There is a feeling that overwhelms me when I am in the face of the open sea: a certain calmness, laced with fear. Seemingly oxymoronic, yet poetic. “The Shape of Water” was inspired by the poeticism of water. Its shapelessness; how it takes the form of whatever it occupies. Its might; how it’s used to build and destroy. Its power; how it can both nourish us and kill us. Its mystery: how it’s simultaneously ubiquitous and scarce. Its beauty; how it inspires us and scares us.