Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post

asteram · 02-05-2009, 05:06 AM

There must be people reading this thread, judging by the numbers...

Czymra, sun-toon, futureyes, and all-

Yes, it's the North American continent behind that "I". No reason for that except that was the easiest pic to work with that I pulled up with a quick google search. Perhaps centered on the Pacific Ocean would be more neutral, but this is the 20 minute version. Surprisingly small selection of Earth from space pics on google images.

RE recording- I have a PC running Windows XP; I'm sure I can jack the keyboard directly into the computer. At this point I'm not concerned about quality recording, only being able to share the melodies and lyrics and get some feedback from you all.

The reason I am leaning toward animation is that I don't want specific people, but rather their archetypes; all of the various categories that we fit into regardless of the society we are in, plus a representation of various world societies as well. I mentioned seashore's dance videos and the way they appeared on my intermittent web connection, jerky and indistinct, in other words somewhat like a frame-by-frame of an animation.

If a video were made with the parts danced/walked through by the characters, what would it take to then use them to produce animation? The video that is in my mind is the classic "Take On Me" by A-Ha from the 1980s, real footage turning into animation and back. I think that technique, combined with a contrast of B/W and color, could be very effective, for instance starting with each character in grainy B/W in their unhappy life in a dismal world, then the dream and being given the ticket picking up a bit of color and animation, more color and full animation as the "train to the new world" scenes unfold, and at the end, back to somewhat realism but with exaggerated color intensity and clarity.

It would require some heavy-duty hardware and software, but all of that is possible. I'm sure the movie special effects studios have software that will do that sort of thing. I have heard of a program called RenderMan. And yes, this seems at odds with my earlier claim of keeping it simple, but the whole length would only be around 12 minutes or less.

I do have a good and reasonably complete mental image of the plot, just need to write it. Here's a rough version:

Each person is isolated, and thinks they are the only one who finds the present life and its goals unfulfilling. We start with a young girl in a dismal slum. She has a dream of happiness with a boy, in a different world where things are beautiful and make sense. Her dream also includes family that cares about each other, lives in happiness, and community that works together for the betterment of all. At the very end, as she awakes from the dream of riding the train to the new world, awakes in her own bed right where she started out, still in the same miserable slum, she is at first disappointed, but the dream is too strong to let go; she gets out of bed determined to make the dream come true, somehow. As she goes out of her room and sees her family, they look different; they start to look like the family in the dream, because deep inside they all had that same dream, they all were on that train, they all went to the new world and awoke with the same determination to make the dream come true. The dream family is her own family, the dream world is right where she is right now, and the boy she dreamed about lives right next door.

That's the basic romance, but I also see mothers and children, husbands and wives, old people in nursing homes etc playing a role in this. Everyone has a dream of how things could and should be.

The purpose and the message would be to awaken people's dreams, and show them they are possible; not only possible but that all of this can change in the twinkling of an eye. Another message would be that they are not alone in having those dreams, that most of us dream the same dream but we have somehow been tricked into working against ourselves, working on the enemy's projects that only serve to enslave us, putting all of our energy into building our own dismal prison.

This video project would not be something we could do quickly with our present resources, but I will keep thinking about it and working on it and I hope others will too.

For now, we seem to have come up with a resonant symbol. How cool is that?

Here are my latest revisions, still unpolished, but it's looking more like the Greek Phi:

and with words added:

Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Suggested improvements?

02-05-2009, 05:06 AM	#95
asteram Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Isla de Margarita, Venezuela Posts: 161	Re: Hacking the Genetic Mind There must be people reading this thread, judging by the numbers... Czymra, sun-toon, futureyes, and all- Yes, it's the North American continent behind that "I". No reason for that except that was the easiest pic to work with that I pulled up with a quick google search. Perhaps centered on the Pacific Ocean would be more neutral, but this is the 20 minute version. Surprisingly small selection of Earth from space pics on google images. RE recording- I have a PC running Windows XP; I'm sure I can jack the keyboard directly into the computer. At this point I'm not concerned about quality recording, only being able to share the melodies and lyrics and get some feedback from you all. The reason I am leaning toward animation is that I don't want specific people, but rather their archetypes; all of the various categories that we fit into regardless of the society we are in, plus a representation of various world societies as well. I mentioned seashore's dance videos and the way they appeared on my intermittent web connection, jerky and indistinct, in other words somewhat like a frame-by-frame of an animation. If a video were made with the parts danced/walked through by the characters, what would it take to then use them to produce animation? The video that is in my mind is the classic "Take On Me" by A-Ha from the 1980s, real footage turning into animation and back. I think that technique, combined with a contrast of B/W and color, could be very effective, for instance starting with each character in grainy B/W in their unhappy life in a dismal world, then the dream and being given the ticket picking up a bit of color and animation, more color and full animation as the "train to the new world" scenes unfold, and at the end, back to somewhat realism but with exaggerated color intensity and clarity. It would require some heavy-duty hardware and software, but all of that is possible. I'm sure the movie special effects studios have software that will do that sort of thing. I have heard of a program called RenderMan. And yes, this seems at odds with my earlier claim of keeping it simple, but the whole length would only be around 12 minutes or less. I do have a good and reasonably complete mental image of the plot, just need to write it. Here's a rough version: Each person is isolated, and thinks they are the only one who finds the present life and its goals unfulfilling. We start with a young girl in a dismal slum. She has a dream of happiness with a boy, in a different world where things are beautiful and make sense. Her dream also includes family that cares about each other, lives in happiness, and community that works together for the betterment of all. At the very end, as she awakes from the dream of riding the train to the new world, awakes in her own bed right where she started out, still in the same miserable slum, she is at first disappointed, but the dream is too strong to let go; she gets out of bed determined to make the dream come true, somehow. As she goes out of her room and sees her family, they look different; they start to look like the family in the dream, because deep inside they all had that same dream, they all were on that train, they all went to the new world and awoke with the same determination to make the dream come true. The dream family is her own family, the dream world is right where she is right now, and the boy she dreamed about lives right next door. That's the basic romance, but I also see mothers and children, husbands and wives, old people in nursing homes etc playing a role in this. Everyone has a dream of how things could and should be. The purpose and the message would be to awaken people's dreams, and show them they are possible; not only possible but that all of this can change in the twinkling of an eye. Another message would be that they are not alone in having those dreams, that most of us dream the same dream but we have somehow been tricked into working against ourselves, working on the enemy's projects that only serve to enslave us, putting all of our energy into building our own dismal prison. This video project would not be something we could do quickly with our present resources, but I will keep thinking about it and working on it and I hope others will too. For now, we seem to have come up with a resonant symbol. How cool is that? Here are my latest revisions, still unpolished, but it's looking more like the Greek Phi: and with words added: Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Suggested improvements?