An old postman waiting on a fire-watch tower is swallowed by a whale that is a post office — and one letter inside is for him, from the boy he used to be.
Takes ten seconds. Your stars and comments shape the next storyboards.
Storyboard
16 keyframes. 7 ghost frames — the one-change-per-edit steps between them — are hidden; switch them on at the bottom left.
01
Dawn over the rooftops. On top of the fire-watch tower, an old postman waits, his satchel empty.
02
He has been waiting a long time. Nothing comes.
03
Then something catches his eye.
04
Something enormous is moving beneath the clouds.
05
A whale leaps out of the sea of clouds — as big as the tower, with a mailbag strapped to its side.
in between
B06-pre he watches the sky beside the tower
06
It swims right up to the tower and stops beside him.
in between
B07a its jaw begins to drop — there is light inside
07
It opens its mouth. Inside, a lantern is lit.
08
He steps off the platform and walks into the light.
in between
B08b the mouth closes behind him; the platform is empty
09
Inside the whale is a post office: a hall of ribs and lanterns and letters — more letters than anyone could ever deliver.
in between
B10a the first letters lift off the racks
10
Then all of them take off around him, like a flock of birds.
in between
B11a the letters settle; one is still in the air
11
One of them comes down, into his hands.
12
An old envelope. On the front, a child has drawn a whale.
13
He looks closer: the whale is carrying the mail — and there is a tiny postman riding on its back.
14
He drew it when he was a boy.
in between
B15a evening comes
15
Dusk. He is back on the tower. Far away, the whale swims on.
in between
B16a dusk on the platform
16
He holds the drawing to his chest. Tomorrow he will be back up here, waiting.
Cast, props & sets
The old postmanThe whale and its mailbagThe whale, mouth open (variant)The fire-watch tower (canonical: open platform)Set — the rooftops, with the towerSet — the tower's platformSet — the platform from the sideSet — the post office inside
Thrown away (6)
sheets/belly.png — naming 'the belly of a whale' made the model draw a whale inside the hall; describe the space, never name the animalframes/B08.png — he lifts a foot but faces away from the mouth — reads as stepping away, not in. Replaced by an ellipsis: the empty platformframes/B08.png — over-removal: asked to remove the postman, it removed the whole tower platform too — lost continuity with B07ghosts/B08b_mouth-closes.png — built on the over-removed B08frames/B16.png — the word "child's" drew a child: a boy stands behind the postman holding the drawing upghosts/B08b_mouth-closes.png — the whole of B01, passed as a colour reference, replaced the composition: a wide shot of the tower instead of the empty platform by the closed mouth
