Nine months of part time work gave birth to The Blackheart Gang’s acclaimed short film, The Tale of How. The Tale of How is the second part of a trilogy of works called The Dodo Trilogy. It is later to be flanked by The Tale of Then and The Tale of When. The Dodo Trilogy, in turn, fits into a much greater work called The Household. In The Tale of How we meet a giant octopus with a tree growing in his head, the terror of the
The Tale of How consists of a series of 13 prints, a coffee table book, and a short animated film.
The Tale of How Book
If a book was a hat:
If we were to imagine that a coffee table was a person, then the Tale of How coffee table book should be considered to be some sort of fabulous wig or magical hat that the above-mentioned person could wear out to parties and things. Theses Parties will probably share very little resemblance to your average “birthday-cake-and-balloon” jobs.
The Tale of How is a bitter dark fantasy. Following the success of the Tale of How animation, The Blackheart Gang finally got round to finish the final stage of the project by creating a coffee table book. The 40 page book includes a DVD with the animation, the print series and a biography of the author and the never before heard account of how the Blackheart gang murdered the above mentioned author and stole his story.
The Tale of How coffee table book makes for a great present for children and widows alike.
You can purchase the book as of 1 July from our online shop.
Last updated 2009-06-30 09:54:05 GMT. 22 comments.
Tale of How Prints
A series of high quality beautifully framed prints formed part of the Tale of How and the travelling exhibition that accompanies it.
You can purchase the prints here from our online shop.
Last updated 2009-05-29 16:59:41 GMT. 15 comments.
The Making of The Tale of How
Behind the scenes look at the production process of Tale of How. We were asked to do a talk at Resfest Capetown. We had one of these Q&A’s before, where we just stood there in front of a theatre full of people staring blankly at us and we staring blankly back at them. We decided that for this event we will answer questions without people having to ask them (even if they never planned to ask them in the first place) and we made this documentry instead. Done over a weekend on a stolen computer, with more action stories that we dare not mention…
Last updated 2008-02-05 14:38:12 GMT. 12 comments.
How (”Who shot Rooster Bear”)
The biggest bang since the big one, the exhibition at Bell Roberts
How, the exhibition, explores the process and development of The Household and it’s histories. The exhibition is as much a hat tip to the achievements of The Tale of How on the international circuit as to the artistry and dedication that has gone into the creation of this piece. It consists of the animation The Tale of How, a short film named “The making of…” picture documentation in the form of prints, life sized wood carvings of various characters, poetry, manuscripts of histories and several field recordings all taken from the world in which The Tale of How exists. The gang will endeavor to recreate Rooster Bear’s study, a dark room filled with ancient texts and artifacts, which will certainly give us more insight into their Realm.
Find out more information over at the Bell Roberts website
View the official Who Shot Rooster Bear Event page on facebook
Last updated 2008-02-05 17:40:41 GMT. 0 comments.
“Epic. Beautiful. Weird. The Blackheart Gang’s “Tale of How” is a voyage through a surreal landscape populated with duck-like creatures being ravaged by a tentacled sea monster, Otto. In the end, a cute, mousey hero named Eddy the Engineer bursts onto the scene to save the day, making for a tidy little narrative that is both strangely familiar and incredibly odd.”
“If Hieronymus Bosch and Terry Gilliam had a lovechild, maybe it would resemble this video. The visuals are a lush and organic pastiche of 2D and 3D elements, with a hand-crafted attention to detail that makes every still a joy to behold.”
Blackheart Gang discovers a pretty crystal
The Blackheart Gang have just returned back from France after recieving The Special Distinction Award at the Annecy Film Festival for their short film ” The Tale of How”. (the award, a shiny sparkling shape of wonder)
Annecy is the number one International competitive animation film festival. For over 45 years the town has been showing off the very best in the art. The festival is a competition between animated films of various techniques (animated drawings, cut out papers, modelling clay, 3D etc) classified in various categories. The capacity to present and promote animation in all its different forms has made Annecy a world-wide point of reference for the animation industry.
Read more about this award at the official Annecy Site.
Last updated 2007-12-11 07:49:19 GMT. 2 comments.
Special Distinction award at the Annency International Film Festival, France
Best Independent Film Award at the Bradford International Film Festival, UK
Canal+ Award at Cleremont-Ferrand Film Festival, France
Excellence Award Expose 3
Master Award Expose 4
Artistic Perfection Prize at Festival of Animation, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Grand Prix of the Festival (”Golden Peg Bar”) Animanima, Cacak, Serbia
Best Video Creation Curtocircuito Short Film Festival, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Third Prize Backup festival 2007, Weimar, Germany
Best Animation at Right Eye Film Festival, Cape Town, South Africa
Best Animation at FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CORTOMETRAJES, Spain
Best Film MNET EDIT, Johannesburg, South Africa 2007
Best Short Film, South African Film and Television Awards
Best Short Film, Byron Bay International Film Festival, Australia
Best Visual Performance at International Festival of Animation Arts, Russia
Best Film at Animated Dreams, Estonia, 2008
(Official selection):
Annecy International Film Festival, Woodstock International Film Festival (Honourary mention), Resfest World Tour 2006, Onedotzero World Tour 2006, Nicktoons International Animation Festival (top ten), Animago, Norwich International Film Festival, ALTER-NATIVE 14, Nemo International Film Festival, 50th San Francisco International Film Festival, Moscow International Film Festival, Fantoche International Animation Festival, Platform Animation Festival, to name a few.
Press & Publicity
Press & Publicity
The Tale of How has received loads of press in some top publications. Here is a selection of some of the coverage the movie has generated.
Last updated 2007-12-11 15:15:03 GMT. 0 comments.
Tale of How Lyrics
all scary and black,
lives an old octopus,
with a tree in it’s back.And from inside this tree,
all Piranhas appear,
who sing soothing songs,
and are kind and sincere.They’re not at all stupid,
Though they’re not very bright,
And they’re never quite wrong,
they’re never quite right.They’re never asleep,
And they’re never awake,
They all dress like weirdoes,
make no mistake
There are frightfully happy
except when they’re dead,
See Otto the monster
needs to get fed.
A tentacle from nowhere,
can give one a fright!
Stealing Piranhas,
a thief in the night.
They sing soothing songs,
but he never hears,
for shells and the kelp,
have grown in his ears.
Otto is deaf,
Otto means eight,
Otto means death,
To the dodos he ate.
“The future is red”
said Crown-for-a-head,
“we’ll have to migrate,
or we’ll soon all be dead!
So they got in the ocean,
to swim far away.
The water turned red,
On that terrible day.
For Otto the monster,
how hideous the slaughter,
he picked them like fruit,
from that inky black water
There where not many left,
But a handful, a few,
one of these had a vision,
and knew what to do.
They filled paper with ink.
And bottles with paper.
An ocean of bottles,
S.O.S ing their saviors.
But no one came,
they where sad and alone,
they seemed to be stranded,
on this Judas called home.
of terror and typhoon,
the far away voices
that sing to the moon.Lo!
Treacherous house,
many more disappeared,
until a visit from a mouse,
named Eddy the Engineer.He appeared from the west,
on a bunch of bananas,
puffed out his chest,
and addressed the Piranhas.
“You’re the Piranhas?
Otto wants to eat you?
Well my name is Eddy,
and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’ve read all your letters,
I know all the wrongs,
caused by Otto the monster,
Who’s deaf to your songs”
“I’ll give you my all,
I’ll do all can,
I need palm trees and syrup,
to start my plan.”
Huge sticky pots,
cutting palms at the stem,
they built a great structure,
resembeling them.
They got a wet net,
and they sang lullabies,
then caught all these songs,
And placed them inside.
They sneaked to the shore,
and set it free in the tide.
Then all hid in trees,
to watch and to hide.
Otto is stalking
the palm-syrup snack.
He took the bait!
He fell in the trap!
The bait disappeared,
with a growl and a snap.
Otto first yawned,
And then took a nap.
So the island is sleeping,
and still is today.
Eddy had done it!
Our friends got away!
They loaded their ship,
With their mother the tree.
The wind in their sails,
and the wide open sea.
-Markus Wormstorm as Rooster Bear
Last updated 2008-02-05 12:49:10 GMT. 9 comments.
You guys are fantastic! I’m officially obsessed with your work and with you’re creative imaginations. I cannot wait for the other missing parts of the Dodo Trilogy. Stay amazing!!!
it’s beautiful. never seen anything like it
Stunning–Arthur Rackham and Patrick Woodroffe go to work for Jim Henson…Is this eliglble for a short-form animnation Oscar? Because it’s certainly Oscar-worthy.
Haunting!
love your work, the humor, skill and sense of whimsy. Whimsy is an underused and dangerous tool in the wrong hands…you got it right. Well, I think you got it right, if I wake up with bleeding gums, I may change my mind.
good work!
I think your work is mesmarizing! I would love to create a truly imaginative animation with my illustations… ‘the tale of how’ has been a great inspiration!
This is an amazing piece of art!
That’s all I can really say,
Thank you so much for making this!
Overwhelmingly magical - all hats off you you!
I love your style of work! amazing, amazing, AMAZING!
This is the most amazing piece of work i’ve ever experienced, and i can’t wait to see the rest of the triligy. absolutely amazing, my compliments to you all.
Can I buy your films on dvd already, or are you on a compilation dvd?
Words fail me, this is the best thing I have ever seen and heard. You amaze me. *clap clap clap*
this is the best animated work I ever watched! congrats on the rewards guys, keep up the good work!
Yeah!! (Wrings hands)! Nice blog you have here. I’ve enjoyed much reading your last posts. Keep it that way.
Great job! truly original, visually stunning work and perfectly accompanied by orchestral melody.
The level of detail is amazing! I just simply love this! Great work, can’t wait to see more!
I’m in love with this! can’t wait to see the next one!!
Mesmerizing!
wow - my dreams, my nightmares… how?
wow, it’s beautiful…
Somehow, it reminds me of a cult animated movie, The Fantastic Planet…
Woooo so cool. i really like dodos and octupus
so i was happy to see this. So greaat XD
This style of animation is one of the most refreshing things I’ve seen in a long time. Can’t wait to see more out of your studio! Truly amazing work!
This is really beautiful work! I can’t wait to see the next installment…….
Beautiful and haunting and inspiring. May your tales last forever.
The coolest motion graphics I’ve ever seen, your imagination rocks!
This is perhaps the most fantastic animated series I have ever seen. The work you put into it really shows, and your imagination and art - nothing short of awesome. I do hope to see this all on DVD sometime in the near future.
thank you so so much everyone for all these kind words. we are honored to have you view our work. feedback like this can only inspire… just to let you know, we are in the process of printing the Tale of How Book with DVD. we will keep you informed.
Whatever your influences, you have made a truly unique style of film that is intensely cool! Great surreal story too, and beautiful haunting (and thankfully funny) music. Has Gilliam seen this?
Appreciate the info guys, thanks
This short is awesome! Incredible! Fantastic! Thanks everyone for this beautiful film. I was astounded with got know how it was made. I vail the bonnet… Keep up the pace
One of the most beautiful works of media art I have ever seen. I’ve watched it about 50 times and still see and hear something new and amazing.
Fantastic !
Amazing and beautiful work guys!! One comment though, have you thought of re-mastering your audio? It’s extremely quiet.
It is so so so so COOL!!!!!Incredible!!!!!
I love it really!!!
^-^
i adore the colors and shapes, i am advertising you as much as i can
it was love at first sight. my name is sofi and its a pleasure to meet you 
<3
INCREDIBLE!! AWESOME!!! LOVE IT!!! Hope we gonne show u smth in the future <3
Fantastic pictures！I love the color and every single line of the drawing, and I was really amazed by the music. You guys are incredibly good!!!
And there was me wanting to give up on animation. You guys have totally inspired me to finish my degree
you guys rock
Perched on a tree in Tel Aviv, quite far from where we used to live. The maical tale of wow and how and more wow has found us now. we heart your art. To creativity and beyondddd…. yala
You guys make Tim Burton look bad. <3
I will read this book it so nice.,The screen shots are great and awesome.
The pictures are so great and artistic!
I love your work!!! Hope you will make something more next year…
this is magic! wonderful… no words. great!
wooooow, fantastic!!!!
This is amazing, you are great!!!
this is amazing, hope you are showing your work somewhere else except here…
wow, INCREDIBLE! LOVE YOU!
I really love the way you are making the things!
woooow, so cool design! you are great guys!