-the-know quote this: "Steve Hulett said many many times that Clements & Musker's film is NOT Rumpelstiltskin."


So there you go. We'll just have to stay tuned. 


Note: The images throughout are OLD Disney visual development art, prior to 2003, for Disney's The Snow Queen and are by Carol Kieffer Police.

Once Upon A... Hm (Review of Ep 14 Dreamy)

SPOILER ALERT:

If you haven't seen Once Upon A Time Ep 14 "Dreamy" - here there be spoilers!

I just watched yesterday's episode of Once Upon A Time and I'm torn between two emotions: disbelief and embarrassment.

I may seem like I'm being a little harsh in this review but after the last two episodes, which set up some very low expectations for this one, Episode 14 ground those six feet under. It may be the worst episode yet and does fairy tales, women and the idea of being true to yourself a great disservice. This is exactly what I wish people DIDN'T think of fairy tales - or of themselves.

When the show first started and we were presented with fairies in the clouds (both dressed like jellyfish with awkward legs) my first thought - honest to god - was: "Oh, they're going to do a parody - this should be fun..."

I couldn't have been more wrong. This was supposed to be serious stuff. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the writers and creators brains during the writing of this episode. Was it a product of 4am-over-caffeinated-itis? But it got worse with dwarf egg hatchings and possibly the most pathetically helpless, clueless female character written in recent TV history (and that includes Belle and her Stockholm syndrome*! - who, by the way is drowning her misery in a tavern and tells Grumpy he's in love and should go for it. Why? Because I'm proof love is so great??). I almost fell off my chair when Dreamy/Grumpy chased her bag of fairy dust by scaling the mining scaffolds and equipment as she flapped her hands and wings - WINGS! - helplessly and looked on. It continued on this terrible trail  - complete with Disney heigh-ho's - for the entire span of the Fairy Tale Land plot. I was embarrassed for the actors who were trying to make what they could of this awful story and terrible lines and could only redeem it by reminding myself that their efforts were rewarded by a pay check which should help feed their families and loved ones for a good couple of months.

 Back in the "real" world we have nuns having to pay rent (do nuns pay rent?), to Mr. Gold of course - who hates them (what?) - by selling candles (where did they buy all the wax and string supplies? Puff the Magic Dragon? Methinks perhaps they could have used those initial funds a little better)... Doesn't seem like a sustainable plan for anything but apparently it's "in Mary-Margaret we trust" and Grumpy now too. (I'm guessing next month they'll be having a helium sale.) And the town drunk falls in love with ditzy/flirty (totally flirty!) klutz nun who, once he solves the problem, asks her out on a date. In a boat. She says yes. Of course. (Hang on - what??)

Actually the boat is the thing I liked best about the entire episode. Completely underused too.

In the meantime I'm very, very glad I won't have to call Sheriff Swan should I have an emergency or anything happen to one of my loved ones. Her "I can tell you're lying" superpower? Not so super. There's nothing professional, commanding or reassuring about the way she handles (ie doesn't handle) business. Somebody needs to give her a box of evidence bags and some gloves so she at least looks like she knows what she's doing. She's making it easy for Regina to win.

Speaking of Regina, since Once returned this year the character has actually had my sympathy. Being stuck in a town with these people is a kind of hell all of its own. But maybe that's the point. That the curse-ER is the most cursed of all.

This episode left me shaking my head and very glad I was alone when I watched it so I wouldn't have to explain why I wasn't fast forwarding. The production side of me just saw $ k-ching-ing past at great speed and great waste. The opening cloud scenes are sadly an apt description of the whole - generated fluff.

I'm just now looking around for images to use for the post and interestingly there really aren't any graphics being created from the episode like you usually see week after week on fan blogs. Under comments in various places I'm seeing very mixed responses, from "can't wait till next week" to those who announced they've just given up on the series after seeing this episode. Among reviews I found this one HERE which pointed out many of the same concerns, along with a few of the writers' own. The graphics for their post are sadly amusing.

BUT, there was one good thing: the trailer for next week's episode promises much better things with more of Red/Ruby's backstory. (Note: this is the episode Ginnifer Goodwin, who plays Snow/Mary Margaret was so excited about filming after reading Ms. Espenson's script, alluding to a genius twist on things.) We'll find out who Big Bad is and see how the Snow/Red relationship worked in Fairy Tale. I hope they address Snow taking the forgetting potion too since there's going to be a whole thing with David/Charming as well apparently (you can see interesting photos from the upcoming episode HERE.) Most of all I really want to see how they make Red Riding Hood fresh for Once fans who are enjoying seeing into the lives of fairy tale characters.

So we end on an "up" note, with hope for both the series and for how fairy tales are being reinterpreted, here's the trailer for next week:

*Don't get me started on the Belle/Beast episode. I feel like society took a giant step backward with everything that said. You cannot fill in the "gaps" with the Disney movie - which also has some serious issues as far as I'm concerned. it has to be taken at face value - and that makes it seriously disturbing. I never want any girl - or woman - I know to model themselves after either Belle!


Image sources: screen capture, HERE and HERE.

Article & Promo Roundup On Pixar's "Brave"

Brave textural poster by Peter Moxom

With the release of a new trailer, new poster and a TV spot comes more from behind-the-scenes of Brave, as Pixar begin ramping up the publicity in time to get everyone excited for the June release (which is clearly working if you take a peek around at the fan art and Tumblr accounts already dedicated to Brave and lead-character Merida).

Here's the new TV spot:

And here are a few of the articles released in the last week or so:

* Super cool behind-the-scenes Pixar's Brave Concept Art And Sculptures (Images and Video, including storyboard shots) from the Disney's Hollywood Studios display, that's a must-see for anyone who likes to see how these films come together. It also gives you a hint of what went into the movie, even if you don't end up seeing it on the big screen. Here are just a few:

* On inspiration for the story, setting and how OK creator Brenda Chapman is with not directing her story. Also a note on Scottish folk tale influence: Inspiration for Pixar's fairytale Brave came from director's 'strong-willed' daughter

(On the folk tales:) Despite the makers of Brave claiming a passion for Scottish legends, insiders say the Caledonian influence is a bit hit and miss. One studio source said the only Scottish idea is the will o' the wisp who leads Merida to a meeting with a witch, below. But will o' the wisps, jack o' lanterns or hinkypunks are not uniquely Scottish, appearing in fairytales all over the world.

* On field trips and research for the film: Behind The Scenes Of Pixar’s Brave – Swords, Kilts And A Nice Lie Down

* Behind the Scenes of Pixar's Girl Story (slideshow from Time Entertainment)

* From the New York Post (which has more questions than answers): Is Pixar's 'Brave' the Disney Princess Movie We Need?

* You can watch a whole scene at Disney.com/Brave, which streams nicely and with excellent quality, or you can view it below. It shows the archery contest and a whole lot about the story premise and the relationship between Merida and her mother (all in one neat scene - nice!) I recommend watching this one if you haven't already.


* There's also some really neat stylized artwork on the site that we're bound to see more of in books and in the movie. The ones shown below tell the premise (and advertise the actors):

* As a bonus, archery geeks are very, very happy about how Pixar animated the all-important archery scene at Wired's New Brave Trailer Nails the Archery. Pretty high praise. Makes me want to pick up a bow again (not kidding!). Watch out archery clubs: you're about to be stampeded by Merida wannabe's.

Promo Art for Christophe Gans' Beauty and the Beast

Just a little peek at the direction this film is moving in...
This is really more of an internal buzz bit (to get people/crew excited about a project) and looks like it may be the formal cover for various papers/schedules/etc These nice little bits of art are often the first among a few trials to test the public waters on what people think of the vibe/mood of a project (and end up being collector items later). As you can see, principal photography starts in October so they're working pretty hard on pre-production right now (my favorite stage :).
What do you make of it so far?
Source: HERE

Fairy Tales and #TwitterTypes

How do people categorize fairy tales? How do YOU categorize tales you're familiar with? How would you break it down into its essential elements?

I recently learned about the #TwitterType experiment and am intrigued. Not many people have posted and gotten involved yet but if a larger group of people have a go I think we (and fairy tale scholars) might glean a lot of useful information from how we view and distill fairy tales. It will also make you take a bit of a closer look at the tales you love and are familiar with (or think you are familiar with ;).

This post explaining the experiment is re-published here by kind permission of PhD candidate in folklore Jeana Jorgenson (thank you Jeana!):

Header from Jeana Jorgenson's site. Photo by Chris Chambers

For the non-folklorists out there, we use the term “tale type” to refer to a folktale or fairy tale plot that has shown stability throughout time and space. “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood” are great examples of tale plots that are transmitted in different languages, countries, and time periods. But here you run into the problem of tale title; “Cinderella” doesn’t bear that name in every telling, so how are we scholars supposed to keep track of them all? 

The tale type system, pioneered by Finn Antti Aarne in the early 1900s and revised by American Stith Thompson in the mid-20th century and updated by German Hans-Jorg Uther in 2004, assigns numbers to tale plots. So “Cinderella” is Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) 510A, “Little Red Riding Hood” is ATU 333, and so on. 

However, there are problems with the system. As fairy-tale scholar Donald Haase writes on his Facebook: 

I am happy to announce a new project for folk-narrative and fairy-tale scholars. For decades we have relied on the Aarne-Thompson tale-type index to understand the essence of a tale, but its skeletal description of each type’s essential plot prevents us from seeing other possibilities. The recent revision of the AaTh index was an important first step in rethinking and revising those descriptions. The Internet, however, now makes possible a new way of thinking. Devoted to breaking the magic spell of Aarne-Thompson, I propose a communal catalog of #TwitterTypes. What are #TwitterTypes? Posted on Twitter, #TwitterTypes are new summaries of traditional tales in 140 characters or less (including some version of the tale’s title). Why Twitter? Because the discipline of 140 characters composed on a computer or smartphone forces creative choices about a tale’s “essence,” and those choices reveal, to the Tweeter, the alternatives — the “Tweets-not-taken.” 

by Alan Lee (corrected, thanks to Anonymous)

The cool thing is that Haase basically wants to crowd-source this, a technique noted by digital humanities scholars and which I’m really curious about for fairy-tale studies: 

Why a communal catalog? Imagine not a SINGLE effort to capture the SINGLE essence a tale but MANY efforts to express its MANY possibilities. Besides, I don’t want to do this all myself. So this is a CFT — a Call for #TwitterTypes. A call for contributions to the omnipresent, cloud-based #TwitterType Catalog, an endless project that exists everywhere and nowhere, a catalog that grows every time a fairy-tale scholar tweets. The first two #TwitterTypes–for “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Frog King or Iron Henry”–follow soon on Twitter, with simultaneous postings on my Facebook page. (Thanks, Gary, for having inspired this project.)

 Examples of Haase’s include Blue Beard: (he-said-she-said) I do.–DON’T!–I won’t.–YOU DID!–I didn’t.–YOU’RE DONE FOR!–DON’T THINK SO!! (He didn’t; done in.) 

I’m going to start posting some of my own, and I encourage fairy-tale enthusiasts to do the same, and please share this link! In an update, Haase announced that we’ll go with the hashtag #TwTy since it’s shorter, allowing for more creativity within Twitter’s character limits (though I think starting with the #TwitterTypes hashtag to let searchers know that you’re participating might be helpful). Looking for inspiration? Folklorist D. L. Ashliman runs a great site of electronic folklore & mythology texts, many of which include tale type numbers. His Grimms’ tale listing is here. Another great fairy-tale site online is Sur La Lune. If you can’t find the tale type numbers, that’s fine, I think using the title will work too. 

So, have at, and pass it on!

Thank you again Jeana for your clear explanation. I hope people are inspired to try this!

You can read more of Jeana's posts on her blog HERE and follow her on Twitter HERE.

To give you a few more examples and get you thinking, here are a few of the ones tweeted so far:

Frog King Iron Henry: Little ball lost. Froggie goes a courtin’. Deal’s a deal. Gets to first. Rounding third. Off the wall! OMG! Oh Henry! (Donald Haase) 

Snow Child (ATU1362): Child conceived by eating snow should not be left in the sun. Cuckolds make the worst babysitters. #TwTy (Adam Zolkover) 

Sleeping Beauty (ATU410): Fairies are poor sports. Spindles cause 100 year dreams. Wake up to big surprises. #TwTy (Brittany Waram) 

Rapunzel: Little girls named for food can't be preserved and stored forever. Princes also have cravings. #TwTy (Donald Haase) 

#TwTy Bluebeard: Curiosity killed the wives. Her key to survival? Angry brothers killed the cad. (Gypsy Thornton) 

C&P (ATU425B): Beauty given to monster who beds her as a man. She peeks; he flees. His mom’s a real witch who demands the impossible. #TwTy (Linda Lee)

You can see more of the #TwitterTypes on Professor Haase's Facebook page HERE. (You'll need to scroll down to see all the ones posted so far - they're not in a group or on a dedicated page as yet.)

I'm curious to see how this goes since, for example, I can think of at least four valid approaches to Rapunzel, depending on what aspects I was highlighting (eg consuming/eating of food and passions, parenting both good and bad, growth internal & external and how we deal with it, rescue of many kinds or any combination of the above). How would you distill a fairy tale into 140 characters? What motifs would you include?

Fairy Tale Factory Releases First Anthology

Congrats to Amy Leigh Morgan and writers at The  Fairy Tale Factory on the release of their first volume (hopefully of many) of new fairy tales!

Fairy Tale Factory Volume 1: Six short fairy tales, some with unhappy endings

Karen DeBlauw (Author), Brett Boyette (Author), Amy Leigh Morgan (Editor)

This collection of brand-new fairy tales takes its inspiration from the Brothers Grimm and Italo Calvino's "Italian Folktales." Meet a magical cat who'll do anything for a bowl of gravy, free a young girl whose mysterious birthright is sewn into her father's pillow, take a wild ride on an enchanted carousel, and more. Diana Sudyka's stylish, charming illustrations bring the stories to life for readers of all ages.

If you don't know about the Fairy Tale Factory then you should put them on your radar and keep an eye on what Amy Leigh Morgan is doing over there.  (You can read up on the types of workshops she has HERE and read my interview with Amy HERE.)

Amy's blog is a great read for both fairy tale enthusiasts and writers. As a bonus she's added a regular feature to her blog in the last six months which are Fairy Tale Fridays posts . The posts generally spotlight some of the lesser known fairy tales and include the text (or part thereof with links to the rest), along with Amy's signatory wry. funny and/or thoughtful observations on the tale. I love it when I can get to my inbox on Fridays to read it (sign-up is available through Facebook).

Fairy Tale Factory logo by Jeremy Eaton

She is currently running free monthly Fairy Tale Factory Salons which sound both fun and fantastic. I only wish I were local so I could attend myself as I think she's really onto something in modeling a fairy tale writer group after the French Fairy Tale Salons (with less scandal... perhaps. ;)

Go give Amy and her writers some love. I'm curious to see what the writers have come up with in this time of busy fairy tale activity as while there are various forms of fairy tale entertainment popping up everywhere I'm not seeing much in the way of new tales. I hope this is the beginning of many, many more from The Factory.

You can find the first Fairy Tale Factory anthology HERE.

Fairy Tale Oscar Watch 2012

While there isn't a specific fairy tale to keep an eye on this year there are a few fairy tale-like movies/and shorts to keep an eye on.

First (these are in no particular order by the way) is the animated short film La Luna, a Pixar short, set to accompany Brave when it screens in theaters in June.

This year’s entry from Pixar, La Luna is a coming-of-age tale about a little boy who is allowed to go out in a rowboat on a moonlit night with his father and grandfather. To his surprise, they hoist a ladder and climb up to the Moon, which is covered with golden stars that the three of them proceed to rake and sweep. Dad and Grandpa are always bickering. The little boy tries to emulate them both, but in the end he finds his own way. The story concludes with a great visual punch line. (source HERE)

Next is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which I fell in love with when I saw it a few months ago.

The hero of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmorehas the eyes of Buster Keaton and the mouth of William Buckley. Heis a bookworm who is swept away by a tornado (the film was produced in Louisiana) and finds his way to a house filled with books. These books are alive and become his close companions for life. Some are old and some are new, but they all have something to offer. They help him and he helps them. Along the way, he writes a book of his own and leaves it behind for future bookworms. (source HERE)

In the Best Animated Film category we have Puss In Boots, which although doesn't follow the Charles Perrault fairy tale plot, does draw from it, according the the "Art Of" book. Dreamworks initially intended to have the film be Perrault's Puss In Boots fairy tale but decided it was too small a story for a feature film, so they instead looked at the character of Puss, as portrayed in the text, kept him in a world of fairy tale and nursery rhyme and built a story from there. With this in mind you can see very much a fairy tale spirit there. There's so much going on artistically in the details and background of this film with odes to fairy tale and nursery rhyme, it takes more than one viewing to catch them all. Fairy tale people will appreciate a read of The Art of Puss in Boots too. I'm curious to see how it fares at the Oscars as I was surprised by the Annie results this year.

Finally Hugo Cabret  - which is not a fairy tale but has a lot of that vibe - is up for Best Picture, among other categories. If you haven't seen it, read the incredible book first then by all means go and see it. :) Many classic film buffs have gone bananas over this one with all the odes to film making (though personally I'm not thrilled when the storytelling gets interrupted to show this off) and this article HERE (10 Classic Films You Must Watch Before Seeing Martin Scorsese's Hugo) - complete with neatly laid out comparisons - will definitely make you appreciate the film even more as well as see other shades of fairy and fairy tale within Hugo.

I think the one to beat is The Artist, which isn't at all fairy tale, except in the Hollywood meaning of the word. I wish I'd gotten to see that one on the big screen.
Happy Oscar watch!