Thinking About Words and Pictures

Part I

1. Now that you have read Italo Calvino's "Big Fish, Little Fish," recall the pictures that flashed through your mind as you read the story. Look at the story again. Mark the passages that you feel are most descriptive -- ones the give you a vivid picture. Underline the words that you feel are most vivid and descriptive. Do this before you read on. Take about 5 minutes.
2. Stories are built in scenes. Think of a scene as a place and time in which specific action happens. For example, Zefferino's father looking for limpets might be one scene, another might be Zefferino as he first starts swimming underwater, and another could be a final scene of Zefferino and his father and the woman on the beach with the chopped up octopus. We are probably most familiar with scenes from television and movies; within any given scene there are often multiple "shots." Think of your imaginary eye as the eye of a camera. Most of you have probably seen a movie that opens with a shot that "pans" a room. A pan is one long moving shot. In a scene set in a kitchen a camera might pan from the oven, over the counters, to the fridge, past the kitchen sink, to the table, to an open carton of milk, to an empty bowl, to the table cloth. And the camera might "zoom in," perhaps moving in close enough to the table cloth so that each thread and fiber is visible. Briefly discuss any scenes or interesting shots that you have seen in movies. Make comparisons to "Big Fish, Little Fish."
3. Now go back to "Big Fish, Little Fish." This story is highly visual; we get a sense of what the characters are thinking and feeling from the way the world is rendered, made visible, described. Interestingly, not all the characters see the same things in the same way. For example, Zefferino thinks many of the fish he finds are beautiful, but the woman on the beach finds flaws in them. What does this difference tell you about the characters?
4. On a separate sheet of paper, draw two pictures of the same thing -- one the way you think Zefferino would see it and one the way that you think the woman would see it. Since everyone will probably see these things differently, we will share our pictures with the class. When you show us your picture, some of your classmates might ask you why you drew things the way you did, so be prepared to share that too. Keep in mind that the differences don't have to be extreme. In fact, subtle differences -- such as those in the story -- are often the most interesting.

Part II

1. Break into teams of your element. Water (Scorpio, Pisces, Cancer), Air (Libra, Capricorn Gemini), Earth (Taurus, Leo, Aquarius), and Fire (Sagittarius, Virgo, Aries). If necessary, a group with one of two people may combine with another group of one or two, but we want the groups to be a balanced as possible.
2. Your job is to break Calvino's story into 7-10 pictures. Discuss the pictures with your team. For each picture select or adapt one to five sentences or lines of text. Each team member should work on drawing pictures and selecting/ adapting text. You may collaborate or work on different pictures individually. Since our time is limited, a sketch is fine. Give your team about 10 minutes to decide what the pictures should show and what lines of text should go with them. Since we just doing this to practice, spend no more than 20 minutes making your drawings. If you have time, make a cover for the story as well.