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�Gianni Foltini�
Pen Before Ink #3, Joseph Reynolds 2002 :o
Page 1, 5 Panels:
Panel 1: (This panel takes the width of the page.)� It�s a view of the Grand Canal in Venice.� All types of boats are moving about: gondolas, water taxis, cargo movers, rowboats, fishing boats, etc.� Get a book on Venice.
CAP: ����� ��������������� Sometimes, I find lovely things.
Panel 2: (This panel takes the width of the page and is about half the page tall.)� We are in a much smaller canal looking out into the traffic of the Grand Canal in the background.� On our left and right are nondescript buildings.� In the water coming towards us is Gianni in a very small wooden boat with a tiny outboard motor.� Gianni is in his late 60�s.� He has a full head of grey hair.� He is wearing heavy work clothes.
CAP: ����� ��������������� I have quite a collection at home: jewelry, coins, swords, glass�
Panel 3: (Panels 3, 4, and 5 are about 1/3 page tall and make up the bottom row.)� A bit closer on Gianni; he�s lazily looking up at nothing.
CAP:������ ��������������� �photos, letters, other personal effects.
Panel 4: The little boat has passed us and is proceeding up the small canal.� We are almost looking down into the boat but can still see where the canal takes a turn in the distance.� GIANNI FOLTINI is printed on the back of his coat.
CAP:������ ��������������� I have to laugh every time I hear tourists commenting on our beautiful blue-green waters.
Panel 5:� Same view, Gianni is a little further up the canal leaving a subtle churning in the water.
CAP:������ ��������������� It must be from those little blue discs people use in their toilets...
Page 2, 5 Panels: (similar layout to Page 1.)
Panel 1: Gianni is mooring his little boat along the edge of a stone sidewalk.� Next to him is a large piece of steel sticking out of the water vertically and perpendicular to the sidewalk.� It rises just about as high as the sidewalk (3 feet/1meter).� We are eye level with the top edge of the steel retaining wall (cofferdam) and can�t quite see over it.
No dialog.
Panel 2: We�re above the sidewalk looking down on Gianni�s back who is looking down into a section of canal that has been drained of water.� To the left we can see the steel retaining wall and the front of Gianni�s boat.� The bottom of the canal is a grey sludge with two men in rubber suits and everyday hats holding a large hose.� One is about 40, the other 20.� It�s Italy, both smoke.� On the opposite side of the empty canal large hoses disappear over another retaining wall.� On the other side of THAT is a barge with a pump and backhoe built onto it floating on the water. �(The cofferdam is made up of� vertical �sleeves� of steel no more than an inch thick that interlock.)
CAP:������ ��������������� �we find those every once in a while too.
Panel 3: We�re looking up at Gianni from the empty canal as he is looking down at us with his hands in his pockets.� Simple 3-4 story houses in the background.
CAP:���������������������� When my grandfather started the business royalty from other countries still came to Venice.�
Panel 4: A shot of four men in their late 20�s on a barge (OLD fashioned pump, no backhoe) in heavy work clothes.� Three of them are each pulling up a line from the water and the forth is holding a long pole with a hook on the end.� They are all crammed close together.
CAP:���������������������� A Duke from England disappeared one night after a heated argument with one member of our royal family.� Everyone thought he left the city disgusted.
Panel 5: We�re looking down past the four heads of the men on the barge.� They�ve pulled up a decomposed and swollen body in a 19th century tuxedo.� The stomach has burst open and a large pile of gold coins spilled onto the deck of the barge.
CAP:���������������������� My grandfather found him a few weeks later the day my father was born, but they failed to mention anything of the gold to the police.� I don�t know what the argument was about, but I suppose they made the Duke put his money where his mouth was.
Page 3, 6 Panels:
Panel 1: Gianni�s grandfather in an empty canal shoveling a bit of sludge.
CAP:���������������������� From that point on my grandfather had a responsibility to the city.� Although no one knew it, he began to know everything about everyone from what they �deposited� in the canals.
Panel 2:� Gianni�s grandfather reaching down to pick something up.
CAP:������ ��������������� The canals wanted to tell him its secrets.� He began to find the most unusual things.
Panel 3:� Inside of a bedroom.� Gianni�s grandfather is kneeling down in front of a large trunk at the foot of a large bed.� We are standing near the headboard and can�t see into the trunk.� With one hand he is holding the trunk open and with the other he is depositing a small, ornate wooden box.
No dialog.
Panel 4: Inside of a kitchen.� At the table are Gianni�s grandfather (now in his mid 30�s) and his father (about 12).� They are sitting on opposite sides and the man is gently pointing at the boy.
CAP:���������������������� My grandfather knew that my father didn�t feel the same way from the canals as he did.� He told him that when he came of age he would give him the gold coins so that he could pursue what he wished to pursue.
Panel 5: View from inside a store looking out through the large window past glass shelves of beautifully
delicate blown glass figures, horses, angels, and vases to a teenage boy looking in.
CAP:������ ��������������� My father wished to pursue glass.
Panel 6: Gianni�s father is standing at the edge of a canal (with water in it!) holding a NOT so beautifully
delicate glass horse.� He is beaming at it at arm�s length.� He�s in his very early 20�s and perhaps wearing a
tank top-ish looking shirt.� It gets hot next to the glass ovens.
CAP:���������������������� The day my father finished his first piece he cast it into the water as an offering to the generosity the canals showed our family.
Page 4, 6 Panels:
Panel 1: Edge of the water with bubbles rising to the surface.
CAP:������ ��������������� Perhaps the canals were offended.� As it turns out he was not a very good glassmaker.
Panel 2: Gianni�s father next to an oven rolling at end of a pipe a ball of molten glass.
CAP:���������������������� After that, misfortune flowed from the canals.� Most of the gold was spent on the glass shop and materials.� The rest was soon used up just to buy food.
Panel 3: Gianni�s father in his 30�s sitting at a table with a miniature torch in one hand and a thin glass rod
in the other adding small details to a glass horse.� In the background are shelves filled with not so great
imitations of the pieces that were in the store window.��
CAP:���������������������� My father still produced glass all the time.� It had to be exported and sold as �Venetian Glass� in America.� Compared to other glassmakers on the same street the work was too obviously inferior.
�
Panel 4: Gianni�s grandfather now in his 50�s is scrambling from a canal onto a sidewalk as one of the
retaining walls in the background gives way to a wall of water.
CAP:���������������������� My grandfather began to suffer as well.� He was no longer finding beautiful things; instead he was only finding disease and occasional mishaps.
Panel 5: A view of two boats heavily laden with furniture and the three generations of Foltini.�
Grandfather:50�s, father: 30�s, Gianni: 10.
CAP:���������������������� We had to sell the house and move the family into the glass shop.� I had no choice but to leave school and work with my grandfather on the canals.�
Panel 6: A happy view of Gianni and his grandfather on a barge.
CAP:���������������������� I soon learned what I needed to learn.� My grandfather told me that since our good fortune sank, the city started to sink as well.� The ancient piers in sections of the city were decaying.
Page 5, Panels:
Panel 1: Gianni�s father standing at the edge of the water.� Same view as Page 3, Panel 6.� He is holding nothing this time.� He�s not looking too good.
CAP:������ ��������������� My father committed suicide soon after we moved.
Panel 2:� Same view as Page 4, Panel 1.� Edge of the water with bubbles rising to the surface.
CAP:���������������������� After that, things began to get better.� Perhaps the canals weren�t happy with my father�s original offering.� They wanted HIM�
Panel 3: Young Gianni at a hand bilge pump.
CAP:������ ��������������� �and now they had me as well.� They were happy.
Panel 4: Gianni smiling blatantly at two women passing by and his grandfather with his finger to his
lips.
CAP:������ ��������������� I soon began to know things about the city that I shouldn�t have known.�
Panel 5: Same view as Page 2, Panel 3.� We�re looking up at Gianni from the empty canal as he is looking down at us with his hands in his pockets.� Simple 3-4 story houses in the background.� Back to present day.
He�s smiling.
CAP:������ ��������������� Business was good, the city stopped sinking, and I began to find lovely things.
Panel 6: Same view.
VOICE 1 (o.p.):��������������� Hey Dad!� Look at this.�������
Page 6, 4 Panels:
Panel 1: (Large panel taking half the page again.)� Back to the view from Page 2, Panel 2.� We�re above the
sidewalk looking down on Gianni�s back who is looking down into a section of canal that has been drained
of water.� To the left we can see the steel retaining wall and the front of Gianni�s boat.� The two men are
now digging through the sludge.
No dialog.
Panel 2: (Panels 2, 3, and 4 make up the bottom row.) View of Gianni walking through the glass shop.� On the shelves are hundreds of his father�s glass pieces as well as some of his own things:� swords, old framed pictures, paintings, old shoes, old suits and lace dresses.� We are looking at him from behind and he is holding something we can�t see.
No dialog.
Panel 3: Gianni from behind again now in a narrow hall with more stuff on the walls.
No dialog.
Panel 4:� Same view as Page 3, Panel 3.� Inside of a (different) bedroom.� Gianni is kneeling down in front of a large trunk at the foot of a large bed.� We are standing near the headboard and can�t see into the trunk.� With one hand he is holding the trunk open and with the other he is depositing a NOT so beautifully delicate glass horse.�
Joseph Reynolds, 2002
Quick reference:
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/galleries/blg-v_index.htm
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/maintaining_venices_canals.htm
Pictures:
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/galleries/venice_photos/canal_maintenance_vert.jpg
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