Tale of Tales (translated from Shazka Shazok) was conceived from multiple sources. The scripting of the film was written by the director Yuri Norstein and Lyudmila Petrushevskaia. It’s inspirations lie in the childhood of the director and the arts of early 19th century Russia. The structure of the film is noted to be similar to Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror, with the plot not being in chronological order, instead portraying the story through vignettes to go for a dreamlike feel to the animation. The title of the film was originally “The Little Grey Wolf Will Come” ( translated from Придет серенький волчо́к), but that was changed through the production of the film. The original title came from the lullaby the story came from. A theme of childhood was incorporated into the film due to the pregnancy of Petrushevskaia during the scripting.
The animation style of the film is done through paper cut out, similar to Rene Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973). The cut out pieces of paper on put on animation cels to animate them. The art style switches a number of times throughout the film, with the animation style changing from detailed rendering, a children’s book aesthetic, oil paintings and moving watercolor paintings. Photographs are also used for certain objects such as the car that the wolf looks into the wheel of, showing a reflection of the character. Other techniques and materials are used to create depth in the environments of the backgrounds, such as white chalk for snow, black chalk for shadows and water color to make fire. Another way depth is created in the image is through the use of multiple planes and elements on the cels by putting making multiple background cels for different planes and making cels for objects to put on those planes. There are multiple light sources shown in the film, this was achieved by flashing a light underneath the cels, giving the lighting a natural look. It also helps with stylized lighting, as there are scenes shown completely in black and white, so when the light is applied underneath the cels in those sections, it gives a very high contrast look. Though this would theoretically give the film an inconsistent look, all the sections of the film are connected by the character of the wolf, who has a cartoon-y design that is densely rendered with black strokes to create the effect of him being furry.