Ideation Continued: Haeckel Story Outline

This is an outline for a narrative-driven animation using the Haeckel collages.

This is just one outcome option in my ideation process - I can also look at a less narrative-driven work in future, as Matt suggested.

The story begins with a fruit falling from a tree. A local wizard, or Mage, transfigures the fruit into a hound. This hound becomes our protagonist. It is on a search for meaning. Our protagonist the Hound visits three mages in turn, each of whom has a different perspective on reality.

The First Mage

A skeletal, chuckling mystic. He creates the Hound by transfiguring the fruit of a tree which was growing outside his hut.

Although the Hound is keen to find out why he was created and what to do in the world, the First Mage advises him against any search for meaning. The First Mage is nihilistic and lackadaisical. He always ends his depressing discourses with a laugh: “Ha ha ha!”.

The First Mage's outlook does not satisfy the Hound, who runs away.

NOTE: We should make clear that the Hound is not simply struggling with his reason for being created. He is also asking a wider question about locating meaning in the universe. Much like a dog, he is turning in circles while seeking a comfortable place to lie down.

The Second Mage

The Hound escapes the First Mage, and soon comes upon an area of sharp, ragged rocks. He is fired upon with strange projectiles until he reaches their point of origin - the keep of the warlike Second Mage.

The Second Mage wears a mask covered in sharp spines. He examines the Hound and finds it poses no threat. He explains to the Hound his own outlook: that the universe is in constant competition against itself. Change is unpredictable and dangerous. Your only chance of survival is in accumulating power to protect you from your enemies!

As the Second Mage lashes out at some passing birds, the Hound quickly sees problems with this outlook and runs off again.

The Third Mage

The Hound climbs high into the mountains. There he comes upon a strange tower. Within is the Third Mage, an apparently benign squid-like creature. The Third Mage takes pity on the dog in his search for meaning, and explains his own outlook - or rather, his dream. He believes in progress, and wants to valiantly push the world forward until it is perfect -- in other words, until there is no more change occurring.

The Third Mage proves aloof and condescending, but the dog remains with him as he wants to believe in his dream of progress.

However, the Hound is betrayed.  The Third Mage leads him to a meeting place where the other two Mages stand waiting, in preparation for some kind of ritual.

“Not to worry,” whispers the Third Mage to the Hound, “At the last moment, I’ll betray them both!”

We then hear the thoughts of the Second and First Mages, each of whom sure enough plans to betray the others.

The three mages begin the ritual- an attempt to summon Moontro, the Lord of Appearances. He is the origin and source of all change taking place in the universe. With him lies the promise of ultimate power over change.

The landscape begins freely mutating around the Mages and the Hound. It is transforming, recombining as a result of the ritual. The bizarre body of Moontro begins to take shape.

Each mage is just at the point of preparing to betray the others, but before anyone can do anything the Hound jumps into the middle of the ritual. He is angry at the mages and seeks to end this bizarre existence, taking them all with him.

Things go askew, and the body of Moontro begins to collapse. All characters find themselves sucked into a vortex of change. They are taken apart into their component pieces - completely vaporized, and dispersed across the landscape. They have all been recombined into the universe.

We then revisit each area that was inhabited by a character. The Third Mage's tower, the Second’s ragged keep, the tree from which the Hound grew, and the hut of the First Mage.

As vaporized particle matter falls over the Third Mage’s tower, we hear an echo of his voice:
“Perhaps THIS is the perfect world after all!”

And at the ragged keep, the voice of the Second:
“I must accumulate power to escape from this wretched state!”

At the tree:
“Even after turning everything askew, I failed to change anything!”

And finally, at the hut:
“Ha ha ha!”

Outside the hut, a fruit falls from the tree.

The End