This story sprung from a sense of despair regarding civilization, so my first thoughts were about romanticizing a return to a nomadic culture of personal experience, kind of a narrow way of experiencing the world. Nature worship without being tied into a world of materialism, caste, or obligation to waste away one's time alive serving some great inescapable machine.
Something I want to remind myself: because of civilization and globalization (particularly the exchange of information via film and text, spread by the internet; all of which are high technology), a person is able to share these rare and beautiful encounters with the grandeur of nature in a way that was never before possible. From a helicopter I can watch waves crash on the craggy bluffs somewhere in the Netherlands... without leaving my home. If I can make this project, somewhere in Norway, perhaps someone will see my memories of a sun-drenched nap in the midday sun.
This made me realize that maybe, the machine I designed to call attention to the things others tie themselves into, is more about me than just a judgement of civilization. Tying up one's heart in a thing that then siphons energy away. In my case, it has been relying on others. Placing my heart in the hands of others and waiting for their energy to come flowing into me; when all along, I have been free to take back my heart, generate my energy for myself, and become autonomous. But to keep my heart inside myself, I, like the mothlike, become blind and only able to experience the world through immediate trial and error, lost and seeking an abstract situation I won't know until I happen on to. He invites the city folk to come with him, but does not attempt to sacrifice himself to save them or their machine. He is free of them, separate from their reason for living, and distant from the meaning they find in their communal life and death.
I don't want to forget that this is not a story about someone being right and others being wrong. Worshipping the "overworld" is something I would like to do. But the mothlike's way of life is not so much more glamorous than those in the city. Freedom is blissful, uncertain, tiring, and when all the time has passed, what trace does a free creature leave behind? Will the mothlike ever settle, or is this just another insect flying into open flame?
This is also an important element.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
explorative art
For lack of substance to post, a folder of inspiring photos plucked from the web and a handful of sketches and paintings from the past few months are all I have to prove I am still thinking about the wandering mothlike and moon.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
mwmh's perspective
A couple things from my sketchpad. First, thinking about the height of Moon to mwmh's hand and how she guides him without a harness.
And secondly I felt that the final beat (mwmh leaving the underground and asking who would come with him) would be the right time to elaborate on the outside world, where time flows with the direction of the sun, with the changing of seasons and lifespans of creatures great and small. I don't think he'll be able to communicate this to them, but I want the viewer to see it. A life spent experiencing, feeling, and ceasing to live, always part of the cycle.
"When I feel a bug crawl over me while I am lying in the grass, I can't help but imagine that by its perspective, I am like an enormous chain of sun-warmed rock; boulders sticking out of the earth. A tremendous natural monument. And to them, my life would seem as long and old as we think of the hills and mountains. So maybe the hills and mountains perceive me as the insect, and insect, myself, the hills, are all just passing through time on our own scale."
WIP of one of the sketches (Unexpected new discoveries)
PS- the antithesis of mwmh's way of thinking (expressed by one of the thinkers): "Man was simply too feeble to cure himself of death. But we have at last evolved beyond the need of such a cycle."
Monday, April 16, 2012
Gift art * v *
I am very proud and excited to have these!
From RandomSheepGirl on Furaffinity:
And from Veter on Furaffinity:
Fullview this one ^
From RandomSheepGirl on Furaffinity:
And from Veter on Furaffinity:
Fullview this one ^
Friday, April 13, 2012
scrapping the script
At least for the moment. I worked through the story in visual beats. I'm not sure at the moment what is lacking, or what can be cut. But this is what I have right now. Places where the text and my handwritten notes vary, the text is a revision.
The mothlike man and moon
The magnificent world
A breeze leads to the discovery...
An unguarded gate
The only sound is their labored breathing and the occasional scuff of hoof on tile
A girl of the city
The machine that powers the plugs
The thinkers, who "control" the machine
The machine isn't producing enough energy
"You have no plug, you can help us." (you can go where we cannot)
"I don't think I can help you."
"This part will fix the machine."
The girl leads them to the machine
Alone inside the machine
"You fixed it!"
"We're saved!"
"Now we'll plug you in so you can stay!"
"I'm leaving now. Will any of you come with me?"
The mothlike man and moonThe magnificent world
A breeze leads to the discovery...
An unguarded gate
The only sound is their labored breathing and the occasional scuff of hoof on tile
A girl of the city
The machine that powers the plugs
The thinkers, who "control" the machine
The machine isn't producing enough energy
"You have no plug, you can help us." (you can go where we cannot)
"I don't think I can help you."
"This part will fix the machine."
The girl leads them to the machine
Alone inside the machine
"You fixed it!"
"We're saved!"
"Now we'll plug you in so you can stay!"
"I'm leaving now. Will any of you come with me?"Sunday, March 25, 2012
script draft 1 (and notes)
NOTE: this script has been discarded for now. Instead I am working visually.
Didn't know how to submit a PDF to this blog, so here it is hosted on Deviantart:
Draft 1, part 1
Problems with the current script:
The old mothlike. The old and young should have a conversation, rather than the old man's monologue. Things to discuss: Short lifespan, fear of dying. Self-centeredness springing from that.
The young man must listen to him even if he says nothing, we must feel he has absorbed and not dismissed what he says.
"And then one day you find 10 years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun." (Pink Floyd, Time)
"There is so little time, so of course I would take the chance here. They offered me more time. I was so sure with all this time, I could (do/find), I would have enough time to (make it the best it could be). I could use time to learn, to assist, to rest when life made me weary. But instead all it did was help me to forget the end was coming, and it became more and more reasonable not to mind it. To seek comfort, and forget everything else. And time began to run together, until every day was the same, and the end was all I was waiting for."
-Depression from feeling trapped; a sense of knowing everything already, that things will always be the same, or interrupt the few comforts one can take in doing nothing. That nothing is exciting or worth pursuing.
The thinkers and the hearing place.
This government is in the story to show how people fool themselves and completely reject their mortality, voiding the potency of their lives. One of the traps on the path to self awareness is the fear of failure*. But another is those manipulators who benefit from the mindless complacency of others. Who are also only thinking of immediate gain and pleasure; maximum exploitation without plans for sustainable good or minding the consequences to anyone but themselves.
The urgency to unplug doesn't come through. It needs to be the popular opinion, with the other, branching opinions continuing off that train of thought.
*What are all the traps? Distraction (being entertained), apathy (the result of too many disappointments), misdirection (being sold a story that is incongruent with truth)
Why are there 7 thinkers? Do there need to be more or less, and do we need to meet all of them?
(Children are taught to become designers, engineers, producers, or polishers. But most of the great thinkers have their status because they were voted onto the board by friends and relatives. Even a prodigy would have to fight tooth and nail to earn their way in. * REFLECT THIS IN THE PERSONALITIES OF THE THINKERS- some are soft, selfish, and clueless, but others are hard as nails, fighting the group*
Maybe there should be a legion of thinkers, as it is the most desirable role in the city. But we don't need to hear from all of them. Only understand the conflict between those who earned their way in and those who didn't, as well as their dissenting goals/opinions.)
Is there a mayor or not? How would he be different than the thinkers? (For now, let's nix the mayor entirely)
There are so many thinkers because they are rewarded with extra energy and other perks? Like what? (They don't have to "work" in the way the others do)
How do the people react to these extra luxuries?
(They need the extra to think harder. They deserve it because they got there by being better than everyone else)
Didn't know how to submit a PDF to this blog, so here it is hosted on Deviantart:
Draft 1, part 1
Problems with the current script:
The old mothlike. The old and young should have a conversation, rather than the old man's monologue. Things to discuss: Short lifespan, fear of dying. Self-centeredness springing from that.
The young man must listen to him even if he says nothing, we must feel he has absorbed and not dismissed what he says.
"And then one day you find 10 years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun." (Pink Floyd, Time)
"There is so little time, so of course I would take the chance here. They offered me more time. I was so sure with all this time, I could (do/find), I would have enough time to (make it the best it could be). I could use time to learn, to assist, to rest when life made me weary. But instead all it did was help me to forget the end was coming, and it became more and more reasonable not to mind it. To seek comfort, and forget everything else. And time began to run together, until every day was the same, and the end was all I was waiting for."
-Depression from feeling trapped; a sense of knowing everything already, that things will always be the same, or interrupt the few comforts one can take in doing nothing. That nothing is exciting or worth pursuing.
The thinkers and the hearing place.
This government is in the story to show how people fool themselves and completely reject their mortality, voiding the potency of their lives. One of the traps on the path to self awareness is the fear of failure*. But another is those manipulators who benefit from the mindless complacency of others. Who are also only thinking of immediate gain and pleasure; maximum exploitation without plans for sustainable good or minding the consequences to anyone but themselves.
The urgency to unplug doesn't come through. It needs to be the popular opinion, with the other, branching opinions continuing off that train of thought.
*What are all the traps? Distraction (being entertained), apathy (the result of too many disappointments), misdirection (being sold a story that is incongruent with truth)
Why are there 7 thinkers? Do there need to be more or less, and do we need to meet all of them?
(Children are taught to become designers, engineers, producers, or polishers. But most of the great thinkers have their status because they were voted onto the board by friends and relatives. Even a prodigy would have to fight tooth and nail to earn their way in. * REFLECT THIS IN THE PERSONALITIES OF THE THINKERS- some are soft, selfish, and clueless, but others are hard as nails, fighting the group*
Maybe there should be a legion of thinkers, as it is the most desirable role in the city. But we don't need to hear from all of them. Only understand the conflict between those who earned their way in and those who didn't, as well as their dissenting goals/opinions.)
Is there a mayor or not? How would he be different than the thinkers? (For now, let's nix the mayor entirely)
There are so many thinkers because they are rewarded with extra energy and other perks? Like what? (They don't have to "work" in the way the others do)
How do the people react to these extra luxuries?
(They need the extra to think harder. They deserve it because they got there by being better than everyone else)
regarding the city and machine
((maybe scrap? Announcer (job to "keep peace and unity of purpose"):
Lights in the cavern- some kind of hypnotizing display. Comes directly from the machine, along with the white noise and announcements. Consumes energy but no one would dare cut off. It is the source of beauty and comfort in the cavern. Without it, people might have to look at the cavern as it is.
***
The distraction allows them to keep living, even when they are suffering from the lack of energy and purpose. It gives them relief from tedium and the drain of living a lifestyle that their bodies have grown used to, but were not meant for.
===========
The ground is paved with tar. Walking from place to place is impeded by thousands of houses.
===========
Inside the machine, the sound of heartbeats is overwhelming ( an ocean of loud white noise )
----
mwmh: What is it you want me to do?
-v.o as he walks through the machine-
vo: For some reason, there is a place within the machine that rejects the plugs and will not give energy. The last people who tried to enter had to be pulled out, mostly dead. Thankfully no one has been killed, but no one plugged in can stay there long enough to fix the problem.
mwmh: I am sorry, but my eyes cannot see. I do not think I will be able to find what is broken for you, and would not know how to fix it if I could.
vo: That isn't important. If you go in and do what you can, it is enough. We need you to try.
(Whether or not the outsider actually changes anything or not, they are simply looking for a way to mask other changes they have planned- by telling everyone it was the outsider's actions that gained the energy, removing the plugs from other people, or falling on reserve energy supplies kept for emergencies, they can continue their farce. They kept the secret of the anti-plug room to avoid what speculation it might cause among the public ((stumbling across the possibility that the creators of the machine did not intend themselves to be plugged in- something the thinkers have figured out- and are figuring out how to unplug themselves safely, so when the machine breaks, they have the backups of their own hearts. Of course this fate would be as miserable as death for them, but they are blind to anything but pushing back the date of their expiration and increasing their pleasure in the world)). Now that the outsider has come as a scapegoat, they can tell the public about the room and say the problem is solved, even if tmwmh is completely powerless.)
Your plug is unbreakable, and just as unique and reliable as you are. Don't you want life you can trust to be there tomorrow?----))
No one wants to see their loved ones pass away. Treasure your life. Treasure your plug.
In just a few conventional lifetimes, we have come so far. With the safety, convenience, and reliability of our plugs, it's our turn to shape the future. We have the power.
Woman's voice: "I used to be sure there wa something missing in my life. And since I've earned higher output, I realize there was! I've never been happier. With my new level of energy, every day's a blessing. An I have to wonder, why did I ever settle for less?" -laughs-
Did you know? As your power flows through the machine, it becomes purer, more healthy, and better at keeping you happy and energetic. Every last watt of energy delivered to your plug is full of the love and strength of your friends and neighbors. But your heart is what makes it all so special. Yours is the heart of the city!
Lights in the cavern- some kind of hypnotizing display. Comes directly from the machine, along with the white noise and announcements. Consumes energy but no one would dare cut off. It is the source of beauty and comfort in the cavern. Without it, people might have to look at the cavern as it is.
***
The distraction allows them to keep living, even when they are suffering from the lack of energy and purpose. It gives them relief from tedium and the drain of living a lifestyle that their bodies have grown used to, but were not meant for.
===========
The ground is paved with tar. Walking from place to place is impeded by thousands of houses.
===========
Inside the machine, the sound of heartbeats is overwhelming ( an ocean of loud white noise )
----
mwmh: What is it you want me to do?
-v.o as he walks through the machine-
vo: For some reason, there is a place within the machine that rejects the plugs and will not give energy. The last people who tried to enter had to be pulled out, mostly dead. Thankfully no one has been killed, but no one plugged in can stay there long enough to fix the problem.
mwmh: I am sorry, but my eyes cannot see. I do not think I will be able to find what is broken for you, and would not know how to fix it if I could.
vo: That isn't important. If you go in and do what you can, it is enough. We need you to try.
(Whether or not the outsider actually changes anything or not, they are simply looking for a way to mask other changes they have planned- by telling everyone it was the outsider's actions that gained the energy, removing the plugs from other people, or falling on reserve energy supplies kept for emergencies, they can continue their farce. They kept the secret of the anti-plug room to avoid what speculation it might cause among the public ((stumbling across the possibility that the creators of the machine did not intend themselves to be plugged in- something the thinkers have figured out- and are figuring out how to unplug themselves safely, so when the machine breaks, they have the backups of their own hearts. Of course this fate would be as miserable as death for them, but they are blind to anything but pushing back the date of their expiration and increasing their pleasure in the world)). Now that the outsider has come as a scapegoat, they can tell the public about the room and say the problem is solved, even if tmwmh is completely powerless.)
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