In September 2003 a friend tipped me off that Discovery Channel was looking for 30-minute documentary ideas from untested filmmakers. He suggested I submit a brief outline and try my chances. Winning entries would be granted a production team and a $25,000 budget to realize the project. I just re-read this proposal from 9 years ago and decided it was worth preserving as a blogpost. Even with a $250,000 budget I no longer have the stamina to do stuff like this. But if any young filmmaker who chances upon this would like to pick up on it....
Preliminary outline
Water is one of the five
elements that constitute life as we know it.
No one can agree on what the
fifth element is: the Chinese consider metal as the fifth element while Hindus
say it is akasha, the ether. Recently, there has even been a
suggestion that the fifth element is LOVE. But everyone accepts that Fire, Air,
Water, and Earth are the elemental constituents of all life on this planet.
Fire is associated with Energy,
represented in the Tarot deck by Wands and in the modern deck by Clubs. Air is
Communication, represented by the Sword of Intellect in the Tarot and Spades in
the secular deck. Earth is Material Wealth, represented as Pentacles in the
Tarot and Diamonds in the modern deck.
Water is Emotion, represented
by Cups and by Hearts.
Some astrologers say that on the
vernal equinox of March 20, 2001, we finally entered the Age of Aquarius,
symbolized by the Water-Bearer. Yet scientists have recently warned that water
shortages may be a potential cause of violent conflict in the 21st century.
Water – in all its forms and moods and guises – is the
main character of my proposed ‘alchemical docu-poem.’ Water in its literal and
metaphorical aspects, as the source of life and the spring of our emotions:
water is a liquid analogy for the entire gamut of feelings we experience – from
mirthful playfulness to unmitigated rage, from transcendental serenity to
violent agitation and profound sorrow. A few years ago I wrote a polemical
tract which succinctly summarizes the poetic perspective I intend to translate
into moving images and sounds:
Humility means acknowledging how
little we know about the universe; and humility comes from realizing that
nature’s beauty and mystery are worth infinitely more than our perverse
obsession with illusory fame and fortune. Being able to breathe clean, fresh
air and admire the distant hills every day may not get us into the Guinness Book of World Records or the Who's Who of the Banana Republics ‑ but it
will certainly get us closer to regaining heaven on earth. So stop midway
through this frantic and futile feast of fools and look up at the ethereal
clouds in the sky, and remember why we chose to be born on this exquisite and
unique gem of a planet. Was it to puff
ourselves up with toadish pompousness and amass a hoard of dragon's gold we
could never bequeath to our grandchildren? Because our grandchildren would be
too busy turning into cockroaches, rats and other lifeforms that can survive or
even thrive in ugly and polluted environments.
Or did we come here to
experience the separation of matter from spirit, and to learn how they can be
harmoniously fused again? For this lesson would teach us that the outer
reflects the inner.
Where there is drought in the
external reality, it means our souls are parched of feelings, love has dried
up. Where there are landslides and flash floods, it means our integrity is
decaying and our emotions are murky and raging out of control, bursting the
banks of tranquility. And where the air is thick with greasy crud and black
with factory soot, it means our thoughts are indecent (i.e., mechanical,
pornographic) and our spirit is exhausted.
The Aquarius Project will
address the issue of modern technology indirectly, by demonstrating the
intimate relationship between murky emotions and contaminated waterways. Humans
and human activities play a supporting rôle in the fluid narrative which will
favor the non‑verbal over the verbal ‑ although a certain amount of language
will be used to help shape the form and intent of the flow. The sad state of
human emotions in an industrialized landscape is revealed in our clogged and
polluted streams, many of which have undergone the indignity of being turned
into drains and sewers.
Only when absolutely needed will
a voiceover be used. However, text will feature as an aural and visual element
in the narrative, which will alternate between linearity and non‑linearity.
This could happen as bits of spoken dialog, as recitations, as song, or as
direct interviews with the poet-documentator and others.
I
envisage working independently with a digital videocam as well as with a
professional crew to achieve a balance between the intimacy and immediacy of an
experimental short feature and the technical polish and authority of a
conventional documentary. As a musician, I look forward to creating part of the
soundtrack for specific sequences, and using library music and live sound for
others.
TENTATIVE CHECKLIST OF
REQUIRED FOOTAGE:
- Lots of generic water shots: cloud formations, dewdrops on leaves, cascading falls, ripples on lakes and ponds, reflections in puddles, slomo sequences of watery movement, torrential downpour, drizzle, dripping faucet, lawn sprinklers, bathroom showers, wet umbrellas, raincoats, flash floods, muddy rivulets, aquarium sequences, rolling breakers, shimmering seas, speedboat wakes, etc.
- Whitewater rafters, kayakers, rubber‑tubers, waterskiers, fishermen, boaters, swimmers, kids in rivers, swimming pool sequences, bodysurfers, public urinals, sewage outlets, effluent pipes, drainpipes, monsoon drains, abandoned wells, gutters, stagnant ponds, poisoned streams, sanitation workers, laundrywomen, aquatic flora and fauna, pedestrians caught in thunderstorm, industrial carwash, glass & concrete urban gvs.
- Archival footage or stills of severe drought (Afghanistan), destructive floods (China, Bangladesh), famine (Biafra), pestilence (Kosovo, Cambodia), street riots (Indonesia), massacres (East Timor), massive catatastrophes (Kobe, Gujarat), destitution and suffering (Iraq, Sierra Leone), poverty and neglect (Chennai, Chow Kit).
- General footage of industrial activity, environmental degradation, deforested hills, dust storms, physical and metaphysical desolation.
- Celebrants and mourners: candid portraits of emoting humans (can either be original footage or culled from magazines, photo albums, libraries, etc.)
My preferred approach to cooking
is to select and prepare the ingredients, look up the recipes of a few tried‑and‑tested
dishes ‑ and then leave it to inspiration (and the random factor) to integrate
and synthesize the elements, trusting that my artistic instincts will
unerringly guide me to making the right decisions. This could prove a chaotic
and messy process, but having emerged from a commercial background where artistic
self‑indulgence must always concede to entertaining, stimulating and
captivating the audience ‑ and being, incidentally, a Capricornian with a
hardwired sense of internal order ‑ I have full confidence that I can come up
with an immensely watchable and memorable 26‑minute docu‑poem that's
aesthetically more adventurous than the straightforward documentary, but still
accessible to a mass audience.
I began using a box camera at the age of 6 or 7 and have
been an avid photographer most of my life. In the 1970s I had the use of a
Super 8 cinecamera and made several experimental home movies which, alas, have
all succumbed to the ravages of climate and time. Although I have yet to own a
digital videocam, I've handled them occasionally with wholly satisfactory results.
I'd like to buy or borrow a decent digital videocam so that I can gather
special footage unobtrusively and at my own leisure ‑ leaving the betacam
sequences to more experienced professionals. As such, I'd like to be writer, co‑camera‑operator,
editor and director on The Aquarius Project ‑ but would greatly
appreciate the logistical support of a competent production house.
[First posted 10 August 2012, reposted 3 May 2017]
