Im thinking of doing something slightly different, or at least Im trying to achieve this. Originally, 20 years ago, I wanted to make two chapters (or parts) to this insane story of 476 A.D. as its really next to impossible to make one movie about the Fall of the Roman Empire. In fact, the very first name I came up with was not 476 A.D. but The Age of Pisces based on one Psychedelic student project I did as a kid about the very subject. Then I wanted to make it like the Star Wars system of story telling. So for instance STAR WARS Episode IV The New Hope or STAR WARS Episode V Empire Strikes Back. So, using the similar model of the original Star Wars trilogy 1977-83, I started brains storming different options how to do this, and the first idea was to create it as a series of a couple of chapters about the Fall of Rome, with the main title name as 476 A.D. and then the chapter title would follow with the name of that episode, chapter, or movie part. So the first part was going to be called 476 A.D. and then followed by Aries Dusk, The Last Dance of Fire, or The Last Dance of Aries, or even just The Sunset of the Golden Days. Which is pretty much what the first part of 476 A.D. right now is anyways. The first part deals with the Dusk or the Twilight of the old golden fire age of Aries or Antiquity. Therefore, pretty much the last of the simple warmer days of Rome. The second chapter was to be a separate episode, as a second part, or even a whole separate movie it self, dealing with the darker aspect of the actual downfall of Antiquity and Rome it self. The point however is, when I say Rome, I mean it more as sort of a symbol of a certain time period, and most of all a state of mind rather then just a geographical place or a specific time in history, for just the purpose of history as History. I never wanted a History Channel TV film, but a sub-conscious ride. Perhaps originally it was supposed to be even psychedelic. This is a funny paradox, due to the fact that the movie it self is called a very specific year in history 476 A.D. LOL. Therefore, the whole sort of Dreamy semi-awake etherial feel to it is crucial, and it is needed in order to get across that actual etherial feel of living history, or the state of mind...Meaning, being in history it self, rather then observing it from a different point. If that even makes sense :) Therefore, like a dream, when dreaming, you are in the actual story, fully involved. It is real and actual. The past in the dream is present, or better yet, time as a factor becomes actually irrelevant in our dreams, and while dreaming, we dont observe a dream, as we consciously observe a movie, or read a book. In a dream, we fully are immersed in what we experience, or at least our brain (sub-conscious) thinks we are involved in the story it self. So when dreaming, we dont know we are dreaming, or even when we can only be semi-conscious of it, we can never fully be sure of what is reality and what isnt. As in a dream we feel fear and pain, just as real, as when fully conscious therefore, the real trick is, how exactly can this be done through a story-telling in a film? Has it ever really been done before? Can it be done? How can it be done? Meaning, even though, you are awake, while watching the film, there needs to be a certain etherial element to it, that at the same time plays with your sub-conscious. Where on the conscious level, it might not make sense, however, from the sub-conscious point, everything is clarified. It is like when you wake up from a very strange dream, and you dont know how to explain it consciously, YET, deep inside you feel totally calm, clear and resolved after such a dream, or in some cases, you can also feel distressed without really knowing why. Why is this? It is as if our sub-conscience clarifies and resolves everything it needs to with it self. A certain form of an Auto-Pilot that takes over when we are not in an everyday like state of mind. Thus we could call it sub-conscious self clean up, or the needed re-booting of our system. Now, there have been movies about Dreams as a subject, such as Dreamscape, or the latest Inception. Nevertheless, in those movies, we are simply just immersed into an abstract film ABOUT Dreams, and not really as a Dream/FIlm, as such a concept is just way too abstract for the western state of mind. We still watch it from a conscious film viewing audience point of view, which is what the American (Hollywood) Story Beat system is all about, or at least, what the western audiences are used to. However, the closest to this what Im actually talking about, in the American CInema, I have only seen in some abstract movies from 1960s and 70s. Of the films that in my opinion did in fact come somewhat close to achieving such an etherial feel of an actual dream, where you feel as if you are dreaming while watching it, thus fully immersed, without the usually typical entertaining money making value connected to it, were Apocalypse Now, Eraserhead, and probably the main one that I believe really achieved this, would be 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 00:51:12 +0000