Post by Poultice on Mar 18, 2005 20:07:52 GMT
Being a huge aficionado of this musical, and being blessed/cursed
with an overactive mind, I wanted to start this thread as a bit of
an experiment.
If the other fans of this music are anything like me, they have
provided the visual aspects of this story through the power of
their own imagination. That is to say, when Burton described
three Fighting Machines coming over the cleft of a hill, most of
us actually saw them in our mind’s eye. This is the great
flexibility of audio entertainment.
But, besides our ‘seeing’ what was narrated, I’m pretty sure some
of us managed to build on the story and create our own scenarios
that weren’t necessarily described outright by Mr. Burton.
If you think about it, an actual Martian cylinder impact isn’t
really described.
Yes, the narrator sees the cylinder in Horsell Common. He also see
another “bound for London”, and finds himself at ground zero with
the Parson. But the mechanics of landing a cylinder is never
really laid out.
Of course, we have a rough idea of how it must happen, from our
knowledge of physics and from what we may have seen in the movie
‘Superman’ or the amazing art in the album insert. But now the
story is entering the visual realm, it is of course going to
become necessary to SHOW how a Martian cylinder lands.
And that opens up a lot of possibilities. What if it lands with
incredible violence, tearing through the atmosphere, plowing
through forests, leaving a mile-wide canyon in its wake? And why
not? Besides being visually appealing, such an impact would
suggest to the audience that the Martians within are really tough
customers. After all, if they can survive all that!
Or, for all we know, maybe a cylinder lands in a way quite
different from what we expected. A 90-degree angle, perhaps.
How does it land for you?
In short, there are LOTS of scenes in this musical that we may
‘take for granted’ in our imagination, thanks to the narration.
But, besides that, there’s a lot of stuff we have each ADDED to
the story by using our imagination. What does the Artilleryman
look like? What does Red Weed look like? Is Beth a hottie?
(Hey, in my head, she was!) And how does she die exactly? And
what does “a mighty metal warlord crashing down in sheets of
flame” really look like, in practical terms?
Here’s a few of my ‘additions’ that might add a bit more to the
film if they were thrown into the visual mix:
I’ll probably have a ton more to add in the next little while.
Hopefully, this will get some of your imaginative juices flowing.
Poultice
with an overactive mind, I wanted to start this thread as a bit of
an experiment.
If the other fans of this music are anything like me, they have
provided the visual aspects of this story through the power of
their own imagination. That is to say, when Burton described
three Fighting Machines coming over the cleft of a hill, most of
us actually saw them in our mind’s eye. This is the great
flexibility of audio entertainment.
But, besides our ‘seeing’ what was narrated, I’m pretty sure some
of us managed to build on the story and create our own scenarios
that weren’t necessarily described outright by Mr. Burton.
If you think about it, an actual Martian cylinder impact isn’t
really described.
Yes, the narrator sees the cylinder in Horsell Common. He also see
another “bound for London”, and finds himself at ground zero with
the Parson. But the mechanics of landing a cylinder is never
really laid out.
Of course, we have a rough idea of how it must happen, from our
knowledge of physics and from what we may have seen in the movie
‘Superman’ or the amazing art in the album insert. But now the
story is entering the visual realm, it is of course going to
become necessary to SHOW how a Martian cylinder lands.
And that opens up a lot of possibilities. What if it lands with
incredible violence, tearing through the atmosphere, plowing
through forests, leaving a mile-wide canyon in its wake? And why
not? Besides being visually appealing, such an impact would
suggest to the audience that the Martians within are really tough
customers. After all, if they can survive all that!
Or, for all we know, maybe a cylinder lands in a way quite
different from what we expected. A 90-degree angle, perhaps.
How does it land for you?
In short, there are LOTS of scenes in this musical that we may
‘take for granted’ in our imagination, thanks to the narration.
But, besides that, there’s a lot of stuff we have each ADDED to
the story by using our imagination. What does the Artilleryman
look like? What does Red Weed look like? Is Beth a hottie?
(Hey, in my head, she was!) And how does she die exactly? And
what does “a mighty metal warlord crashing down in sheets of
flame” really look like, in practical terms?
Here’s a few of my ‘additions’ that might add a bit more to the
film if they were thrown into the visual mix:
- The very first time the narrator sees a Fighting Machine in the
story, the first thing he notices is the similarity between the
Heat Ray on the Fighting Machine, and the one he saw a few days
before, poking from the cylinder in Horsell Common. To me, this
suggests that the Heat Ray needs to be a little more ‘unique-
looking’ than the one we’ve seen on the CGI tests so far. Nothing
garish; no green and red stripes or anything, but just something
that will make newbies to the story say to themselves, “Oh, crap,
that’s the weapon from the Common!But now it’s mobile!” - Should the Heat Ray itself be invisible (as in the story) or
visible (as the visual form of the story seems to require)? How
about a mix of both? A semi-transparent flow of reddish-coloured
heat-effect? Kind of shimmery, like a desert mirage. I’d be
happy with that, as long as the focus is always on what the Ray
can do. When the Thunder Child gets smelted, all eyes should be
on its melting deck and the pillars of steam, not on the ‘effect’
of the Heat Ray itself. - At some point in ‘Forever Autumn’, the narrator really should
look up and see a sky filled with birds “flying south across the
autumn sky”. As far as I’m concerned, the rest of the song can
work as a choral voiceover, with heaps of romantic imagery (you
know, for the chicks). I definitely do not want to have to watch
the narrator actually singing it. - When the narrator reaches the harbour, scans the scene, and his
eyes lock on his beloved Carrie’s, it should take the form of a
super long-range zoom – from the width of the harbour with its
“vast crowd”, to the escaping Steamer, to Carrie’s emotion-filled
eyes. - When the narrator states, “The earth belonged to the Martians”,
and there’s that upbuilding crescendo of music and that final
triumphant “ULLA!”, I always view it through the eyes ofa camera
traveling like a rocket over the ruined London landscape, stopping
at three Fighting Machines overlooking the harbour, heads raised
in victory.
- The Parson screaming, “The voice of the Devil is heard in our
land!!!” must (not should, but MUST) be accompanied by a fiery
Martian cylinder ripping its way through the blackened sky
overhead, perhaps nearby enough that its resultant gusty
turbulence tugs at the raving Parson’s clothes. Bound for York,
perhaps! - As Parson Nathaniel and Beth come to the end of their ‘The
Spirit of Man’ duet, it would be absolutely awesome to see, over
Beth’s shoulder… the inevitable, deadly, incoming Martian
cylinder! As her music fades out, we should have a few long,
anxious moments watching it approach in Mach-2 silence before its
impact on the house and the horrific sound of the impact. (And,
my God, what an awful sound it is! I can almost hear what sounds
like a phone ringing in that clamorous explosion!) - Even more chilling, to prove his new ‘faith’ that Beth is “one
of them”, the Parson himself could see the incoming cylinder
(along with the audience) and yet choose to do nothing to protect
or save her. Think about it; it would make sense to him. This
would be his final test of twisted ‘faith’ for which he will pay
with his beloved Beth’s life. It could also serve as the root
cause to his final descent into madness. - Ooo, even better – consider this: The narrator, near the end of
the duet, notices the strange enraptured look on the Parson’s
face, and follows his gaze to see the incoming cylinder – just in
time to knock the ecstatic Parson to safety, but not in time to
save Beth from its crushing impact. This way, when the Parson
does eventually get bonked over the head, we can appreciate why
the narrator might choose such means to silence him. And when the
Parson gets dragged away to have his blood sucked out, the
audience feels a sense of justice. (You let your wife die, buddy?
Well, here, try the Death by Martian Bloodsucking on for size, see
how you like that!) - We should definitely see a small animal, like a rabbit, trapped
and struggling ineffectually in gobs of smothering Red Weed. - The Artilleryman, when we first meet him, should be almost
skeletal, the embodiment of ruined mankind, dirty, used up,
beaten, trudging meaninglessly toward London with no real hope
whatsoever. - When I see the Artilleryman later, after he develops his new
philosophy, and starts his tunneling efforts (just prior to
meeting the narrator and the ‘Brave New World’ soliloquy), I see a
muddied cheerful madman, standing on the crest of a hill. He’s
still skeletal, but there’s a new light in his eyes. He’s
standing, alone, watching cylinder after cylinder rip through the
atmosphere, laughing quietly to himself. The narrator shouldn’t
see him like this (in fact, the Artilleryman should present as
quite sane when they meet), but the audience should know that
they’re dealing with a bit of a nutbar.
I’ll probably have a ton more to add in the next little while.
Hopefully, this will get some of your imaginative juices flowing.
Poultice
