- Children's Story is a track on the Tom Waits album Orphans (2006) and is possibly the worst bedtime story ever!
I have huge affection for this track as it satisfies my appetite for extremely dark humour and appeals to my developed sense of mischief. It also has a distinct sound and musical accompaniment that evokes an unsettling and intoxicating atmosphere of another place and time. Besides this, there are numerous reasons for wanting to produce an animation to accompany it - not least that it is a narrative, a 'story'. Which is central to, and the most important element (I believe) of any moving image work. Children's Story even begins with the line "Once upon a time...".
- As my planned full animation of Tom Waits' Children's Story will be a major undertaking (full 3D character animation), I've decided to produce an 'intro' sequence to the piece that will function as an intro sequence in cinema - to introduce thematic elements of the wider narrative, establish a visual language that will continue through to the character animation and locate the piece in time and place.
Intro sequences are most associated with avant garde cinema, are usually quite abstract, with a focus on establishing mood rather than narrative grounding. Or they can be deliberately quite unsettling and sharply contradict the tone, pace and atmosphere of the film that follows. One such example is Ingmar Bergman's Persona - here is the montage that precedes the title sequence:
The film that follows has a fairly straightforward narrative about a young nurse, Sister Alma (Bibi Andersson), who is charged with taking care of a patient, the stage actress Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann), who has stopped talking to anyone after performing in the play, Electra. Therefore, for the majority of the film there is no dialogue - only minimal monologues from Sister Alma.
Incidentally, the film concludes with another montage, not as frenetic or visually rich as the intro - all that remains is the recurring image of film running through a projector - all of the energy and passion has been drained from the scene, leaving calm and sterility.
An interseting side note is that during this period of cinematic history, filmmakers where experimenting with the notion of detachment in audiences - in this case by placing the projector on screen reminding them that they were watching a film.
- Upon initial contextual research into Children's Story I discovered that the story itself was written by the German playwright Georg Büchner and appears in his play Woyzeck. Further research reveals that the story of this play is extremely complicated and consequently a rich source potential of contextual referencing...
Turns out that Büchner died before completing the manuscript and the fragments were edited together after his death, so it is an enduring mystery as to how the play might have been different. Also, Büchner's Woyzeck is in part based on the factual account of a murder committed by Johann Christian Woyzeck in 1824.
SYNOPSIS - Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is the father of an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. As one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck he must eat nothing but peas. It is obvious that Woyzeck's mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum major, who in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie's bedroom, arguably rapes her.
With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats him up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond.
Woyzeck is considered as morally lacking by other characters of higher status, such as the Captain, particularly in the scene in which Woyzeck shaves the Captain. The Captain links wealth and status with morality suggesting Woyzeck cannot have morals as he is poor. It is the exploitation of the character Woyzeck by the Doctor and the Captain which ultimately pushes him over the edge.
The passage used in Tom Waits' Children's Story is academically referred to as 'Grandmother's fable' and appears towards the end of the play as a warning to Marie of her impending demise. I think that the poor child refered to in the fable is Woyzeck himself who is destined to an eternity of purgatory locked inside his deterioratimng mental state.
Woyzeck has also been adapted into a film by German filmmaker Werner Herzog with the title character played by long time collaborator Klaus Kinski.
Interestingly, Herzog also reinterprets the 'Grandmother's fable' by retaining the passage verbatim, but it is delivered by Marie herself, when being persued by the enraged Woyzeck she gives in to the pleadings of local children to "tell them a story".
- In 2000, Tom Waits wrote music and lyrics for a stage production of Woyzeck. It was performed at the Betty Nansen Theatre in Copenhagen before transferring to Paris for a short run. http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/woyzeck-introduction.html
- Firstly, I need to decide where/when to locate this piece - and I've settled on Victorian London, for many reasons:
1) this is the era in which the play is set and Büchner lived - I like the contextual synthesis of thematically referencing the original text, after Tom Waits' reinterpretation. Also, I think that the tragic atmosphere of the play can only support the conceipt behind the Tom Waits' punchline. 2) the issue of chronology in storytelling: when was "Once upon a time..."? 3) The most enduring impression of both reading and watching Woyzeck is the severity of psychological abuse inflicted upon by the so called superior classes - the Captain and Doctor. Throughout, Woyzeck is provoked, tested, examined and humiliated by the Doctor - he is treated like a living specimen. Victorian London is synonymous with rapid progress, the world was shrinking, the Empire expanding, curiosities began flooding into the city to be examined - all of which reminded me of a couple of my favourite London museums; Sir John Soanes Museum and the Grant Museum of Zoology - both of which house the extraordinary collections of their former proprietors. I have therefore decided to locate the intro sequence for my animation in the parlour room of a Victorian collector. Packed with exotic specimens in bell jars, artifacts from around the world, curiosities...
The Grant Museum of Zoology
Note book pages from visit - no photography allowed
Sir John Soanes Museum - As an extension of this, I plan to locate part of the full animation narrative in the back streets of an apocalyptic Victorian London - around the sideshow culture that was so prominent a form of entertainment - The Elephant Man territory. So I've already been researching the bold graphic style used in the day. I've even put together a poster that will feature: advertising a performance by Tom Waits!
I will loosely base the parlour room design and layout on features of the Soanes Museum. But in order to get organised before I commence modelling, I need to plan the dimensions, layout and arrangement of furniture.
This is a nice floor plan illustration I came across of Sherlock Holmes house at 221b Baker Street I plan that the parlour will be in two halves, with the front half more sitting room and the rear a more formal space. As in John Soanes house, the rear space will have a dome skylight.
