The Power is Ours! At a theatre near you…
Mazal Tov, it’s celebration time!
Could it be that every death is followed by another birth? Shortly after my father passed away, I began my “book of letters” project. All of the letters (remember those days?) that my father and I wrote to one another were collected and words of tribute, poems and other sentimental writings were added to the collection. I photocopied the works on lavender colored pages and bound a limited number of copies. It may have been a simple memento, but to this day it remains dear to me.
I am a woman of action and this endeavor had my devoted attentions. Within the creative process I found both comfort and strength. While gathering and binding the pages, I read, reread and sorted the letters and other materials. Throughout the process I felt my father’s steady presence. Even today, anytime I feel his memory slipping away from me, it is enough to open the memento and leaf through the pages. It is but minutes before I can hear his voice. For a moment of grace I am with him again.
Dancing With the Little Devil Inside
Shortly after my mother passed away, once again I donned a creative cloak of magic…
I was overpowered by a tremendous sense of loss. For the better part of the last three decades she wallowed in a cauldron of calamities as her health deteriorated bit by bit, over and over again. She was shuffled from doctor to doctor in an endless pursuit for answers which were more often than not intolerable: insufficient and indefinite.
We met up in Vancouver at the Rabbi’s study. My brothers and I, our spouses and Dave, my mother’s chosen one, sat together and tried to paint an image of the woman that was. We found ourselves reminiscing. Bittersweet memories and warm laughter came to life as we remembered.
On the eve before the funeral, I found myself writing a eulogy for Mom. Although I had excelled at creative writing as a child, with the exception of short text messages, I had not been writing much of anything lately.
My sense of loss was compounded by the stark difference between the once upon a time promise and the tragic ever after. Earlier she battled to replace poverty, ugliness and ignorance with comfort, beauty and education, latter the battlefield came closer, uncomfortably so, to home. Once were she to question, “Mirror mirror on the wall who is the happiest of them all”, she would not have been disappointed by the answer in the looking glass.
Her story illuminated a cruel twist of fate as her vibrancy and passion faded in the shadow of disease.
My father was but 54 when he passed away from severe heart disease. My mother was afflicted with Parkinson’s and any number of disorders. Both of my parents parted from this world in an abundance of sickness, pain and heartache. Their hard fall from grace has, without a doubt, influenced my wake in this world.
I am passionate about kindling change. It is about time that we awaken from our slumber. We have the powers to part from this world on better terms. We need only choose to use them…
I began to ponder exactly how I could, on the one hand shake things up, while on the other hand, create a memento in memory of my parents. I wanted nothing short than for people to understand the powers of their day to day choices in molding their future destiny.
A Story is Born
Shortly after my mother’s passing, I found myself writing a story about a magic mirror and a kaleidoscope, enchanting devices used to paint the connection between our choices and our future. The story created a buzz of friendly traffic as I shared it on social media.
At precisely the same time, I was privileged to view a magical short animated film, the collaborative effort of two Ringling Brothers School of Art graduates. “Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou” is an upbeat, moving, colorful and poignant piece of art. I was deeply motivated to share and share away…
JINXY JENKINS & LUCY LOU | One Unlucky guy finds a Lucky Gal – Cute Animation by Ringling
When the chaotically misfortunate Jenkins and the monotonously lucky Lou run into each other one morning, they find a thrilling and fulfilling change of pace as they hurtle down the hills of San Francisco in an ice cream cart.
I wondered if my story could be used to create such a powerful and poignant call to action…
While for many years I had created many video clips, my drawing talents were next to nil…
I contacted one of the above mentioned graduates and asked if he would be available to collaborate, alas he was unavailable. Today he works at Pixar Studios and I don’t think that I will be able to use his services anytime soon.
I approached a professional animation team and their quotation was polished beyond my means. While utilizing my budding networking capabilities, I found a recent WIZO Haifa Academy of Design graduate. Both Reut and her good friend were recent graduates. In what I would call a rare pure and unselfish move, Reut decided to show both her and her friend Lilach’s portfolios. I must say that I experienced some discomfort when I decided to choose her friend Lilach…
At that time Lilach had a day job and limited time available for our project. Progress was at a snail’s pace.
Unable to solve a script dilemma, we turned to a professional screenwriter. As he began sharing scripts more suitable for the likes of Pixar budgets, we knew that this was more than we had bargained for! In the end we parted ways. Lilach and I found the solution to our dilemma.
While Lilach drafted those first sketches, I made an invested effort to learn which script qualities could be utilized to create viral content.
We prepared a T-shirt logo which sported a pineapple superhero complete with a red cape and slogan:
The Power is Ours! The slogan was a mirrored image, a constant reminder in the looking glass of our superpowers.
Lilach enlisted Vitaly, her classmate and collaborator at WIZO, as our animator. This was also a side gig for him and we continued to make progress at a slow pace.
The animation progressed and I recorded a primitive narration. For a while there, I thought that we might actually use my voice. It seems that my passionate narration presented an authentic voice. In the end, however, we decided to bring my friend Nitzan, professional actor, English speaker and health nut onboard. Together we met up at a professional recording studio in the big city.
I believe in full disclosure. In the beginning I was very tense as I heard him speaking my words with the wrong diction, not at all as I had intended… What chutzpa, that was my baby! Thankfully I was able to coach Nitzan with ease. With much gratitude to his professionalism and that of the recording team, the resulting product was spot on. I used the remaining studio time to record a short message which in the end was cut from the film. We did not wish in any way to spoil the light mood of the film.
It was my intention to create a pure message from the heart void of any marketing messages. I believed that in this manor people would be more inclined to share my creation on social media. In the end, however, I did use small details with regards to my parents as well as my photo. I believe that these modest additions used in good taste should not diminish from my overall message.
I added subtitles in three languages: English, Hebrew and Arabic. In the future I hope to add more.
A very cool interactive timeline was created which well illustrates the stages and progress of the project.
I would encourage you to check out the link below.
A Timeline made with Timeglider, web-based timeline software
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I cannot begin to describe the intense culmination of joy building within me. There is no greater reward than bringing a new bundle of joy into this world! At various points along the way I shared private screenings with friends and family along the way. It was very inspiring to see the sparkle in their eyes and their joy curl into broad smiles upon their faces. I was eager to reach the finish line.
No More a One Woman Show
It was indeed a challenge for me to release my hold and allow others in to work with me. There was no room for my autopilot “one woman show” mode. It was especially hard allowing others to alter my vision in the slightest of ways.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the whole is greater than the sum of its creative parts. In economics this phenomenon is known as the law of increasing returns. Indeed the result is nothing short of – H U G E ! ! !
I would like to use this opportunity to thank all who participated both directly and indirectly in the creative process, artists and cheerleaders alike. It is my hope and dream that we will embrace and embody this invaluable message:
The power is ours!
It was worth the wait!
You Tell Your Future – The Power is Ours!
Imagine you had a looking glass where for a very short window of time you could observe, live the final moment, day, year or years of your life. The picture that you see is clear. Startled, you clearly do not like what you see. A wave of sadness and fright paralyzes you.
I would like to thank you for your patience in reading this post to its end.
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Finally I would like to request that you please share this post with my animated clip.
Dreams do come true!
Thank you and have a great week!
