Influenced by Psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud’s exploration into the unconscious mind, I feel as though it would be interesting to focus attention to the state of automatism. Individuals experience a hypnagogic state of consciousness every day before sleeping, where they may experience lucid thought, dreams and hallucinations. It is in this gap between reality and subliminal thought where involuntary actions and processes are made.
An abstracted short film could be made to focus on this void, depicting the constraints of the rational mind. Altering the pace and freezing frames with accompanying intense music would help to create an uncanny sensory experience for the audience. The film could depict an individuals’ thoughts through the consideration of lights, textures, memories and motion.
Rene Magritte’s work La Décalcomanie, 1966, references the destruction of the ordinary, where the audience becomes curious, provoking thoughts of imagination and mystery. Magritte stated that “if (a) dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.” This quote challenges the ideals of reality and is an inspiration for this concept of a lacuna. I have also been influenced by the feature film, Inception and surreal short film, Mr. Carnival Man. Both make allusions to the subconscious mind during a dream state. The mind is not only vulnerable and fragile, but also authentic and powerful.
Inception Caffeteria Scene, 2010
Mr. Carnival Man, 2008
La Décalcomanie, Rene Magritte, 1966
References:
Adrijan Arsovski 2010, Inception Caffeteria scene slow motion explosion, video recording, YouTube, viewed 7 April 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNE2hNmmT3A>.
AnOther 2016, Ten Remarkable Facts About Surrealist Master Rene Magritte, viewed 7 April 2017, <
Bell, V. 2016, ‘The Trippy State Between Wakefulness and Sleep’, The Atlantic, April 20, viewed 7 April 2017, <https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/deciphering-hypnagogia/478941/>.
Fetus Films Inc. 2008, Mr. Carnival Man, short film, YouTube, viewed 7 April 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU8KiuXCf3U>.
Rene Magritte 2009, Rene Magritte Quotes, viewed 7 April 2017, <http://www.renemagritte.org/rene-magritte-quotes.jsp>.
The Mind Unleashed 2014, The Conscious, Subconscious, And Unconscious Mind–How Does It All Work?, viewed 7 April 2017, <http://themindunleashed.com/2014/03/conscious-subconscious-unconscious-mind-work.html>.
Zeropink 
I think this would be a really good theme to go all out with abstract imagery! Do you have thoughts of whether you’d want to incorporate anything like projection? I think it could be cool to experiment with projection on mirrors for this idea because of the whole hallucinating and unexpected thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A agree! I think that projection mapping onto mirrors would great for this! It would be interesting to experiment with this in a dark room and to see what shapes/forms the mirrors produce.
LikeLike
I agree with Zoe! The projection on mirrors looks so cool! It would work the best with the idea of hallucination and it would add a very visual look that would tie it will up together. Having several mirrors build up would work well as well and add a build up of hallucination over time too.
LikeLike
I think we should definitely look into researching projecting onto mirrors and the effects we can create
LikeLike
Zoe has a good point! It’s a really strong concept that definitely relates strongly to lacuna. With this concept, there is so much possibility for experimental film and that’s what draws me in. The short cuts of the Mr. Carnival Man (Mr. Carnival Man 2008) are so effective in giving an impression of a hallucination. Perhaps colour and warped camera shots could amplify this impression.
LikeLike