The Arvon Blog – the latest news and pictures from Arvon’s writing houses

Moniack Mhor

‘Elephants’ is the story of a lonely child who discovers fun when her grey house becomes infested with elephants. This film started life as an idea inspired by an exercise on the first Arvon Foundation Course I attended. This was at Moniack Mhor, and tutored by Ellen Galford and Michael Pye.

I enjoyed the course immensely. I had been very ill, so just to make the long drive up alone from North Wales to Moniack Mhor felt empowering at that time. Perhaps the feeling of new vistas opening up was enhanced by glorious weather, with skies becoming more and more impossibly blue as the week went on. Perhaps that feeling is something my memory has applied in retrospect. Either way, it’s a good memory of inspiring exercises, sympathetic, supportive tutoring and convivial company punctuated by lots of good food, laughter and walks in beautiful countryside. Perfect.

I’m now a veteran of many script development schemes, some of which have been very tough, and although creatively rigorous and positive, have not left me with rosy memories. It was good to start my writing, (and subsequently film making) career in such a gentle but effectively inspiring way. This Course was pivotal for me and especially of value as I would not have been able to afford it without the grant I was awarded.

After the course, I made a storybook of the ‘Elephants’ idea, with some further advice from Course Tutor Michael Pye, but I didn’t get it published. Around about then, I started to make films, and I stopped sending the Elephants storybook to publishers as I thought I’d like to make it as an animated film instead. Several years and short films later, I had my chance and I went back to the ‘Elephants’ idea for my graduation film from the National Film and Television School, where I was studying for an MA in Animation Direction. I adapted the story for screen myself.

The script went through thirteen drafts during development, losing four characters on the way, to economise on work, time and money- film making has to be so practical. I gave it a mixed animation and live action treatment, with a live set and people interacting with elephants animated using the ‘paint on glass’ technique. (I spent eight months painting elephants ten hours a day, seven days a week…)

‘Elephants’ has been doing well on the International Festival Circuit. It premiered at London Film Festival in October 2008 and then went on toUppsala, Chicago Children’s, St Louis, Tehran and Foyle International Film Festivals. It was awarded second place in the children’s jury live action section at Chicago. I am getting used to facing cinemas full of children for the Question and Answer sessions. We hope ‘Elephants’ will screen at many more Festivals in 2009. It has already been selected for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, California in January.

I have a couple of other ideas I came up with during that week at Moniack Mhor, also stashed away in notebooks as ‘Elephants’ was, waiting for the right moment to be developed, or not. I’ve attended two courses at Arvon since this first one and ideas I have had on these Arvon Courses have also fed into short film scripts, or are biding their time in the darkness inside a notebook, waiting for metamorphosis. I am thinking I must attend another Arvon Course to help me lose that ‘veteran of many script development schemes’ feeling and tap back to my own primary creative sources for a sense of beginning.

A couple of clips from ‘Elephants’ can be seen on www.4mations.tv, please search for Sally Pearce.