Our Story
The Dream is a short film about going against the normal, rational, way of thinking. It is film about that feeling in your gut when you know something is right but you cannot explain why. It’s about pursuing dreams and following flights of fancy. It is about going wild.
It is based on The Dream, one of the tales from the "Arabian Nights" (or The Tales of the Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales which was compiled around the 10th Century). Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad the Sailor are some other famous examples.
The story also bears similarities to the English folk tale The Swaffham Tinker.
But, our version brings in elements of Ancient Egypt, arcane magick, Beefeaters and human / bird mutants.
Synopsis
Tristan is a middle-aged country boy who is down on his luck – no money, no job and no girl. One night a voice in a dream tells him to find his fortune in London.
The next day Tristan travels to The Capital and seeks out the ancient monuments – Cleopatra’s Needle, The London Stone and the Tower of London and tries to figure out if they are linked to his fortune-finding. Exhausted, Tristan falls asleep in a bandstand in a London park.
That night Tristan is abducted by a Beefeater and her avian minions and imprisoned in a medieval cell. Days later the Beefeater releases Tristan, telling him how ridiculous it was for him to come to London on the basis of a dream. Unwittingly, she unlocks the secret to the discovery of the treasure prophesied in the dream.
Our Dream
The theme of dreams runs through the whole film and will influence everything from the locations to the props, the lighting, sound and editing. The characters of the Three Ravens and the Beefeater will add a particularly surreal element to the film. The Ravens will be portrayed by human actors dressed in bird masks and black capes. The bandstand scenes will be filmed at night using lots of smoke machines and strobe lighting to give them a surreal and nightmarish feel.
Music and sound design will be an important part of the film. The centrepiece will be an improvised cello solo created by Megan Affonso (who also plays the character of the Beefeater). Megan has been playing the cello for 15 years, has completed a music scholarship and has played at the Proms alongside Yo-Yo Ma.
The montage scenes where Tristan is wandering around the landmarks of London will be an opportunity to inject some humour into the film. We will film real tourists posing for photographs and admiring the monuments while Tristan (portrayed by Adrian Annis) behaves very strangely and tries to communicate with the statues through telepathy. We hope to capture the odd looks and confusion on their faces as they notice him.
What We Need & What You Get
We need $2000 to make the film. This will pay for the actors fees, locations, crew, sound and editing.
We have a finished script, actors and crew lined up but we just need the money to pay them.
This film is completely self funded by the Director. If we don't raise the full amount then the film will take that much longer to make as we have to raise the money, do a day's shooting and then have a break while we raise some more.
We have some great perks lined up for investors including props from the film and a mention in the credits.
About The Director
Adam Aiken is an animator and film-maker who has been making short films for the last 10 years. His films and animations have been shown at many film festivals in Europe and beyond.
Recently Adam was selected to attend Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School, an experience which changed the path of his film-making career forever.
The Dream is Adam's first "proper" live action film, having directed many animated and non-narrative films in the past. It is a statement of intent for projects to come.
To view Adam's previous work, please visit his website: http://cargocollective.com/adamaiken
