By Robert Goldrich

Writer’s block was never funnier–yet at the same time serious enough for any aspiring or even established author to relate to deeply. A collage of images created, produced and directed by Chel White–who’s a partner in hybrid animation laboratory/live action studio Bent Image Lab, Portland, Ore.–takes us into the mind and heart of a writer who’s struggling mightily with his work.

    The spot’s theme is spelled out from the outset, “How to write a story.” But instead of a how-to, the ad takes on more of a darkly humored “why me?” theme. A would-be author’s voiceover takes us through his process, sharing that he first breaks out in a cold sweat. The rapid-fire succession of images from his subconscious begins, starting with what dozens of floating eyes, pencils and blank pads of paper. Next, we’re subjected to a TV set with different fare rotating on screen. Our auteur says that in desperation he sees “if there’s anything on television I can steal. Of course there never is.”

He confesses, “Then in a panic, I eat a box of cookies,” at which point, we see cookies disappearing from their package perched on a kitchen table.

Next he seeks some form of inspiration, reading a few words from Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea.” Words from the book appear in a fragmented collage. Multiple pairs of lips mouth an excerpt from Hemingway’s work.

From all this, our tormented writer produces work that he describes as “trash.” Images of typewriter keys, lit cigarettes, and crumpled sheets of paper rolled into little balls fill the screen. We then see him dump his manuscript into a pit located in his backyard.

From there we’re in a speeding car, from the driver’s perspective. The writer continues, “Then as I’m driving my car toward a cliff to kill myself, a great idea usually pops into my head at that moment–and I have to stop and write it on my leg.” The car comes to a sudden halt. Light bulbs illuminate at the mention of his having a bright idea. Then we see dozens of pens and then a succession of legs–each suitable for writing notes on.

A supered message–“Meet The Storytellers, April 19-24”–then provides some context for this stream-of-consciousness journey, offering a venue for help: Oregon’s literary arts festival Wordstock, in which leading authors (Norman Mailer, John Irving, Susan Orlean, et al) are guest speakers. Names of assorted notable writers flash before us on screen. An end tag simply reads, “Wordstock 2005,” accompanied by a Web site address (www.wordstockfestival.com).

This darkly humored :60 (with a :30 version) was created by FourStories Agency, Portland, to promote the then upcoming arts fest. Titled “How to Write a Story,” the spot, said director White, “was one of those unique projects where we had total creative freedom. We took agency copywriter Scott Poole’s poem, edited it, and on a very small budget created a digital collage that looks like paper and feels like free-form jazz.

“Using a digital still camera with a motor drive, we shot an actor moving in slow motion, took those images and added some we found in magazines and other sources. It took about three weeks to compile, but the end result is a flow of subconscious and archetypal images that relate to the script.” White combined traditional collage animation and computer animation.

White served as director, executive producer, co-producer and production designer. Randall Wakerlin was the other co-producer. The DP was Mark Eifert.

In addition to Poole, the members of the FourStories team were creative director/producer Austin Howe and art director Fredrik Averin.

Bent Image Lab’s Steven Miller was offline and online editor. In the latter capacity, he tapped into the Downstream Digital facility in Portland. Audio mixer/sound designer was Lance Limbocker of Downstream Digital.

The visual effects ensemble at Bent Image Lab included composite artists Wakerlin, Steve Balzer and Orland Nutt, and Photoshop artist C.J.  Beaman.

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