Sunday, February 27, 2011

Idea: Short Film: The Few Frictionless Minutes

This is an idea for a short film I had a while back. It doesn't have to be long, maybe five to ten minutes.

Background: I ask the question, "What would happen if friction (as in, the physical force that keeps ALL things from slipping) disappeared one arbitrary moment in time?" The answer is, utter madness would ensue. The entire universe as we know it would literally unravel, screw by screw, thread by thread, and everything, every structure around us, maybe even ourselves, would collapse and crumble like a sand castle, leveled to the ground. My film offers a close-to-lifelike as possible perspective on the first few moments in which the world experiences a complete lack of friction.

Some scenes to consider:

A group of college kids sitting in a living room, on couches, shooting the shit.
A middle-aged, attractive woman driving on the highway.
The crowd at a professional baseball game.
An amusement park, On the top of the Ferris Wheel.

That's all I can think of now, but any situation/environment will provide ample opportunity for action, because the force of friction is so overwhelmingly pervasive. I have no doubt that we take it for granted more than any other force commonly experienced. In dramatic, panoramic slow-motion, with the audio removed, the film would capture the following...

Execution: Set up the film by presenting all environments as they naturally are, giving a few glimpses of  the action going on with a variety of shots. Adolescents laughing and joking on couch ::: Woman checking her rear view mirror as she prepares to make a turn ::: Runner rounding first base, kicking up dust behind him ::: Sweethearts at the top of the Ferris Wheel, operator sweating under the sun at the bottom :::

This film will be scored, all orchestra, with no supplemental audio from the actual footage. At some moment, after the audience is settled into some comfortable understanding of what's going on, a musical cue is given (violins striking a high, dissonant note?), and chaos ensues in the natural world. Cellos hammer away, leading us through the hell that ensues...

Living room: Boys begin to slide off the couch towards the floor, simultaneously. They all start looking confused and horrified. As they are sliding, the entire room around them appears to slide as well. Zippers on their jackets are mysteriously becoming undone. The open windows are slowing falling, though no one is pushing them. Bottles of beer are slipping out of the boy's hands, spilling onto the floor. The screws in the hinges of the doors are slowly turning outward, as if drawn by an invisible magnet. The oscillating floor fan just falls over, because the rubber belt moving the fan blades deatches from the engine and snaps, and all gears within the fan itself come apart. Nails are sliding out of the walls, dropping the framed photos they were holding up.

Car: The car starts to drift in the road, as if it were on an ice rink. The woman cannot, for the life of her, grip the smooth wheel. All mechanical parts within the car fall apart simultaneously. The woman, screaming in terror, is too slipping to the floor of the vehicle. In fact, all cars behind and in front of the woman, on the road, are sliding, bumping, crashing, as the camera pans out. We see crazy things happening in the background as well, buildings wobbling, airplanes miles high nosediving.

Baseball Game: Batter up; friction goes after the pitch, so as the batter is swinging, he kicks his feet up and falls backwards as he tries to turn to swing. The bat flies from his hand. THE ENTIRE CROWD ARE DROPPING EVERYTHING AND SLIPPING OUT OF THEIR SEATS. Anything being supported with the force of friction, as opposed to hanging or leaning, is falling down. (Are you seeing a pattern developing)

Carnival: The wheel begins to drop.

The camera offers these surreal vignettes, flowing from one scene to the next, as chaos and entropy escalates. I ask the director, use your imagination; but beyond that, use your intellect. Try to comprehend ALL that would be affected within a restricted environment were friction to suddenly disappear. The list is far longer than what I have provided. Consider the macroscopic as well as the microscopic level of things. See the knots in ropes unraveling. See that crooked drawer slide out of the armoire and onto the floor. See entire series of books, pots, TV's topple off shelves. UNDERSTAND THAT, UNDER THE THEORETICAL LAWS OF PHYSICS, UNLESS AN OBJECT IS PERFECTLY LEVEL, IT WILL NOT SUPPORT ANYTHING, AND EVERYTHING WILL BE PULLED TOWARDS THE GROUND BY THE FORCE OF GRAVITY. FRICTION IS OFTEN TIMES THE ONLY THING KEEPING US UP.

I emphasize that all this should be occurring in slow motion. Also, don't put any subtitle on the screen at the moment of transformation, like "*Friction Gone*" or something corny like that. The shots, and the title of the film, will tell the audience all they need to know.

Other Specs: I'm not sure how this movie should end. My suggestion is you just cut to blackness after enough devastation has been shown, as the anti-denouement to this supernatural conflict. Keep the orchestra music going while you roll the credits.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dream 14: In a Hotel

11/25/10

“Well, wait up for me?” My few friends already had their coats on, it was early Spring. We were ready to leave the hotel, but I realized that I first needed to take a shower.

“Sure.” They zip up, I watched them walk towards the station wagon in the dirt parking lot, and returned to the room. It was rather luxurious, lots of polished brass and white marble, and the sleeping quarters were open with large windows facing the late morning sun.

I enter the shower – multiple large heads, brass; stone tile surface; glass doors – then exit after some time…I realized that was still in my dress clothes, which were now soaked through. A minor inconvenience, no matter. Peeling off my brown silk pants, striped blue cotton shirt,  tan socks, I perceived people moving around in my bathroom…lots of them! Bodies large and small...colorful, or maybe just colors; But I turned my head in terror and there was nothing! Only, an empty bathroom, disheveled, much larger than it needed to be and full of furniture and clothing. The running shower sprayed SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS to my apparent solitude.

Despite the unlikelihood, I was certain I saw something, more than just suspicious. So to assuage my curiosity, I begin to casually pace between the bathroom and bedroom, actually pretending to the nobody in the suite that I wasn’t looking for them. I kept my eyes either fixed directly in front of me or locked on the steam-filled shower, carefully tip-toeing and making no sounds, ears perked and pupils wide. Again, flashes of colors and limbs in my periphery, so I break my mock trance and spin around, to a room full of life-size cartoon people: two dimensional, bold-outlined, colored-in-the-lines, four-fingered, wild-haired, empty-eyed cartoon people.

Not breaking stride, the flock of specters continued to mill around the bathroom, just all staring at me. Their faces displayed some curiosity, and even impishness, while mine probably just exhibited terror. I couldn’t even find words, just stood in the threshold between the two rooms and watched as they watched me for a few moments. I think I got the hell out of there quick, leaving the shower running and my wet clothes dripping over the rails.