Portland, OR – April 19, 2005 – To promote Portland, Oregon’s upcoming literary arts festival ‘Wordstock’, Bent Image Lab created “How to Write a Story”. Dark and humorous, the :60 and :30 features a stream-of-conscious look at the writing process, told with images straight from the subconscious. The campaign was created, directed and produced by Bent Image Lab partner/director Chel White for FourStories Agency in Portland, OR. The festival runs from April 19 to April 24 and features guest speakers such as Norman Mailer, Russell Banks, John Irving, Susan Orlean, and many more.

ccording to White, “This was one of those rare and wonderful projects where I had total creative freedom. The script itself was a stream-of-conscious email sent to me from the client, Scott Poole, who just happened to be a poet as well. I thought the piece was hilarious and I knew I had found my script—or rather it had found me. So, we took Scott Poole’s poem, edited it, and on a tiny budget created a digital collage animation that feels like improvisational jazz. By that I mean I chose an intuitive path that took shape as we worked on it. Those flights of fancy are evident in the final piece, and I think are a big part of what makes it so off the wall.”

“On a project like this, I will follow my instincts even more than usual—working mainly on intuition—perhaps to a fault. But my gut told me to collect certain kinds of images, say monster trucks, bathing beauties, and light bulbs. Later as we got to animating elements in the computer, the actual need for such images was revealed. I love working like that. It ties into my enormous interest in dreams and the subconscious that I rarely get to explore beyond my short films.”

“Using a digital still camera with a motor drive, we shot an actor moving in slow motion , an update of the old animation process called pixilation. We also shot a lot of stills of food, household objects, tools of the writing trade such as typewriters, and various parts of the human body. We then took these images and added in bits and pieces of stuff we found in old magazines and other sources. It took about four weeks to compile an extensive bank of images from which to find the raw material. White says “The end result is a collage piece that streams subconscious and archetypal images that relate to the writing process itself.”

Combining detailed collage animation with computer compositing, White was able to push boundaries once again. According to co-producer Randall Wakerlin, “We pulled out boxes of old magazines and poured over them looking for the right images. As we gathered them, our piles of scans grew larger and larger. We wound up using about a third of them”. He adds, “I’ve done collage animation before but not using a computer. It was amazing, working in this process. It was also great to work closely with Chel. He is such a creative person and I was privileged to witness his process.”

ABOUT THE COMPANY

BENT IMAGE LAB is a hybrid animation laboratory/live action production studio headquartered in Portland, OR. Named Bent because it bends rules, light and the imagination, the team is highly skilled in many creative disciplines. Their mission is to generate the future in mixed-media / animation / live action, and their credo is “Never twice the same solution”.

Bent Image Lab is represented nationally by Nancy Jacobs. The company is headquartered at 2729 SE Division Street, Portland, OR 97209. Contact them at: 503.228.6206, fax: 503. 228.1007, website: www.bentimagelab.com

Quick time and frames are available at:

Press Contact: Fran Koenig (203) 661 5090, koenigpr@optonline.net

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Credits:

Production Company/city/state: BENT IMAGE LAB / Portland, Oregon

Director: Chel White

Exec. Producer: Chel White

Producers: Chel White, Randall Wakerlin

DP: Mark Eifert

Production Designer: Chel White

Shot at BENT IMAGE LAB / Portland, Oregon

And LOCATIONS in Columbia River Gorge and a residence in NW Portland.

Agency: FourStories, Portland, Oregon
Creative Director: Austin Howe
Copywriter: Scott Poole
Art Director: Fredrik Averin
Agency Producer: Austin Howe
Account Executive: John Drake

Editorial Company/city/state: Bent Image Lab, Portland, Oregon

Editor: Steven Miller

Postproduction Facilities: Bent Image Lab, Portland, Oregon

And Downstream Digital / Portland, Oregon

Online Editor: Steven Miller

Visual Effects: BENT IMAGE LAB

Photoshop artist: CJ Beaman.

Interns: James Birkett, Brian Kinkley, Natasha Kruze, Nikole Fraley.

Audio Post: Downstream Digital / Portland, Oregon (sound design and mix)

Mixer: Lance Limbocker

Engineer: Lance Limbocker

Sound Design Company/city/state: Downstream Digital / Portland, Oregon Sound Designer: Lance Limbocker

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