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Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

1. Disaster.

2 votes

2. Backdating.

3 votes

Edgy DC Apr 26 2011 01:49 PM

So, when the weather is changing, I'm a real restless sleeper, waking up frequently to add or subtract a layer of covers. The upside to this is that waking up as such allows me to I remember my dreams pretty vividly. And I had a doozy of one the other nght, with characters that didn't resemble anyone I know, subplots, themes, and music. I wasn't even really in it myself, but watching it all unfold in the third person. I went back to sleep but when I woke up, it was still all there as clear as a movie, so I wrote a six-page script treatment. It's not Casablanca, but it felt pretty good to hammer out. I write a lot of stuff, but I never tried to write a screenplay. So here's the problem: Apparently there aren't cellphones in my dreams. And a large chunk of the plot's main conflict could probably be taken care of with a call or two. Do I create some sort of emergency that wipes out cellphone coverage, even though it's not really a disaster film (yet), or do I backdate it before cellphones became common? Side question: How many fine films would have had no conflict to speak of in the age of cell phones?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 26 2011 01:51 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

I think I'd backdate it, unless perhaps the plot is science-fictiony.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 26 2011 01:52 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Or could you have your protagonist lose his phone, or forget to charge it?

Edgy DC Apr 26 2011 01:57 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Yeah, it's a group of people though. I'm leaning toward 1989. But also, see, there's a medical quarantine happening for several districts of Baltimore and looting is starting to break out. Does it bother you when a-historical public events happen in films set in the past?

Ceetar Apr 26 2011 01:59 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

I say simply devise the storyline in an alternate universe where things like 'cell phones' were never invented.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 26 2011 02:02 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

A nice non-natural-disaster-induced EMP would provide a nice celly-obstacle... but it would require reckoning with outside of that, methinks.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 26 2011 02:12 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Maybe you need to make your conflict more complicated than a cell phone can solve, perhaps by wrapping it up in a love story subplot or something.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 26 2011 02:13 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Edgy DC wrote: Does it bother you when a-historical public events happen in films set in the past? No. I'd try to fold in an additional reason or two for it to be set in the past. Cold War politics, maybe? Make the virus an AIDS mutation?

seawolf17 Apr 26 2011 02:14 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: A nice non-natural-disaster-induced EMP would provide a nice celly-obstacle... but it would require reckoning with outside of that, methinks. That's the thing. If it was so bad that it knocked out coverage, it needs to factor into the plot somehow. I guess backdating is probably your best bet.

Edgy DC Apr 26 2011 02:18 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Maybe you need to make your conflict more complicated than a cell phone can solve, perhaps by wrapping it up in a love story subplot or something. Oh, it's a love story. Jeremy and Miranda. It'll break your little heart.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 26 2011 02:20 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

"A simple call would have solved everything... except the riddle of her heart."

Benjamin Grimm Apr 26 2011 02:23 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

In a world where cell phones don't work, and disease runs rampant, Jeremy and Miranda outwit the odds, and find a way... to fall in love.

metsmarathon Apr 26 2011 02:38 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

a solar flare could knock out communications. we could be at war with china, or canada, and the military has confiscated / enemy has jammed the commo spectrum. or it could be the robots. there could be a local theater with one of those cell phone jammer things turned up too high. one of the protagonists (or possibly an antagonist) is a bit of a prankster, and has a jammer of his own construction, but ti's on the fritz, and cannot be turned off. it could be a time just a little in the future, where all wireless commmunication has been slurped up by google/facebook, and they're shutting that shit down to demand more money from us all. or its a turf war between apple, the masters of the hardware and facebook, the masters of the software. maybe that's a bit more framework than you want to build. perhaps wireless communication has become a unprofitable a thing in baltimore, and the infrastructure is crumbling. ... you could always have a principal character remark "damnit, the phones are down again" and leave it unspoken as to the nature of the disruption. the characters are used to it, and understand why, and adapt and behave as necessary. you could sprinkle in clues throughout the story as to what the hell is going on with them, but leave it unsolved. like the fucking temple on lost. or the wagon wheel on lost. or the commo room on lost. or really fucking anything on lost. ... perhaps in addition to the medical quarantine, there's an information quarantine. don't want the sickies to know just how bad a shape they're in, or especially that the president just ordered their afflicted kind to be incinerated in a nuclear firestorm, and the big ol' missiles are already on their way - in fact, there's one up in the sky now! - lest they seek to escape and spread their zombie plague to the rest of humanity.

themetfairy Apr 26 2011 02:41 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

If Dave Barry were writing this, he'd come up with a way to knock out the cellphone service using bumbling characters who were inserted into the plot for comic relief.

Edgy DC Apr 26 2011 02:42 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

I think the movie you all are writing in this thread is a lot better than mine.

themetfairy Apr 26 2011 02:43 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Prolly - which is why we should all get a cut of the profits (gross profits - none of this net profits nonsense!).

metsmarathon Apr 26 2011 02:46 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 26 2011 02:48 PM

hrm. another answer is that (some of) the looters are going after the cell towers, for their own nefarious purposes. a systemic crumbling of the telecommunications infrastructure could be a nice little twist to throw in there. or you could imagine a small corner of the town where the populace decided to throw out the wireless industry(ies), perhaps for fear of radiation. (hey, maybe that's what's causing your zombie outbreak! its zombies, right? it's gotta be zombies...) there's pockets of the small enclave wherein you get a bar or two, where you maybe have line-of-sight with bigger more powerful towers high atop the skyscrapers in the city center, but they come and go, and it just so happens that every time jeremy gets hisself into one of these pockets, there come more (oe: zombie) rioters. poor, unlucky jeremy.

metsmarathon Apr 26 2011 02:47 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

themetfairy wrote: Prolly - which is why we should all get a cut of the profits (gross profits - none of this net profits nonsense!). we have such a high concentration of lawyers here that i just assumed this to be a given. yay, money! we also get a cut of the merchandizing. the zombie jeremy bobblehead is going to be a big seller!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 26 2011 02:50 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

"All she wanted was his brains... but all he wanted... was her heart." (Cue "Solsbury Hill")

seawolf17 Apr 26 2011 07:03 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

I want an Edgy bobblehead.

Fman99 Apr 26 2011 07:40 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Every time someone takes out their cell phone to make a call, evil gremlins with Lady Gaga's face come out of the hardware and eat the characters' brains and anuses.

Ashie62 Apr 26 2011 08:05 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Edgy DC wrote: Yeah, it's a group of people though. I'm leaning toward 1989. But also, see, there's a medical quarantine happening for several districts of Baltimore and looting is starting to break out. Does it bother you when a-historical public events happen in films set in the past? Have you been speaing to John Waters?

Centerfield Apr 26 2011 09:31 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

The answer is obvious. All the main characters have AT&T. Despite several attempts to call, their calls get dropped. Verizon will quickly agree to sponsor this movie.

Edgy DC Apr 26 2011 09:46 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

I don't know what folks have been saying, but I don't spea to anyone. Certainly not John Waters.

TheOldMole Apr 28 2011 02:12 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

The Charge of the Light Brigade.

cooby Apr 28 2011 08:44 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Holy heck, Edgy. I dream ALL THE TIME that my cell phone literally falls apart in my hand when I try to use it. For example, in my latest edition (I have drempt something similar at least 20 times): I was at Shea Stadium. I took the flume (yes) to the bus station early to beat the crowd. I tried to text or call someone still there to say something and the phone fell to pieces. The flume ride people were nice though, they made sympathetic noises towards me. I had 15 minutes to float, etc. It was exciting. My dream has carried me through phone booths, PCs, and now cell phones. Same thing. Emergency....technological failure. Though a cell phone falling into many pieces is more of a structural issue I guess.

cooby Apr 28 2011 08:47 PM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Centerfield wrote: The answer is obvious. All the main characters have AT&T. Despite several attempts to call, their calls get dropped. Verizon will quickly agree to sponsor this movie. Funny!

Edgy DC Apr 29 2011 05:44 AM Re: Dreams, Movies, and Cellulars

Damn, I hope Cooby's movie doesn't come out the the same weekend as mine.