I have finally found a storyline that might work for Ben and his experiences in this new strange world. Here it is:
Ben is a ruthless businessman, with inherited wealth and a wife and kid that he treats rather unkindly, thinking mainly of himself and his business empire. He gets leukemia, and starts to plan his cryogenic preservation, since he really doesn’t want to leave this world and his empire so soon, barely 35 year old.
He writes everything he owns over to his 5 year old daughter and makes sure, with the help of a lot of lawyers, that he will inherit her, or one of her descendants when he wakes up again.
Ben wakes up in 2112. The new world comes as a huge shock to him, as he of course didn’t expect a world without money, trading, barter or ownership, but rather expected to enjoy his legacy. He has trouble adapting to this new world, but realizes that he has no choice.
He goes through an existential crisis in the first 20 minutes or so of the film. He comes out a somewhat ‘changed man’, and decides to find his family. Not to get his legacy of course, since he realizes that that is gone and has been replaced with this new system, but to simply try to find some of his roots, to both try to repent and find redemption and to not feel so lonely in this world. In spite that everyone he meets says they are ‘family’, the feeling is not mutual for him.
His search for his family will be his main goal in the film, while the fact that he experiences this new world, and how he experiences it will be inevitable consequences of his main goal, his personality and background.
The data about Ben’s family is somewhat lost, but he has understood that the chances for him having descendants is still big. The film will then continue as a drama where he starts his own research that takes him to several continents around the world, looking for his family, since they have left traces that leads him there. On the way he meets a lot of interesting people, and experiences a lot of this new world, both value-, design- and technology wise.
The antagonist here is all the difficulties Ben encounters during his search for his family. The difficulties can be that it is not easy to find distant descendants a 100 years after your own death, but he can also come across one or more people who tries to stop him in his quest. Maybe they can be well meaning people that can’t understand why he simply can’t settle with ‘the people he has’, meaning all the people that constantly offer their friendship to him.
Obviously, this is not enough for him, as he had a strong emphasis on blood line and his blood relations during his previous life, and he can’t let go of the thought that he still might have blood relatives somewhere on the planet.
Background: His only daughter and child was 5 years when he ‘died’. She is dead (or maybe alive, 105 years old…?) but she got a son herself at the age of 28, 22 years after Ben’s death. The son (now 78) got a daughter and a son when he was 35 and 38. His children are now 43 and 40, and these are Ben’s great grand children.
Ben’s quest to find his family takes him around the world. Aweena helps him as best she can, but she has obligations that demands she has to stay behind for a while. There is a romance developed before Ben leaves, however. A painful goodbye takes place and complications arise during Ben’s travel that jeopardizes his relationship to Aweena. Still, after a long journey both around the planet and in Ben’s own psyche and feelings, he comes back to Aweena and they get each other in the end after Ben has met his great grand children, made up with them and got his family back. Happy ending!
With this story as an outset, we can show ‘how this world works’ in all its aspects while Ben is travelling and meeting lots of different people, cultures and continents. Then the film will thus be a combination of a love story and a road movie, set in the highly technologically, spiritually and economically developed 2112 world.
It can be a very compelling story, combining the longing for a lost family with the strange encounters with this new society, a dreamful journey (Ben feels it’s like a strange dream…), unexpected meetings with grand children much older than himself, and maybe even a 105 year old daughter, lots of emotions emerging from these encounters, some psychological and medical complications from being frozen, and a love story with his guide, Aweena.
What do you think? Can this be a start of something? Leave a comment below. :)
This plot is in the Google doc The Story where you can contribute directly.
March 27, 2012 at 4:27 am
You might want to read up Bruce Sterling’s “Shaping Things” particularly his idea of the Spime, an object that can be tracked throughout its creation, use, and after its destruction and recreation into a new object. It’s basically a present day think into the Resource Based Economy, by tracking the materials as well as the objects themselves so there is a huge database of info for every object, an internet-of-things, so-to-speak, to ensure that all materials and devices are recycled and tracked and do not pollute the world. Also you might want to look up some Arcology designs of Paolo Soleri (coiner of the term Arcology, which is Architectural-Ecology) he’s made an Arcology called Arcosanti in southern united states, near Arizona. This could work along with the Zeitgeist movement and Venus Project. You also might want to look up “ecolonies” and “future la” for transition ideas, see www.paulglover.org/8212.html for info
January 23, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Harald,
I’ve just joined and have very little experience with writing at all, but I love the concept of this movie. I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this or not…I feel when I talking to others about a RBE that the most common question is how do we go from the capitalist economy we have today to a RBE? I feel somehow showing this or explaining a realistic transformation to this possible world, is very important in helping people to understand how very possible a RBE is.
January 25, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Hi Will,
Yes, I’m thinking this will be presented in a compelling and realistic presentation to Ben/the audience through Ben’s lenses, like a 5-10 minute show, in addition to Ben being told how it happened by the citizens of the new world. It can also be told through flashbacks while someone tells Ben how it happened.
How I picture it happening: We will, though the next 10-30 years gradually get more and more people into this kind of thinking, while the economy and the planet deteriorates more and more. At the same time, new communities have been built up around and RBE thinking. Eventually, critical mass is reached, and the idea and mindset explodes on the planet, and takes over existing systems. When an opinion exploding in a community has been researched, and it tends to happen when about 10% of the community has adopted the opinion. If we only count people between 15 and 65, this means about 400 million would have to have this mindset consciously. Then, when the majority starts to act based on this new moneyless mindset, it only takes a decade or so to transform the whole planet.
January 12, 2012 at 9:08 pm
Hi Harald!
I just came across this project and I can honestly say that I’m no good at writing anything apart from lab reports, but this is amazing stuff! After reading the part of the script about government, I just want to share a thought that came to mind. The way I pictured the scene in my head was more like an instruction video where Ben asks questions that the audience might have as well and the questions get answered by someone in the new society. I’m not sure but this might be overcomed by answering as much questions and topics as possible through Ben experiencing these topics or visually showing them.
You’ve probably had this thought already but I just want to make sure!
I’m studying computer graphics programming and hopefully I can help in the future. Thanks for doing this important film!
Best regards,
Jonathan, Skövde, Sweden
January 12, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Hey Jonathan, Skövde!
I live in Mariestad, not too far from you. Maybe we should have a coffee someday!? Hehe…
Yes, what you describe is definitely what I/we have thought. I’m picturing Ben getting some cool presentations as answers to some of his questions. Like how the transition happened and how some of the technology works.
We definitely need a lot of computer graphics…
January 5, 2012 at 3:56 pm
hey harald
first off, i wanted to say BIG UP to the whole project! It must be a whole lot of work and we’re not even decently started, respect for that, if you need any help.. i’ll be glad
concrete, first, i was not really fond of your last update on making Ben’s life in this new world mainly looking for his relatives. But, i do like your reference to Benjamin Button and indeed, please stay away from hollywood-style.
more concrete, last night i had, according to me, an amazing idea.
What if, before Ben dies and he’s still working in Wall Street, it’s economical crisis and Ben is deeply hesitating to make a great high-risk investment. It’s completely chaos at the stock exchange and Ben passes out. Then, he wakes up 100 years later, and there he plunges in this fantastic RBE (be carefull with the utopia-level) and whatever “the story” will bring him. At the end of the movie, he wakes up, BACK IN 2012, lying on the floor at the Wall Street stock exchange. He just passed out. There’s chaos and people running everywhere.. A colleague helps him up and asks: “are you going to buy that stock now or what?” and obviously he replies something like : “no… i’m going to live life”.
Let me now what you think of that idea.. eventually it’s just a suggestion.
Keep up the good work!
January 6, 2012 at 1:56 am
Hi Robbert!
I think it is a good idea, except I don’t know if it will make a whole lot of difference. In any case, making it as a dream will make it less believable for people. But making it as something that ‘really happens’ to him, will at least show the audience that we mean this as an actual possible future for humanity.
In any case, this is something that can be decided almost after the whole script is done, as it is merely a small detail script wise, and doesn’t really change anything in the film.
January 13, 2012 at 4:59 am
Hi Robert,
Yes, we should stay away from Hollywood style.
I like the Wall Street aspect, very topical with the Occupy movement. This could even give opportunity to show the protesters dreaming up a future like we’re writing.
I would avoid the way overused concept of “it was all a dream”. As a viewer, that disappoints me whenever I invest two hours of my time and that happens in a movie or tv show. Sure, the dream sequence is cute, and at one point in filmmaking it was genius, but now I think it’s burnt out.
“I’m going to live life” that should be the idea the viewer has, but not the line for Ben’s dialogue – too cliche.
January 2, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Hey Harald!
This is a truly beautiful project that is in the making. Long have I been very upset about what our society has come to and what sick and twisted values it has. I see the destruction daily, in the nature and in people’s heads. Materialistic goods do not mean anything to me anymore. I don’t eat animals. I don’t drive a car. Hell, I haven’t had income in nearly two years, but guess what? I am loving life.
It took me a while to get behind all the lies and flaws of the system, but once I did I knew it had to be changed immediately, lest we all perish in self indulging mindlessness.
But how to change it? How to make people go, “Hey, we’ve been depleting this planet of its resources and desroying the very ecosystem that provides us with this rare chance to be alive and breathing and we have been following the twisted words and lurings of our corrupt governments for too long. Let’s change it for the better!”
And this brings me to Waking Up.
THIS is a chance to show the world what can be done to mae it a better place. THIS could be the falling stone that triggers the rockslide of change.
What I would love to see in this movie and what I think would make for a compelling plot is an insight in the everyday life of a better world. A world where humans live in harmony with themselves and the nature. A world that isn’t owned by corporations and ridden with pollution and concrete. A world that is used sustainably and responsibly.
I like the idea of Ben being the stereotypical ‘I am rich and I am better than you and I don’t care about destroying the world because I will be long dead before the consequences affect me’ businessman. Maybe he should be the CEO of a big pharma company and he used to dispose if his waste without any regard to the environment and in the most cost efficient way. He might also have been corrupt, and a drinker and his family was falling apart(which is always compelling to an audience, remember: People LOVE tragedy.) Those topics would be covered throughout the movie. Benjamin could be travelling the planet with Aweena, on the way to where his empire once had been and discovering what changes have been made for the better in the 100 years he has been gone. As said, I like the plot as it is now, it just needs a little more depth. Not even shiny and sparkling CGI or shootouts or car chases. Movies as strange and fascinating as A.I. and Children Of Men (especially the latter one) come to mind.
I will stop at this point as I am very tired, but I will make sure to have a good read through the bits and pieces already existant (The world, story and script) and add as much good stuff as I can think of.
We could all be part of some big change here, so let’s make it happen, shall we?
January 2, 2012 at 10:37 pm
Finally! Someone who comes with useful suggestions on the story at hand. We’ve had so many suggesting totally different and deviating stories, which only rips the original story apart. Not what I want…
But your suggestions rings very well with me. I have a lot more on the story now, and I have to get it down on the screen. Will do now, so you can see.
January 16, 2012 at 5:17 am
I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with shiny CGI. In fact, A.I. was full of it and Children of Men had pretty decent special effects too. Technology is advancing EXPONENTIALLY. We have to dream big and visualize as best we can. That’s most likely going require some advanced effects. Future-films in the past using cheap SFX got buried and lost over time. The ones that survive are the tech-breakthroughs like Star Wars, T2, The Matrix, A.I. Why not show history what the talented animators of 2012 are made of? I agree we could do without the shootouts and car chases though. The best CGI doesn’t look like CGI at all, it’s seamless and no one knows what they saw – try to reconsider. I can look to the computer animation department at my school (Full Sail) for help, unless we already have a better option.
December 23, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Hello Harold and fellow dreamers,
I wanted to first commend you on this film concept. You couldn’t have started this at a better time. Secondly, thank you for making the project open-sourced, so the public can have a part in the creative process. I truly believe that this piece and all other similar projects to come can and will be a strong component toward the visualization and eventual manifestation of world peace.
I have many ideas I’d like to share with you about how I envision a positive outcome but first let’s start with the current topic: the storyline.
My honest opinion is that “finding his family bloodline” is a little boring for a sci-fi plot. I think it could definitely work as a story, but in my opinion, this concept is more important than that plot. I was really excited about this trailer. This plot is a bit of a let down. We may need to dig deeper and find something that will capture the attention of a massive audience with a short attention span.
Think about how effective and successful The Matrix was. People wanted to see it because it was exciting, fast, and visually impressive, but the underlying messages of the film were insanely deep mind-blowing. Millions of people came to see a show and had a philosophical experience in the process.
What can happen in the story that makes people want to go see it? How can we be different? What does a businessman want with money in a society without money? What comes to mind for me is power. Money=power but without money how can you have the upper hand on someone in a communist future?
Are there leaders in the society? How is it governed? What happens if one family member kills another? Whats up with this 3D printer thing? How does that work?
Waking Up should be engaging and active. I don’t want to feel like I’m on a tour at Epcot. I want to live in the future with these people. The audience should not be falling asleep during Waking Up.
I also think that the scene eating duck is going to be dated in 100 years. In my vision, humanity evolves to a plant-based diet in order to return the environment to homeostasis, end the suffering of intelligent beings, embrace the animals as our extended family, and to provide our bodies with its proper nutrients, without taking the life of another.
This can give Ben a chance to defend tradition, accept the facts, empathize, and then question the practices of his old culture. Having an unfolding of the mind on several levels. This can lead to a paradigm shift.
The future is “green”, right? No more pollution? Free energy? Free travel? Free everything right? Where’s big brother in all of this? Is there a government? Security? Police? Jail? What happens if Ben kills someone? Is the drug war over? Are there still psychopaths?
I feel like I should be breaking these thoughts up amongst other posts but I just wanted to start getting this stuff out.
What prevents a group of fanatics from crashing an anti gravity vehicle into the world trade museum? Is there still religion? “Imagine there’s no heaven. Its easy of you try.”
I think we also need to be whimsical and funny. “Your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter,” said Satan (Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger, 1910)
I’m in my 5 month at Full Sail studying Creative Writing for Entertainment. The more I learn the better I can help you with this.
Thanks again for starting it, and thanks again for letting me express it to open-minded people who want to see a different future than hollywood currently provides.
We should watch as many TED speeches as possible and really make the most out of this.
Another question: When Aweena says “…on this planet.” What was that implying? Are we traveling to others? Is that Earth? Is it the Fourth Dimension? Is it like some kind of holographic simulation?
Sorry about my shotgun blast of questions. I’m really looking forward to contributing.
-Andrew
What do you all think?
December 24, 2011 at 2:58 am
I think all your questions are good and sound! Please give suggestions to answers also…
Yes, the story is a challenging one to develop. I’ve been thinking more in the direction of a drama/romance, rather than the typical Hollywood action film, ala Matrix.
There are many twists one can do in this story the more I think about it and go into it. It has to be compelling and exiting.
I’m thinking maybe more like a ‘Benjamin Button’ type film, rather than Matrix or Avatar. But, it’s very easy to become confused in this. I’m becoming quite dizzy already from all the suggestions, possibilities and questions that come in.
I think a journey-like film can be very visual and contain a lot of good compelling and exiting stuff. A guy ‘looking for his family’ can sound boring at first, but it all comes down to how it is done. The individual scenes and plot points and how they all connect. I think it can work well as a framework. It needs much more meat on the bone, of course. But if you have a better idea, come with it. But I’m not budging on the things in the ‘guidelines’.
www.wakingupmovie.com/2011/08/submission-and-collaboration-guidelines/
January 5, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Hey Harold,
I wanted to avoid the cliche as well. Perhaps I didn’t make my point clear enough. I wasn’t really saying to make it an action film, or even as hollywood as The Matrix. I was saying it should be exciting but I guess you already knew that. I have yet to see Benjamin Button, but I’ll check it out asap.
I agree, it is all about “how it’s done”. Sorry if my suggestions were not in tune with your vision.
So what are the main issues you are facing with developing the story?
Where are the holes? Where do you hit the wall?
How can we more more helpful in the creative process?
January 6, 2012 at 2:14 am
Hey!
No, your suggestion are definitely in tune. I am sorry for not taking time to answer you properly. It’s just that there are so many comments pouring in (both here and on the documents), and I’m working day and night now…
To give you more definite comments on your comment:
- ‘communist future’…? No no no, this is not a communist future. This is RBE. Totally different.
- Are there leaders in the society? How is it governed? What happens if one family member kills another? Take a look at this scene, ‘Government’: docs.google.com/document/d/11nA8yWM0yAf4-fkTXYRgNwNn-y4tL4-eyEX2WBKXhZs/edit?hl=en_US#heading=h.j0dwyw9hg5qy
- 3D printing. Here’s a good place to start: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
- Waking Up should be engaging and active. YES ABSOLUTELY. I don’t want to feel like I’m on a tour at Epcot. NO NO. I want to live in the future with these people. YES! The audience should not be falling asleep during Waking Up. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
- The duck scene. Forget that. Ok? It’s out.
- This can give Ben a chance to defend tradition, accept the facts, empathize, and then question the practices of his old culture. Having an unfolding of the mind on several levels. This can lead to a paradigm shift. YES! YES! YES! HOW?
- The future is “green”, right? YES. No more pollution? NO. Free energy? YES. Free travel? YES. Free everything right? YES. Where’s big brother in all of this? NOWHERE. Is there a government? NO. Security? NO. Police? NO. Jail? NO. What happens if Ben kills someone? HE GETS TREATMENT AND EVERYONE TRIES TO UNDERSTAND HIS REASON AND LEARN FROM IT. Is the drug war over? YES ABSOLUTELY. Are there still psychopaths? NO.
- What prevents a group of fanatics from crashing an anti gravity vehicle into the world trade museum? WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY DO THAT? Is there still religion? YES, BUT WITH 100% RESPECT AND NO FANATICISM.
- I think we also need to be whimsical and funny. TO SOME DEGREE I AGREE.
- We should watch as many TED speeches as possible and really make the most out of this. TOTALLY.
- Another question: When Aweena says “…on this planet.” What was that implying? Are we traveling to others? Is that Earth? Is it the Fourth Dimension? Is it like some kind of holographic simulation? GOOD QUESTIONS, BUT IN THIS FILM, I WANT TO FOCUS ON THIS PLANET. NO ALIENS, NO SPACE EXPLORATION AND NO ‘OTHER DIMENSIONS. I’M THINKING THESE THINGS CAN COME IN THE NEXT FILMS….
January 13, 2012 at 1:24 am
Hey Harold,
Thanks for your detailed response. Sorry I didn’t read all of the provided materials before asking my questions. It seems you were repeating yourself a lot answering me. Also, please forgive my lack of communication, I’ve been out of an internet connection for a few weeks and have to write from restaurants and at work.
Can we clarify what an RBE is in the film and how it stands a part from communism, because i thought they were similar if not the same thing. Possibly when the system is being explained to Ben he can ask “like Communism?” the explainer can that correct him, giving the viewer a chances to learn the difference.
I have to commend you again, Harold, you are doing excellent work with this project and it is coming together really well. The writing is so detailed and developed already and you are many steps ahead of where I thought we were.
Thanks for scrapping the duck scene! Can we include a bit about animal rights and welfare? How we’ve made peace with the animal kingdom and no longer exploit them for our selfish or traditional desires. We have learned so much from studying how they prosper and survive instead of studying what makes them suffer and die, like science in loving animal testing.
I do like the part about people still wanting to cook for others despite the ability of technology to do it for you. Its kind of like hitting a sweater by hand for family member. We should keep that.
From now on should I post to the Sandbox instead of here? Is it too much for you to bounce between the pages.
How do we solve the religion issue?
Has anyone suggested how the gap was bridged? What was the turning point in the last 100 years? What did it take to push the culture so far? My guess it that an advancement in technology that makes all energy free. This will allow people to retire early or enroll in higher education which had become public (free-or paid for via taxes) like elementary, middle, and high school. This caused a resurgence in education and creativity, a neo-renaissance. An explosion of great ideas spread rapidly across the world coming from individuals of all different backgrounds and intellect.
Also, the drug war has ended. Giving citizens the choice to expand their consciousnesses with entheogenic assistance helping reconnect the species with nature and observe and evaluate their culture critically without the ego, helping the progression of our evolution, as Terrance McKenna spoke about.
I need to get back to work. I’ll write more responses to your questions and more answers to my own as soon as I get the chance.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop,
-Andrew
PS: This might be better for an editor’s note but…
What do you think of Jack Johnson’s cover of John Lennon’s Imagine for the ending credit roll? I hear it last night at immediately connected it to this. Not sure about royalties or permission but that song/version would be perfect for this film, IMO.
January 13, 2012 at 1:29 am
Too many typos! So sorry. I had to pump this out at work, between making smoothies and cleaning – one handed – sprained my good one last night skating home from work. More later… Peace!
December 19, 2011 at 4:21 am
Nice framework so far. I can already see interesting comparisons to Futurama, some South Park episodes, Avatar to a certain extent, etc.
I don’t know if it would be feasible, but perhaps show the world from Ben’s perspective right before he is frozen. That’s one of the staples of this particular kind of story arc that I’ve noticed. It might not be necessary, but it would help define the character. Alternatively, you could flashback to his experiences in the traditional world in order to compare and contrast the major differences as he sees them when he encounters new ways of doing things or new thought paradigms.
Good luck and thanks for all of your effort!
December 20, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Oh yes, we will show Ben’s previous life. I’m thinking both in the beginning and as some flashbacks…
December 18, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I think it’s very important not to draw an “Utopia”. Show problems of tomorrow that are still not solved. There will be still dispute and not everything can be abundant (at least not for now and not in the potential viewers mind).
There will be still religion, still different cultures and traditions, even if the system changed into a rational one.
December 18, 2011 at 10:56 pm
I agree with you completely.
December 17, 2011 at 4:33 pm
I think we should should make sure we don’t demonize him for his decisions in the monetary system. The general attitude, from other characters, should be one of compassionate education. Though, if there were to be one or two characters who really dissagreed with his past actions and cause him trouble, that could create another good plot point. What that trouble would be, is up for discussion.
Maybe one of the people who disagrees with his past is one of his family members, but we don’t know that until the problem resolves.
December 17, 2011 at 11:53 am
Like a Howard the Duck story, trapped in a world he didn’t create.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_the_Duck
Howard the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973) and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, “funny animal” trapped on human-dominated Earth. Howard’s adventures are generally social satires, while a few are parodies of genre fiction with a metafictional awareness of the medium. The book is existentialist, and its main joke, according to Gerber, is that there is no joke: “that life’s most serious moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often distinguishable only by a momentary point of view.”[1] This is diametrically opposed to screenwriter Gloria Katz, who in adapting the comic to the screen declared, “It’s a film about a duck from outer space… It’s not supposed to be an existential experience”.[
December 17, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Cool! I’ll check it out.
December 17, 2011 at 1:30 am
I really like the idea of Ben struggling with his old values, trying to adapt to this new way of living, and step by step debunking his lacking understanding of how society can and does function in an RBE. To me, the existential crisis is the most interesting part. Realizing that he was only a product of his environment and that he became so ruthless because he played a game well, but that it turned out the game was playing him, that it wasn’t his fault. Though repenting in the sense of wanting to be forgiven by his immediate family sounds plausible, even if it’s ultimately mostly for himself, as they would likely already have accepted that.
I think it would only be natural for such a “wake-upper” to want to find his old family, and RBE people having an understanding for this. It depends on when the shift to RBE proper was realized, how long it took, how many generations have lived in that paradigm. But I don’t think people would lack that sense of empathy, even if they haven’t experienced a nuclear family themselves. To me it’s quite hard to imagine what a person having grown up with parents having already adjusted to the new value system, what they would be like. What would their flaws even be? If they’re well fed, taught to think critically and skeptically, love to learn, trust people really easily, being experienced in all worlds cultures and continents. That’s why I’m mostly interested in the personal journey of Ben, trying to detach from his old understandings through trial and error, through his own investigation. That’s what I think a lot of people could grab on to. Him blossoming from an initially unsympathetic man to one who can feel freed in this new way of thinking. Also it seems like a big challenge to paint a plausible picture of how relationships would be. Why would it be hard to find your descendants? Wouldn’t people still have last names? A DNA bank doesn’t seem too outrageous. Historical records conglomerated and accessible from anywhere in the world.
Maybe it could be interesting to see how our current way of living has caused a lot of damage, maybe even irreparably, like most of the planet now being tropical, or see levels having risen severely. But at the same time also look at what were in his, and the viewers eyes, some of the more disastrous places in terms of the extremes of what humans can be made to do, if only given the improper or lacking any structure, and look at how they’ve adapted or are still adapting to the new values.
Hope I’ve given you valuable food for thought.
December 17, 2011 at 1:41 am
Maybe the ruthless business man makes for a more dramatic turn, but I feel it would aid my connection with the character if there is already a sympathetic side to the man. What person who would watch this would think of themselves as ruthless?
I do think there is value in being stuck in a rut, even if monetarily successful, maybe he does care for his wife and child, but justifies his time away from them by wanting to give them more material goods, more security, maybe he made some decisions because there were no other options that his career or maybe social situation would allow for? The trap of thinking the system works because it works for you is a good one to emphasize though, I think. Maybe he’s just very obsessed with his profession, one that has no value in an RBE, or no use at least, thinking that it does the world some good, or at least he feels like a “contributor” to society, even though in hindsight that wasn’t the most accurate perception. He doesn’t have to be purely ego driven.
December 17, 2011 at 1:49 am
Maybe a copyright lobbyist, or a computer (national) security specialist (RBE would have little to secure if it’s for everyone’s benefit and keeping secrets is no longer deemed progressive or sustainable). Or maybe a military weapons engineer.
Defending whatever is deemed essential to keeping this system going, like whatever ostensibly creates jobs, a union worker? I’m just ranting here, maybe someone else can come up with a better suggestion.
December 17, 2011 at 12:55 pm
You mean as a profession for Ben? I think ‘businessman’ works very well, and one high up in the system can work even better. But yes, the audience needs to ‘feel for’ the guy, so to portray him with a ‘good heart’ is essential I think. A good heart shrouded by the mindset his family and the system has planted in him.
Thanks for your input! I am taking not of it.
December 17, 2011 at 12:42 am
It’s just a thought ….but in some ways the most interesting and exciting aspect of this film is ‘all’ in his initial discovery and adjustment to life in this very different system…but I wonder if that adjustment would even take very long ! Perhaps the film should just concentrate it’s story on the amazing differences he will be discovering in those first few days or weeks after waking up, rather than perhaps trying to make a story that covers his new life for months or even years.
December 17, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Yes, I’m actually thinking the film does take place within the first few months of his awakening.
December 17, 2011 at 12:42 am
it sounds great, make it happen!
December 17, 2011 at 12:00 am
Go for it. I like the idea.