Notes From Planning - Lacan Dream Film

Some notes from preproduction, including some rough notes and some later notes with more developed ideas for the film. (Some elements of the film did differ from my initial plan during production.)

 

Some early ideas made it into the final production and some were discarded.

The following copied from a planning document I kept:

 

Film Studies Lacan Film 

 

Focusing on the idea of lack and desire, which cannot be fulfilled. 

What desire? There is a lack of control in their life, and desires more control. 

 

Plot Summary: 

Opening: 

Character is at low point, not satisfied with life. Feels out of control. 

Open with Alan Watts voiceover over footage of character walking somewhere. Low mood. 

 

Middle: 

Chasing desire.  

 

-------------------------------- 

New Idea: 

Montage of shots in a dream sequence, using the idea of dream logic to portray lack. Connected by the main character who is the subject of dreams. They experience a variety of unconnected situations which are left incomplete and frustrating. E.g. Coin about to fall, reaching for food but it disappears, carrot on a stick, loading screen that doesn’t finish, falling, head turning around but cut before you see them, telephone queue/voicemail (ALWAYS FRUSTRATING), colour in circle but not all the way. Microwave timer not reaching 00:00, pencil lead breaking, ect. 

Splice in shots of them dreaming in reality. 

Music clips cut and looped to be incomplete, build ups with no pay off? 

 

 

 

PLAN: 

• Open with Dude looking into mirror, unhappy. Alan Watts voiceover starts. 

• Dude walks into bedroom and goes to bed. Shot from above the bed, he stares at the ceiling and this fades into a similar shot with his eyes closed. 

• Cut to dude flipping a coin and then a close up shot of the coin spinning on a desk. 

• Cut while the coin is still spinning to Dude falling (greenscreen) 

• Cut back to coin spinning, cut away just before it falls/stops. 

• [Order of other dream montage clips can be decided during editing process.] 

• Carrot on a stick. 

• Head turning. 

• Disappearing burger. 

• Include shots of Dude asleep, perhaps fidgeting.