Thought I’d drop this here, though it won’t make sense. An abstract montage sequence from the midsection of a feature length screenplay (titled Sun Rising) that I’ve been hacking away at. And a dialogue-free, music-driven montage sequence is a particularly awkward thing to read rather than to experience, but if nothing else you can hopefully just get lost here in the music. And for a thematic hint you could try googling “Omelas.” Featured image h/t HÆLOS.
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The closing moments of “Four Walls” by Burial and Massive Attack give way to “Collider” by Jon Hopkins, which then gives way to the final moments of “Adrift” by Vök.
- “Four Walls” plays as ELISABETH’s tiny recon ship passes through the radiation lock, to the interior of the Cradle.
- Finally we see that which it cradles: the burnt-red embers of a dying dwarf star, plasma gently boiling across its surface in ghostly waves, the light refracted and reflected in a hypnotic dance across the vast interior surface of its enveloping Cradle.
- The camera follows directly behind Elisabeth’s ship for several moments, then wanders along its own meandering path as she descends to an unseen outpost on the surface.
- The camera approaches nearer to the superstructure of a massive city on the surface of the Cradle, weaving around and between its elegant obsidian skyscrapers, light from the star washing across their impenetrable black surfaces.
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- As “Four Walls” crossfades with “Collider” (approx. 2:00 mark here), the camera begins to chaotically descend, into the belly of the city, through layer upon layer of substructure, with increasing, dizzying speed.
- The camera’s descent grinds to a screeching halt and we see Elisabeth once more, in a tiny Blade Runner-esque apartment, plugging herself into a direct neural link VR port (h/t The Matrix), gasping in momentary discomfort/anticipation at 2:22.
- Her eyes open, she’s submerged in a pool in a nearly-blackened room, strobe lighting from an adjacent corridor spilling slightly in through the open doorway. She surfaces, then rises and walks slowly but deliberately toward the light source.
- As she walks through the corridors and into a large hall, she passes numerous people/bodies in various states of undress and intertwined-ness, the camera occasionally pausing to regard some of them curiously, though Elisabeth never breaks her pace. The atmosphere feels heavy, oppressive, aggressive, and all the while the lighting is so chaotic that we rarely get a clear view of exactly what we’re observing.
- At approximately 4:40 she abruptly stops, stares piercingly into the eyes of another woman, CAROLINE, and simultaneously they ingest what appears to be a mind altering substance of some kind.
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- As “Collider” begins ceding ground to “Adrift” (approx. 4:50), Elisabeth and Caroline walk hand in hand down a long, dimly lit corridor. The camera follows too-slowly from behind, and soon they disappear from view.
- As “Adrift” swells fully in, the camera finally emerges into a breathtakingly wide nighttime expanse. The northern lights dance spectacularly in the sky as the camera drifts along the cool breeze, over the frozen fjords of northern climes.
- The camera turns downward and descends toward a small sailboat, adrift in a vast expanse of water. As the camera draws nearer to the boat, we see two unclothed bodies, twisting together on the deck.
- We draw closer yet, until we recognize Elisabeth’s face, eyes closed, mouth open in ecstatic breath that swells to fill the entire expanse (5:46 mark).
- The camera floats backward and upward and dances on the breeze once more…
