TFS- Story Development Process, Part 2

It's a tough fact that when you're working independently, on your own film, the only way to test a story's worth is to work away at it with all your heart and brain and guts, to believe in it, and push it... and see what happens.

With the concepts I wrote about in Part 1 (and many others concepts I developed during this time period), I did just that. I believed in them, I nurtured them... but through the process of development, they proved that they just didn't have what it takes. Maybe in the future, but not for now.

And of course, this leads us to economics (?!)

When you're working for money, for an external client, you develop something as best you can as per the deadline, then hand it over. But when it's your own "baby" and there's no real deadline breathing down your neck, you can REALLY test a story's worth.

This is a blessing and a curse, because although it allows you to develop confidence that your story is "worth" taking into production, it can also lead to literally years of tweaking and pulling and testing, without anything actually making it to screen.

I'll probably post more about this tricky balance, probably labeled under "story".


And so, as I continued to test various concepts, trying to find one that would be meaty enough (for whatever reason) to throw myself at for a year or two, the final concept that I actually went with almost literally "wrote itself".

Now- when I hear or read of someone else using the term "the story wrote itself," I usually want to commit homicide, because writing a story is so incredibly difficult, 99% of the time. And the thought of someone having such an easy time of it makes me grind my teeth. But the term also drives me nuts because I KNOW it can happen, and I wish it would more often, for me!

It really can be that easy, a story can feel like it literally assembles itself in front of you, piece by piece, until it's done, with no more effort on the writer's part than to simply play the role of note-taker, jotting the story down, easy-peasy. The process can feel like someone else is actually assembling it, or that it's been presented to your mind pre-built. It can tumble out of your head onto paper, done.

It's rare for it to happen (at least it certainly is for me), but it happens. For me, it's happened exactly once before, on a live-action film I made years ago). Now I can say it's happened twice, and I swear, it feels like winning the lottery.

But to win the lottery means LUCK was at work. I don't think that's actually the case with story. I think this final story that "fell out of my head" on to paper was only able to do that because I had been testing and refining and pushing the other ideas, as I searched for the "right" story to produce. At least I like to tell myself that, so it doesn't hurt the feelings of the "failed" stories too much ("story is a living thing," as Buchbinder writes).

Don't worry, the next story development posting with actually address the particular story I went with, specifically.

Hey, it's my blog, I can stretch things out as much as I want! And there's only two of your reading anyway- my Mom, and someone in in Kentucky who thinks my blog is about washing machine repairs.

Actually, my readership seems to steadily climb, which is quite a nice feeling.

Canadian Cinema in Revue

Got a Facebook invite to this. I can't make it, but I can promote it! And I can promote the film too- here's the official website.


As with the Naked Frames Festival (a few entries ago), I strongly support any venue that provides audiences with something other than multi-stink mega films.

Opportunities to show interesting/ crazy/ exciting/ original motion picture work continues to shrink, so when something brave enough to fly in the face of the Walmart style theatres peeks its head up, it's a special thing.


For those that are not in the Toronto area, there's a bit of a pun in the title of this program, as The Revue is a local rep cinema that plays a big part in the cultural community of its neighbourhood.

Here's the quote from the Facebook invite:

"The Revue continues its new monthly program, Canadian Cinema in Revue. The series showcases features and short films made by Canada’s most interesting and innovative filmmakers. Directors, writers and actors involved with the films will be invited for question and answer sessions following the screenings.

Curated by critic and filmmaker Alan Bacchus, the series continues with Andrew’s Currie’s deadpan zombie comedy, FIDO.

After a successful festival run at TIFF, Sundance and SXSW, a broad Canadian theatrical release and a US release, Fido is ripe for a resurgence back on the big screen. Currie’s comedy smoothly combines Douglas Sirk-style 50’s suburban melodrama with a post-modern zombie subversion of “Shawn of the Dead”.

Complimenting the satirical theme is Jesse McKeown’s glorious send-up of Hollywood action trailers, The Big Charade, a full feature length story told with all the cinematic bravura of a multi-million production in only 6mins.

Following the screening writer/director Andrew Currie and his co-writer Dennis Heaton will skype in on the big screen from Vancouver for a Q&A.

Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 for Revue Members and sponsoring groups."

TFS- Story Development Process, Part 1

As a reminder, I'm labeling all the entries for my new short film, if you want to place any entry into a context...

Personally, an initial story challenge isn't to come up with a story or a premise. The challenge is to come up with a story or a premise that means enough to me that I know I will stick with it through what might be a several year process. It has to be a story that is true to me.

Brand "Chris Walsh," if you will.


I'm at a point in life where I can fairly confidently state that I (hopefully) have time to keep making at least a few more films. But at the same time, I'm also at an age when I know I don't have as MUCH time as I used to have. Tick, tock, tick tock... a strong sense of one's own mortality is a wonderful motivator.

So, if I only have so much time left on this planet, what do I want to make with that precious time? I want to look back and be proud.

I gravitate to certain themes, it would seem. I get many ideas for "Twilight Zone" type tales, usually ones that have an aspect of a moral lesson attached, often about human mortality.

I seem pretty fixated on the struggle we all go through involving the fact that our physical bodies are so fragile, and prone to decay (hence the horror movie fixation? You tell me).

I generally aim to tackle hard-to-face topics, but served up in a tone and style that is attractive to an audience, (call it "charm") with some element of a "lesson" being conveyed through the story.

Here's some story ideas that have hit me over the last year or so (all to be staged in stop motion animation):

-a robot boy who struggles to bring his long-dead human creator back to life...

- an old woman facing what might be her last winter, when suddenly the devil appears. he offers to give her youth back but at a cost (of course).

- a man who cannot die, despite his best efforts, all the while his body is decaying (essentially a very dark comedy, zombie-style)...

And here's a few story development images from the "old woman" story, and the "man who wouldn't die" story. You can click to enlarge them.







As you can see, the process itself is a TOTAL mess, not fit for public viewing (except when being used for educational purposes!) Actually, speaking for myself, I LOVE seeing process, the work that goes on that leads to the finished work, so feast your eyes.

It's a personal process of connecting this to that in terms of story elements. It's a process of raising story questions on paper, crossing out and rewriting... it's a mess, but it's real, and it's on paper so as to refer back to.

In my opinion, few things are more harmful to early story development than to work it out on a word processor. It's just too easy to erase something utterly. It's too neat. When you do it on paper (or at least revise on paper, from a word processed document), you can see the whole thing laid out, forever (even if it's scribbled out). This informs the story as it develops, I feel. And it makes for a cool looking piece of post-modern storytelling, if you ask me.

So with no shortage of concepts in hand, it's simply a matter of starting to MAKE one, right?

Nope. As it turned out, finding the right story took about 6 months of developing various concepts and playing them out (story-wise), testing their strengths, testing whether the story had the substance to sustain me in what I knew was going to be a very long process of development, production, and post-production...

As an indie film maker, you HAVE to test your story for strength. It's the bedrock you'll build the whole thing upon. And you're going to sweat and bleed and cry so much for the thing, if it's story isn't perfect for you (as the primary artist creating the piece), you'll give up.

In several cases (including both concepts in the scans above), I would be completely enthralled with a story, and spend week teasing out plot points, imagining the staging, dashing out thumbnails sketches, convinced that THIS was the one, THIS was my next film!

But in each case, it was revealed that those concepts were NOT the real deal.I would develop and develop, only to find a roadblock in a story that wore me down as I tried to get around it. Or I'd find that my enthusiasm for the story would, sadly, simply dry up.

Thank goodness for "idea drawers", (or in my case, a journal) where all these half-formed concepts can dwell. By having a safe place to store them, it hurts a lot less to walk away from them, then if I had simply thrown them away. I can imagine the concepts "sleeping," "resting," or "waiting". But they're not "dead". Who wants to kill his own newborn ideas?!

And you never know what might be just the right idea, years down the road...


Anyway, these various story concepts depicted above couldn't hold up to the testing. With each one drying up on me, or road-blocking me in some serious way, the search continued. It's a process. You sleep, get up, think about new ideas, live your life... go to sleep, get up... you listen for a story to start talking to you... Working in an indie fashion, I can afford to take this much time on story. I set my own deadlines, so I'm patient. You CAN rush a story, but why do if you don't HAVE to?

I really respect stories, and their process of development. Letting a story reveal itself, in its own time, seems a respectful way to proceed.

And hey- it's my film, so I get to do it my own way!

Naked Frames Film Fest

The Named Frames Film Fest is just starting up in Toronto, and I have to say- it's much needed!

Toronto already has a massive amount of festivals, serving all kinds of audiences, but what it could use more of is a forum for truly indie animators to showcase their work.

Admittedly, there is TAIS (Toronto Animated Image Society), but the more chances to let animators get their work on a big screen, to connect with the community, and to raise their own profiles is extremely important. Without support like this, these brave and incredibly talented souls (many of whom are actually professional animators by day, and toil away on their own visions at night or on weekends) might run out of steam. And then all we'll have left to watch is multi-plex cinemas showing 10 screens worth of the latest mega-studio production, that was written by teams of hundreds to appeal to the broadest audience possible.

A festival like this celebrates and supports truly indie animated art, so please support it. Here's the official promo from the organizers...


"Naked Frames Film Festival is looking for animation films and music videos of any medium to showcase at it's inaugural event!

Naked Frames was created to showcase the independent Toronto animation and film industry by offering the opportunity for artists to display their work on a full-size silver screen with digital sound while enjoying the rockin' tunes of Bob Wiseman and Radius & Helena after the show!

The Naked Frames Series features some of the most relevant, innovative and weird music videos and animated film from the wellspring of talent that is the independent arts community. Our aim is to raise the profile of noteworthy, independent artists, with emphasis on local Canadian talent, through theatrical programmes at the Revue cinema.

The Naked Frames series is put on by a shadowy council of artists concerned with providing exposure to all things cool. Despite the growing number of film festivals in Toronto, there still remains a lack of venues for low to no budget animation and film. These films are largely created by artists who willingly submit themselves to poor working conditions, meager subsistence, and heart wrenching seclusion over a number of years to produce startlingly original pieces. We applaud that sort of thing.

The series organizers are looking for submissions for this and future series events.

Please contact them at NAKEDFRAMESFEST@GMAIL.COM or go to NAKEDFRAMESFEST.CA

Naked Frames Film Fest - Friday July 16th
Revue Cinema - 400 Roncesvalles Avenue"

TV Ghouls

Can't remember where I scooped this from, maybe metafilter?

It's a British comedy piece, but it's true for Canadian TV, and TV anywhere. And it's touches on a number of reasons why, about 8 years ago, I started to move away from live-action and towards animation. I looked at where I could head in live-action, where I'd be in 10 years, and it made my soul weep.

It also touches on why I'm so keen on this David Lynch "Interview Project," that uses media to actually show the connections humans have in an honest fashion, as opposed to using media to exploit others with a painful intent.

Am I some kind of fuzzy-wuzzy teddy bear, who only likes cuddly and sweet things done with media? No.

Is Bambi my one and only favourite movie? No. (Although I do love Bambi).

Considering my most recent purchase on DVD was Romero's Dawn of The Dead, I think it's pretty safe to say that I go in for all kinds of content.

I have just grown to truly loath much of what one has to do to get ahead in media production, usually for the purpose (in the grand scheme of things) of creating utter crap, that is truly destructive to humanity. What a waste of one's (relatively very short) life.

This clip is wickedly honest, and should be shown to all Film Students, repeatedly.

Click away: