REMNANTS is a film that will explore the rise
and fall of one of the most extraordinary
civilisations of pre-history: the Megalithic. In
one of the longest continuous cultural
developments ever known, for nearly 3000 years a people
with no written language constructed some of the
most enduring monuments in the world - standing
stones and stone circles. Having been dismissed
for centuries as little more than illiterate
barbarians by much of academia, research in the
20th century by a handful of persistent
investigators has revealed these monuments to be
not only amongst the most mysterious, but
perhaps the most profound. For in them it may be
that the very foundations of science can be
discovered.
Little is known about this civilisation.
Its people have all but vanished without trace. All that
is left are their remnants, and they too, in the
crush of ‘progress’ are disappearing. Given that
in comparative terms the megalithic peoples were
masters of technology, their demise is all the
more sobering. As the debate rages over global
warming, peak oil and the fragility of the world
economic system, REMNANTS will allow audiences
to ponder that such challenges to the continued
existence of specific cultures is nothing new.
History has proven repeatedly that no civilisation can last indefinitely. Mankind’s
attempts to immortalise itself have been futile
undertakings. Our current technologically based
civilisation finds itself at this same juncture.
Is it not unlikely that we shall share the same
fate?
Shot
in motion controlled timelapse, and set only to
a music score, REMNANTS
will be a film that will capture the essence and
austere beauty of these amazing constructions,
suggest and reveal their purposes, and pose
important and disturbing questions about our own
contemporary position.
Sunset at Ring of Brodgar, Orkney Islands
Nightscape at Ring of Brodgar, Orkney Islands
Project
Background
REMNANTS began life
life as a short, black +
white timelapse IMAX film. Over the course of several years,
having travelled widely, shooting stills and
editing video-storyboards for the project,
it developed into a feature
length (40 min.) production.
Despite
many technological advances in the medium, IMAX
productions themselves nevertheless tended to retain traditional
educational and science based structures, against which
REMNANTS, without a narration, was still something of a rarity,
planned principally as an 'experiential' film, as popularised by the
works of Ron Fricke and Godfrey Reggio.
In 2007 I approached all 11 large
format theatres in the UK with a DVD and
treatment for REMNANTS to gauge the reaction to the idea
of producing a solely UK based film, itself another rarity, with
only two British films produced in IMAX to date. From this
effort emerged the ANCIENT SKIES planetarium project and my involvement with
SKY-SKAN, Glenn Smith and the Fulldome format.
As developments in the IMAX and large format film industry
proceeded, and shifted increasingly to digital, it became clear
that 15 perf. / 65mm film as an originating medium was simply
out of the question, both logistically
and financially. Embracing the new digital SLR camera technology
I undertook 60 days of location shooting between March 2008 and
September 2009, photographing both fisheye imagery for ANCIENT
SKIES and flat lens for REMNANTS at maximum RAW resolution.
In March
of 2008 I
was invited to show some of this work at the
Bradford International Film Festival as part
of their 'Widescreen Weekend' event. Culling
ten minutes of the best flat lens material into a showreel entitled EMPIRE OF STONE, a custom
2k render at 2.35:1 aspect ratio was built by
Alex Hibbitt of
Arts Alliance Media. Shown on
the Pictureville Theatre's giant 70mm screen
the results were breathtaking - matching,
and often exceeding, the quality of 5 perf. 70mm ,
despite the fact the render utilised only a
little over half the frame information.
It was clear that the successor to large format
film had arrived, and would provide the means of
producing what I had always planned - a giant
screen, experiential film.
And
as digital is so versatile, it also became clear
that once an edit project had been built, it could be
adapted and rendered out at any resolution,
aspect ratio and length required, for any
market. 2k digital projection, IMAX Digital, BluRay, HDTV and standard broadcast versions are
all possible, enabling a very wide distribution
potential.
Project
Status
98% of
the principal photography for REMNANTS is now complete. Just two
shots remain.
The planned running time of the film is approx.
28 mins., though, as detailed above, is highly
adaptable to distribution and market
requirements.
Eight year veteran TANGERINE DREAM member Thorsten Quaeschning
has, to my delight, agreed to write and perform
the original soundtrack.
