"I knew I wanted a story that would sort of feel like a circle story so that we could start at the beginning and move through past, present, future and find some way to connect. I put 500 note cards on a table that were three different colors and just started putting them together and trying to figure out, do these tell a story? Do these feel connective? I think it's like sculpture. You have a big block of marble and you're slowly trying to find something within that."
In the Blink of an Eye, directed by Andrew Stanton, defies traditional sci-fi categorization by weaving three distinct narratives across different time periods. The film begins with Neanderthals navigating survival, love, and artistic expression in a cave. It then shifts to 2025, where graduate students Claire and Greg develop a relationship during uncertain times. Finally, it moves to a distant future where pilot Coakley journeys toward a new world with an AI companion. Writer Colby Day constructed this intricate narrative structure using 500 color-coded note cards, treating the screenplay like sculpture—carefully discovering connections between storylines. Rather than establishing a single main narrative, the film creates a circular, interconnected braid where all three stories feel equally important and contribute to a unified message about human connection across millennia.
Read at Inverse
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