scylla and charybdis, The original "Coastline Terrors"
One is A multi headed creature, while the other is whirlpool creating behemoth, both causing mayhem in the seas in Greek mythology, apposing infamous hero's including Jason And The Argonauts and Odysseus.
When Writing the "Coastline Terror" i wanted my monster to be quite different to those seen on screen, as doing a giant dinosaur wreaking havoc on a city sounds too close to the likes of Gojira(1954) and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms(1953), so i delved into Greek mythology, a world of myths, heroes, gods and monsters. I had some knowledge of Greek Myth thanks to growing up with films such as Jason and the Argonauts(1963) and Clash Of The Titans(1981),but i had only scratched the surface when it comes to this topic.
I knew that i wanted a multi headed creature, much like the Hydra in the tale of the labours of Hercules. In the Story, Hercules was tasked with his 2nd labour was to kill The Lernean Hydra, a creature which could grow two heads when one head was killed or severed. However The hydra has been Portrayed in a multitude of media including the previously mentioned Jason and the Argonauts(1963), and the Hydra was a land based creature, so i then started to look elsewhere.
I began to read the stories of Odysseus, a man who was part of the Fall of Troy and the encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops. He had to deal with Two deadly creatures, the Scylla and the Charybdis. Literally deriving the saying "between a rock and a hard place" Odysseus had to sacrifice 6 of his men to get past the Scylla, or die with them all in the jaws of the Charybdis.According to various texts, The Scylla has been interpreted in various ways, including a six headed woman with a belt of dog heads, A woman with multiple heads at her torso, or a Hydra like Creature with heads of women.
My creature Now has an influence from Greek myth and when i get to designing the creature, i now have a frame on how to design such a beast, But how to bring the creature to life. Because we can only create the film with the resources at hand, i think the best method is to animate the creature via stop motion animation. much like Ray Harryhausens Hydra from Jason and the Argonauts (1963) which was a armature model created with a metal skeleton and then covered in modelling clay and latex to create its skin.
The one thing i am worried about however is that stop motion animation is a very lengthy process so depending on the production time for the projects there could be difficulty actually filming this piece.
theodorin (2007) Jason et Les Argonautes -Jason vs Hydra (1963)R.Harryhausen'
[online]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow-dkIuIaz8