Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight

An old woman, short and stout, enters a room containing a small puppet theater. Between the tasks of setting up a phonograph and a film projector, she carries in a large object, on top of which stands a statue of a dog. The dog comes to life. Inside the puppet theater, a mechanical platform rises up, revealing a miniature pianist. After a brief musical performance, the theater rotates, displaying an ocean scenescape - amidst other themed props, a fish's head is depicted bobbing up and down in the water. The theater then rotates again, settling on a hilltop home.

Inside the dwelling, sits a porcelain doll in the form of a young girl. A blue, spectral drawing sits with her, until she is roused by a bell. As the girl leaves the room, the wispy drawing looks after her, and then vanishes. A cloaked, pale-faced, old woman watches the young girl climb through the meandering, mechanical passageways of the puppet theater. The old woman signals for a loaf of bread and then passes it on to the young girl.

A lonely red balloon floats down a hallway. It stops to hover by a grotesque couple, gorging themselves on an opulent feast. The couple gaze at each other through richly designed fish masks. The balloon then passes on, reaching a tavern. The pianist is there, and three old men sit enraptured by a woman on stage. The young girl, who has made her way to the room as well, watches as one of the men casually swallows a pair of levitating playing cards.

Following the red balloon, the girl appears to return home. She is encountered however, by a rotating contraption, depicting a series of intricate masks. Her house is revealed to also be such a contraption. The young girl then appears standing alone in the puppet theater. The old woman, who set up the show, is watching. She directs a mechanical fan toward the girl, and the girl, covering her eyes in apparent fear, is blown away. The woman waves goodbye to an unseen audience.

Lauren Indovina and Lindsey Mayer-Beug directed Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight as their thesis film, while attending Rhode Island School of Design.[1] The two classmates, who majored in Film, Animation, and Video[2] intermingled throughout their time at RISD, but did not form a close friendship until attending the Ottawa International Animation Festival together in their senior year. Indovina has described this trip as a "pilgrimage", undertaken annually by RISD animation seniors.[3] In her own words, she and Mayer-Beug bonded over "a mutual belief that getting up early to explore Ottawa is worth sleep deprivation", and while abroad, the two resolved to collaborate on their upcoming thesis film.[3] A year later, they would return to Ottawa, winning top honors in the Undergraduate category with this film.[2]

Production lasted six months. Splitting responsibilities, Indovina handled the set design, modeling, texturing, and lighting, while Mayer-Beug handled the character design.[1] The duo found inspiration in the distinctive style of Czech animator Jan Svankmajer, as well as old puppet shows.[4][5] In an interview a decade later, Mayer-Beug would note that elderly people with wrinkled faces - a recurring motif in this film - are one of her favorite subjects to draw.[6] Although the film makes use of computer graphics, both directors carry a strong preference for traditional forms of animation, having once made reference to "the tyranny of software".[4] As such, they drew from a wide variety of art disciplines, combining Maya software with cell animation, paint, puppetry (including hand puppetry), cutout animation (both traditional and computer-based), and stop motion.[4][7] Other aspects of the film's production were achieved through the use of After Effects, Avid, Photoshop, and Pro Tools.[4] The sound design is by Sarah Orenstein.[1]

The film is dedicated to Mayer-Beug's mother, Carolyn Beug, and grandmother, Mary Alice Wahlstrom;[1] both died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[8] Carolyn Beug had served as senior vice president of Walt Disney Records in the mid-nineties.[8][9] She and Wahlstrom boarded American Airlines Flight 11 while returning from taking Lindsey Mayer-Beug and Lindsey's twin sister (also named Lauren) to their first year of college.[8]

As its gear-driven sets whip and whirl, ideas and visuals cascade, eclipsing one another. This is the kind of film you can watch ten times and see twenty different things.

— A review in 3D World magazine[4]

Melissa Wolfe of Frederator called Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight "beautiful", naming it as a highlight of the 2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival.[10] The film was also singled out for praise by David Fellerath and Zack Smith, both of Indy Week, during the 2006 and 2007 Hi Mom! Film Festivals.[11][12] Smith called it a "macabre feast for the eyes" that evokes the works of Lemony Snicket,[12] while Fellerath likened the film's "interplay of music, images, and the imagination" to Corpse Bride and The Triplets of Belleville.[11] Irene Gallo of Tor.com wrote that, although the film makes use of CGI, it still manages to exude "all the decay and style" associated with stop motion animation.[13] She felt it particularly reminiscent of Jan Švankmajer's filmography[13] - a key influence on the film's design.[4] In a review for the Reading Eagle, Tony Lucia called the film "As enchanting and technically astonishing as it is cryptic and ambiguous."[14] He pondered the meaning of the film, questioning whether the young girl should be interpreted as a captive or a performer, and likened it to the works of David Lynch.[14] The staff of 3D World magazine referred to the film as a "gothic masterpiece".[4]

Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight won in the Undergraduate category at the 2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival[15][16] and went on to screen throughout the United States in the Best of Ottawa 2005 travelling exhibition.[2][17][18] The film also won in the Stop Motion category at the 2006 Animex Student Animation Awards[19] and the Animation category at the 2005 Hollywood DV Festival,[1][4] was a semi-finalist at the 2005 Stash DVD Magazine Global Student Animation Awards,[20] and was named by 3D World magazine as one of the ten best student animated films of the year.[4] Other festivals in which it screened include the 2006 Ann Arbor Film Festival,[1][21] the 2006 Boston Underground Film Festival,[22] the 2005 Etiuda & Anima International Film Festival,[23] the 2006 Florida Film Festival,[24][25] the 2006 and 2007 Hi Mom! Film Festivals,[11][12] the 2006 Melbourne International Animation Festival,[26] the 2005 Pawtucket Film Festival,[27] the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival,[28] the 2006 Reel Women International Film Festival,[29] and the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival.[30] Additionally, it was selected as one of three short films to be screened in June 2006, as part of Slamdance Film Festival's online Anarchy competition.[3][31][32]

• Mister Smile
• Geraldine (2000 film)
• Le Building

• Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight at IMDb
• Lauren Indovina Official Website - Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight
• Vimeo - Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales for Twilight