Rangi and Papa script
Benjamin Burrell

Animation: Ink droplets on watery canvas.

0:01 DARKNESS, THE BEGINNING OF TIME AND SPACE. WE SEE POWERFUL
MUSCULAR GODS CRAMMED TOGETHER IN DARKNESS, RESTLESS. MONOTONE
BODY SHAPES CURLED IN TO FOETAL POSITIONS REST AND SLUMBER.

Ranginui and Papatūānuku are the primordial parents, the sky father and the earth
mother who lie locked together in a tight embrace. They have many sons, who are forced
to live in the cramped darkness between them.

0:18 WE SEE SOME MOVEMENT, AN IDEA GROWS AND WE SEE A SOFT GLOW.
THE GODS COMMUNICATE. SOFT SHAPES MOVE BUT ARE INDISTINGUISHABLE.

These children grow.

0:24 PANNING SHOT AROUND THE FACES OF THE CIRCLE OF GODS, THEY SIT
CROSS LEGGED IN DEEP DISCUSSION, SERIOUS EXPRESSIONS AND GRAVE
FACES.

The god children discuss among themselves what it would be like to live in the
light. Tūmatauenga, the fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their
predicament is to kill their parents. But his brother Tāne, god of forests and birds,

disagrees, suggesting that it is better to push them apart, to let Ranginui be as a stranger
to them in the sky above while Papatūānuku will remain below to nurture them.
0:33 TU THE GOD OF WAR FLEXES HIS MUSCLES AND WE SEE COLOUR FOR
THE FIRST TIME, RED EYES AND HANDS

0:41 WE SEE THE FACES OF THE SKY FATHER AND EARTH MOTHER AND THEIR
ARMS WRAPPED TIGHTLY AROUND EACH OTHER. RANGI WITH HIS LONG
FLOWING HAIR THAT CHANGES FROM DARK BLUE TO LIGHT BLUE AND PAPA
WITH HAIR LIKE ROOTS THAT CHANGE TO TREES AND LEAVES AT THE ENDS.
Rangi and Papa remain locked in their loving embrace.

1:11 WE SEE RONGO, TANGAROA AND HAUMIA-TIKETIKE MOVING QUICKLY
SPIRALLING AROUND EACH AND PUSHING UPWARDS WITH THEIR ARMS.
The others put their plans into action—Rongo, the god of cultivated food, tries to
push his parents apart, then Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and his sibling Haumia-tiketike,
the god of wild food, joins him.

1:33 WE SEE TANE ON HIS BACK STRAINING AND SWEATING. AS HE PUSHES
WE SEE A CRACK OF DAYLIGHT APPEAR IN THE DISTANCE. THE CRACK
SLOWLY WIDENS AS RANGI IS PUSHED UPWARDS, THE LIGHT GETS BRIGHTER
AND BRIGHTER UNTIL DAYLIGHT FLOODS THE SPACE.
After many attempts Tāne forces his parents apart.
Instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers have done, he lies
on his back and pushes with his strong legs. Stretching every sinew Tāne pushes and
pushes until, with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatūānuku were pried apart.

1:36 FOCUS ON TĀWHIRIMĀTEA AS HE BECOMES ANGRY. HE SUMMONS THE
ELEMENTS TO AID HIM. DARK SKIES GATHER BEHIND HIM BEFORE WE FLIES
SKYWARD ACCOMPANIED BY HUGE GREY CLOUDS FULL OF LIGHTNING.
Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms and winds, is angered that the parents have been
torn apart. He cannot bear to hear the cries of his parents nor see the tears of Ranginui as
they are parted, he promises his siblings that from henceforth they will have to deal with
his anger. To fight his brothers, Tāwhirimātea gathers an army of his children—winds and
clouds of different kinds, including fierce squalls, whirlwinds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery
clouds, hurricane clouds and thunderstorm clouds, and rain, mists and fog.

1:49 WE SEE A MONTAGE OF DESTRUCTION AND FURY, WITH TĀWHIRIMĀTEA
SOARING ABOVE DIRECTING THE MAYHEM.
As these winds show their might the dust flies and the great forest trees of Tāne
are smashed under the attack and fall to the ground. Then Tāwhirimātea attacks the
oceans and huge waves rise, whirlpools form, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees in
panic.

2:25 AS THE BATTLE SUBSIDES WE SEE A TIME IN FAST FORWARD, GREEN
SHOOTS BEGIN TO APPEAR WHERE THE TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN, GRASS
STARTS TO COVER THE ROLLING HILLS, THE SEAS CALM AND START TO
SPARKLE.
And so the children of Ranginui and Papatūanuku saw light and had space to
move for the first time.

2:36 PANNING DOWN AS THE CLOUDS START TO CLEAR WE SEE A WIDE OPEN
LANDSCAPE WITH HILLS AND VALLEYS AND BEAUTIFUL OCEAN SPARKLING
WITH SUNLIGHT IN THE DISTANCE.
Tāne, in his anguish and pain caused by the separation of his loving parents,
searched for heavenly bodies to adorn his robes so that his father would be appropriately
dressed. He obtained the stars, using all his strength he gathered the celestial bodies,
hauling together the moon and the sun.

2:38 WE SEE TĀNE, A GRIMACE ON HIS FACE LOOKING UP TO HIS FATHER
AND DOWN TO HIS MOTHER BOTH OF WHOM WEAR AN EXPRESSION OF GRIEF
AND PAIN. TANE THROWS A ROPE AROUND THE SUN MOON AND STARS AND
PULLS THEM TO HIM. THEY ARE TINY IN HIS GARGANTUAN GRASP.

3.00
With one final gargantuan effort, he threw them up in to the sky….