Loglines
Theme 1- Mortality
(1) A long term employer of ‘Candle and Co.’ continues his job after being killed 2 years earlier.
The employer has no problems confining him to the world, yet for reasons beyond him, he’s unable to ‘move on’.
As the story transpires, he finds the reaper responsible for his departure is having problems of his own.
Doubts about his work as a ‘unmovable force’ dedicated to his job forever, much like the ‘Employer’.
The candle signifies a demand that cannot be fulfilled. The point?* When does the candle reach the end? Time etc. Unmoving?
(2) The value of doing things.*
(3) The need to reason with everything. Curiosity and drive for survival.
A bargainer (the employer) and an unmovable force (death).
And is there a win in this situation, really?
(4) Empathy and conflict -'The fall of Icarus'.
Death must remain distant from the work she/he does.
Like how the rest of the world in Bruegel’s painting of’ The Fall of Icarus’ continues the daily toil, in the face of tragedy… death must persist in the face of life.
(5) A ghost from the medieval/renaissance period, a candle maker… contemplates mass production, and individuality? Art and value.
In bitterness at the lost art of candle making, the ghost sets out to take revenge on the owners of the warehouse.
OGR 24/01/17
ReplyDeleteHi Rachael,
Thought I'd make a start anyway :) Warehouse / Ghost / Candle
Like I said, be wary of intellectualising the mechanics of your story: a good one told simply will accrue meaning and significance for others; you don't need to slaver it on too thick - let the connotations do the work.
I had this idea on my way home today, that the 'warehouse' is indeed a 'candle warehouse' - but that the 'candle warehouse' is actually a visualisation of fate - so, let's imagine that when we're born a candle comes into existence and is lit - and this candle burns alongside everyone else in this enormous storage facility. The candles represent our life-expectancy, which means each candle may burn for longer or for a shorter period of time depending on what the fates have in store. Some candles in this huge facility just blow out - and perhaps there is another character in the mix - a sort of 'candle snuffer' that walks tirelessly among the rows of candles and extinguishes them as and when. Now, imagine if you were snuffed out too soon, you might want to access this warehouse and have a go at re-lighting your candle? Maybe this is what ghosts are - they are the ones who are trying to break into 'the warehouse' to get their wicks re-lit? This largely came from your idea of the 'Reaper' being a character, and candles being symbolic of life-span/life-force. There's potential here for this to go 'funny' - as in this:
https://vimeo.com/9985840
I'd be interested to see you trying 'funny/comedic', Rachael - certainly after the seriousness of Ernst...
What lengths might a ghost go to outwit the 'Snuffer' and re-light his life-span? Can you even outwit the Snuffer, I wonder - and if you do, might there be consequences? For example, if we don't die at our appointed time, isn't it possible that we might then go on to create problems in the world, as we impact on places, people and things we were never meant to impact upon?
I think too, by going for something a bit more speculative and 'animation-centric' - you can have much more fun as both an environment and character artist - 'The Candle Warehouse - Repository of Life Spans' - I suppose, alongside the 'Snuffer' you'd have the 'Lighter' - a different sort of character that lights the candles in the first place?
Hello Phil,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry- the bus didn't stop, and I started to revise the OGR after what we'd talked about before... though now that it's becoming slightly clearer, I might want to revise it again. Especially if I'm going to do it from the Reapers perspective, as opposed to the employee.
This idea's really interesting- it reminds me of Terry Pratchett's 'Mort' where his version of Death has a room filled with hourglasses for every soul in Discworld, and books that write their lives to the second.
The candle snuffer is great as well. I wonder if he's actually hired by Death, or whether he's a bitter soul whose own light blew out, and cannot be found for him to relight it. Or he might have a conflict with the 'Lighter'/Employee and is trying to snuff his candle out, by having a stab at each one.
I definitely agree on avoiding making it too intellectualised. Especially if I'm going for something 'funny'.
If it's a conflict between the Candle Snuffer, and the Employee then 'The Reaper' will probably be less of a character, or perhaps even an unseen character?
I'd thought about making the character only 'present' through visual hints and things left behind. But again, I don't wish to spell it out to the dot.