What if...

[Einherjar86]

there's a film i've worked on in my head for a long time. it's about a protagonist who remembers suffering a traumatic experience and has become obsessed with trying to prove that it's a real memory, despite a lack of evidence. the character would be possessed of this nagging need to somehow explain or resolve this consuming memory, clinging to dubious scraps of evidence, at the detriment of his personal life - with compassionate friends/family members trying to intervene or help him rationalise etc, realistic and sad conversations, no forced melodrama. the perspective would be subjective and unreliable, but i'd try to avoid relying on the usual gimmicks of portraying delusion - i'd probably make it very difficult to see the lines between what's real and what isn't throughout, and manipulate the viewer into several subtle changes in perspective along the way. i have plenty of ideas about how to kinda formally represent the character's state of mind and to provide insights into memory and trauma and perception and various existential shit.

the movie that most resembles something like this on a basic level, that i've seen, is sean penn's THE PLEDGE, for some reason. i had this idea before i saw that, following a dream i had myself, and i spent the whole thing simultaneously really liking it and thinking of so many ways i could make it better. i suppose KEANE would also be relevant although i'd want this to be less like schizophrenic dardennes (if you like raw, agonised movies watch that shit immediately btw) and more of a detail-oriented, dreamy slow burn that feels like it's going in circles. it's hard to describe my desired aesthetic but for some reason PRIMER seems an appropriate reference point - this sun-bleached, displaced kind of feeling where nothing's quite right and you can't put a finger on why, probably with the occasional gentle badalamenti-lite ambient score (but mostly silence). the dreaminess has to be so subtle and off-hand that it just creeps into the mood, and i don't want it to noticably build or reach any kind of cathartic climax - at most, there might be some kind of (anti)-climactic perceived near miss, with the character remaining no more informed than he was at the beginning, and no less obsessed either. i imagine the final shot would be from the character's perspective as he stares vacantly at a piece of something he still believes to be evidence, flapping gently in the breeze while the credits roll silently.

no idea about any of your more pragmatic questions, which is why i will never create anything in my entire life lol

Have you ever heard of the novel Remainder by Tom McCarthy (different than the film director)? The premise is uncannily similar. There was a film adaptation released recently, but I haven't seen it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remainder_(novel)

@Einherjar86 what about you?

Oh man, I'm not sure. I do some creative writing in my spare time, but it's purely for leisure and most of it barely gets past any conceptual stage. If I had the funds and total control, I would absolutely love to try an adaptation of Peter Watts's novel Blindsight.

As far as original ideas go, I have some stuff written for a dark fantasy, quasi-steampunk narrative set in a fictional universe. The story would be set in a world where cities have developed the technology to move - to go mobile, which led to an "urban revolution" in which several cities share the technology and band together in order to rebel against the sedentary capital, Centrix. The primary narrative would be set after the revolution (less than a hundred years after), and two major factions have formed within the mobile cities - the Aggrevists and the Formalists. Some political intrigue occurs, an assassination attempt, and some begin to think that the remaining sedentary cities (which have chosen to remain immobile for strategic purposes) are either responsible or have somehow manipulated events in order to start a war between the two mobile factions.

Meanwhile, as part of an initially unrelated plot, a bounty hunter is hired by a mysterious girl to find her brother, who has vanished but is presumably on board a mobile city known as Ornamynt, which is also referred to as "The Graven City." It's an unaffiliated city (i.e. it has pledged to neither faction) and may end up being somehow involved in the political shitstorm building up between the Aggrevists and Formalists.

Obviously the budget on this would have to be huge, seeing as how fucking moving cities would be going into battle with one another. To be honest, I have no idea how the physics and/or logistics of something like that would work. Might be best saved for a book, who knows...

Anyway, the story would be titled The Graven City.

 

[Dak]

Obviously the budget on this would have to be huge, seeing as how fucking moving cities would be going into battle with one another. To be honest, I have no idea how the physics and/or logistics of something like that would work. Might be best saved for a book, who knows...

Anyway, the story would be titled The Graven City.

I would think the cost for CGI is trending down.

 

[Internally Deformed]

The story would be set in a world where cities have developed the technology to move - to go mobile, which led to an "urban revolution" in which several cities share the technology and band together in order to rebel against the sedentary capital, Centrix.

Sounds a little like the Mortal Engines novels by Phillip Reeve. They're directed at a YA audience, but I remember thinking they were awesome when I was a kid. Here's some concept art for the first book:

Tom McCarthy's C was great btw, read that when I was studying.

 

[Einherjar86]

Haha, no original ideas anymore!

Also, C is my favorite McCarthy novel. I've read all his fiction, and that one is definitely his best. Are you a literature student?

 

[Internally Deformed]

Lol, I can empathise, it doesn't seem fair if someone has the same idea and you're not even familiar with them. If it's any consolation, most new ideas now seem to be just fusing two already existent ideas into something slightly fresher. So how about giant mobile cities... on train tracks? Throw a centuries old struggle between vampires and dwarves in there and I'm pretty sure you've created something original, probably.

And yeah, although I graduated a few years back. Probably read more now than I did when I was actually at university, though (books are somehow far less fun to read when you know you actually have to read them).

 

[Einherjar86]

I can empathize. I'm doing an English PhD.

I would think the cost for CGI is trending down.

Screw CGI, I'm building giant moving sets.

 

[Internally Deformed]

Ah nice, I think that makes you pretty much the only metal head English student I've ever heard of aside from myself. For some reason all the metal heads I knew at university were studying Chemistry, or something similar. Although from your posts in the News/Darkyn threads I'd have figured you more for a Social Sciences/Politics kind of guy. I'm guessing you're big on the literary theory.

 

[Dak]

Screw CGI, I'm building giant moving sets.

AFAIK if you do real sets, the "giant" type stuff is actually done at micro scales with models.

 

[Internally Deformed]

AFAIK if you do real sets, the "giant" type stuff is actually done at micro scales with models.

Well, micro compared to the real thing, but still pretty large in some cases.

 

[Dak]

Well, micro compared to the real thing, but still pretty large in some cases.

Yeah that's what I meant. A mountain sized city reduced to 8-12 feet is pretty micro.

 

[Internally Deformed]

Yeah that's what I meant. A mountain sized city reduced to 6-8 feet is pretty micro.

Yeah I get you. Would be pretty cool to see a moving city the size of a tank, though.

 

[Einherjar86]

Ah nice, I think that makes you pretty much the only metal head English student I've ever heard of aside from myself. For some reason all the metal heads I knew at university were studying Chemistry, or something similar. Although from your posts in the News/Darkyn threads I'd have figured you more for a Social Sciences/Politics kind of guy. I'm guessing you're big on the literary theory.

Yeah, I dig literary theory. Of course, a lot of that is bound up with political writings, so it definitely filters into my politics.

AFAIK if you do real sets, the "giant" type stuff is actually done at micro scales with models.

Yeah, but I have unlimited funds. I'm not gonna George Lucas this shit when I can use death stars for cannonballs.

 

[Dak]

Yeah, but I have unlimited funds. I'm not gonna George Lucas this shit when I can use death stars for cannonballs.

With unlimited funding I'd do something besides make a movie lol

 

[Internally Deformed]

Damn, that voids my idea for saving money by weaving in an Attack on Titan style plot line where human sized "giants" assault your tank sized city. That would have looked so badass and not fake at all.

 

[Einherjar86]

With unlimited funding I'd do something besides make a movie lol

Haha, quit thinking outside the box Dak.

 

[Blind Guardian]

I would make an adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu or At the Mountains of Madness. The movie would feature the actual creature for no more than a minute and the rest of the movie would have very naturalistic acting and pacing like in a Von Trier movie, to make the contrast as scary as possible. I would cast some everyman actor like Jeff Daniels as the protagonist and he would also read sparse bits of narration through the movie.

I would try to avoid making it one of those monster movies which go "vrrrrooooom" while showing screens fading to black in the trailer. No Cloverfield/Godzilla stuff and no Tom Cruise.

 

[mutantllama]

Can we do a TV series instead? I'd love to do a television series adaptation of Thomas Ligotti's stories in a format similar to The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror where each episode is a different story.

 

[CiG]

@Einherjar86 that idea is awesome, can't help but think it would make a great animated feature, since I immediately thought of Howl's Moving Castle.

I would try to avoid making it one of those monster movies which go "vrrrrooooom" while showing screens fading to black in the trailer. No Cloverfield/Godzilla stuff and no Tom Cruise.

Good call. One of my least favourite modern cinema trends.

 

[The Butt]

No lens flare.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Have you ever heard of the novel Remainder by Tom McCarthy (different than the film director)? The premise is uncannily similar. There was a film adaptation released recently, but I haven't seen it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remainder_(novel)

no but this sounds amazing, thanks!