Models of Inspiration
Across both Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke, there is a general story of humans pitted against the environment or some spiritual embodiment of the environment. There lies a conflict where nature is defending itself against the human body to preserve the planet and wildlife, while at the same time being apathetic towards those it targets. This is contradicted by one of the human populations that tries to be the middleman or mediator between the larger human body and the spirit of nature. These are all in the same vein of the Solarpunk values, where there is emphasis on including the land/environment in discussions/thought processes before it retaliates.
One of the sources of inspiration I’ll draw upon is the world of Interstellar, where the humans of that population have exhausted almost all of the resources of the planet and are quite literally running out of the final fumes, so they head on a mission to explore planets elsewhere to save the human race. This takes the idea of ignoring the environment to an extreme level, where it is driven to the limit. It may not be directly related to the project I am working on, but if I decide to switch gears in the future, I may follow this.
Another source is the common duality of grey and green in media to represent the eternal battle between life and death. In countless movies, shows, or pieces of artwork, grey and green are always fighting each other for dominance. So I could replicate something along those lines for my own project. Especially in my project proposal below. I could have the greyscale, industrial world put against the greenscale wilderness with the subject slapped in the middle crossing between them.
Finally, I love the concept of steampunk in general. The idea of a world taken over by steam, wheels, and cogs is so fascinating to me. Even though I don’t think humans will ever fall to that, it would have been an incredible—albeit harmful—world to live in. Everything is covered in smog. Everything is that rustic brown color, with dashes of gold and silver. I don’t know how I would be able to do something along those lines for this project, but I’ll think about it.
Story Beats and Proposal
This is still a very bare-bones plan for a story I came up with very quickly. I have an idea for a person or subject struggling with the demands of daily, modern life (perhaps school, work, or something similar) and decides to take a walk in the forest or along a waterfront. While there, they discover a “message in a bottle” of sorts (either literal or some other symbolic interpretation of it), and upon touching it, they have visions or faint memories of the natural forest, water, etc. Maybe they see some wildlife, some waves calmly flowing over a beach, and hear the natural sounds of a forest, too. Upon waking up from this vision, they leave but return with their school equipment and continue working amongst nature. The “present” scenes could be done in a cold, blueish filter, which is contrasted with the vision, done in a warm, yellowish filter (or the greyscale vs greenscale mentioned above).
1. Situation: A broke college student (or a subject in a similar situation) is struggling with keeping up with their daily life. Various tasks are piled up before them, and they decide to take a walk.
2. Desire: They desire a break from it all, or just a brief moment where they could let go.
3. Conflict: But the demands of their life prevent them from taking the time necessary for a needed break.
4. Change: They pursue this change by finally mustering the courage to take a brief, maybe ten-minute walk to clear their head. While there, they discover the “message in a bottle”, showing them the visions.
5. Result: They return to their original world, stacked high with work, but now they bring it with them to this place in the wilderness where they can be calm and work at the same time.
Tips for Phone Filming
Perhaps the most important tip to include is adding background noise/soundtrack. Replacing the audio with intentional music and sound effects elevates the video from a phone recording to an actual product. I’m especially considering adding in some sort of narrator or interviewing people and using them as the voice-over or something along those lines. Another tip that I’m planning on incorporating is changing the color of the shots that I collect. Adding filters and altering the light of the video can greatly change the effect or emotional impact of it, especially if I want to pull off the green vs grey I mentioned earlier. Lastly, I want to use varying methods of camera movements and subjects. As I suggested earlier, including someone in the form of a voice-over or interview could allow for a deeper or more personal story.
Link to YouTube video of test clip with a yellowish, highly saturated filter applied and the audio replaced:
