Anatomy of a Hyperealistic VJ movie.
> Arkaos software will allow me to play movie scenes along to music. A live visual performance...with a loose narrative. Basically allowing us to create a live but lengthy music video collage, to be projected onto the back of the Geo-Dome.
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> BOX
> [working title]
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> To be played via Arkaos software on a laptop.
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Basic premise; Digital camcorder clips, made to look like a real Snuff film. Akin to (and inspired by) "Happy Slapping" videos or the controversial videos of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and ridiculed by U.S troops. A tongue in cheek look at the how modern technology allows us to record, share and witness concrete evidence our own disgrace. Our disregard for fellow humans.
> 1. First scene. Introduction. To last about 10mins max. Out in street, from the perspective of an amature cameraman walking down road, lit by street lights. Not too shaky, but blatenty hand held camera. Novice with new camera. Our cameraman is a sick fukk! This will become apparent very quickly. Maybe testing the camera on stuff. Peeping on a girl getting changed through a bedroom window?? Filming street lights. Following random people (use REAL people in recognisable Peterborough street at night) cars, shops, roadkill, underpass, graffiti (spray some of our own stencils for subliminal advertising of other projects!) etc etc.
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> 2. Starts following innocent bystander. Man walking at night. Just a normal dude. In headphones. Camera man speeds up, lifts hand to reveal a pistol. Cameraman hits dude with the handle of the gun. Knocking him out. Man collapses. Camera turns off. Black screen for a few seconds.
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> 3. Next scene. We're in a garage of some sort. Old brick walls. Very dirty. Bad lighting. Camera is on and recording as it's being fixed to a tripod. As it clicks into place, it turns to reveal our victim, kneeling on floor, wearing just jeans, hugging knees. Shivering. Wearing a cardboard box on his head, with a smily face sprayed on it in black. Blood trickle, stained on his neck, down to his collarbone. He's injured under the box. Bruised a bit. Soiled jeans. Not happy.
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> 4. Camera man still has gun or other weapon of some sort. You can see his hand, pointing at the prisoner, on the right of the screen (First person shooter computer game stylee). The weapon is used to communicate to the viewer that the kidnapper is telling the prisoner to do stuff. Ushering and waving it around. Even though the prisoner is blind, inside his box mask, he responds by doing as he is ordered. The movie is silent (obviously), no words are heard. But it's obvious what is being asked of him...and that it's aggressive. He ushers the prisoner up onto his feet.
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> 5. The largest section of the movie is the prisoner being ridiculed and misused by the kidnapper. This scene will lend itself perfectly to the Arkaos software and a projector. The prisoner will be forced to dance at gun point. We'll see lot's of recognisable dance moves. Break dancing, robot dancing, moon walk, se xy groin thrusts...as well as animal impressions. It'll be tragic and dark, but people will laugh. This is the point of the film, in a sense. If people laugh at this poor guy being misused, (espeicially if it's done well enough to almost convince the viewer of it's authenticity) then, are they as evil as the anonymous kidnapper? Are we all potentially capable of disassociating ourselves from the pain others feel and hurting, merely for amusement. Could we all become terrorists, war criminals or street thugs when influenced by desensitising experiences? WHY are people so interested in death and killing? Why do all our newspapers and TV programs focus on the tragic? Why do we laugh when a child falls on it's face!? :) Many different dances will be recorded, and triggered live onstage by me via a laptop. Not many visual effects (if any) will be used, to keep it looking amateur and real. But Arkaos will allow me to trigger the dancing in time with the music being played. We'll hopefully build a large collection of dance moves and have a whole rack of triggers on the PC to keep it> entertaining for long enough. I'll essentially be the digital puppeteer of an on-screen version of myself.
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> 6. At one point, the kidnapper will walk over to the reluctant dancer and spin the box round. He'll spray a sad face on it, kick him in the stomach and we'll see the paint drip down from one eye. 8-(
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> 7. ALTERNATIVE ENDINGS. Both can be recorded and a decision will be made on the night (somehow) as to which end scene will be shown. If I'm correct, the audience will choose the DEATH SCENE, which will confirm just how sick we all inherently are!
Final Scene - 1. The end scene will be the victim walking away, down the same street he was attacked on, still half naked with his hands tied to his back and the box (complete with reverse facing smiling face) still gaffa taped to his neck. He's not really injured. But he's not going to be happy...he walks at an angle The camera man turns and spots a girl, walking down the street, away from him, into a darkened urban area...fade to black. End.
Final Scene - 2. Still in the garage, the kidnapper comes into view, with a blunt weapon, and bludgeons the victim to death, crushing the box, and his head with it. Cut to BLACK. End.
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> ----
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> What we need.
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> CAMERA: Preferably a nice digital camera with a hard drive, or at least the option to upload straight from the camera onto a good PC.
> ACTORS: Victim. Kidnapper. Girl at window. Girl in street. Might play victim myself!?
> EDITTING SOFTWARE: To cut up the footage into lots of bitesize loops for Arkaos.
> GUN: A realistic looking toy handgun.
> STENCILS: For subtle (but relevant, local or topical) graffiti in opening scene on the street.
Fingers crossed.
