Concepting & Storyboarding

sanctuary

Based on the Dancing Plague of 1518

An original dance-film to be created at a historic site as an artistic investigation of themes like sanctuary, refuge and empathy.

Schedule

Pre-production: Begin late 2024
Concept/rehearse: Begin early 2025
Production: October 2025
Post-production: Late October 2025

Abstract

A small group of survivors of societal breakdown seeks refuge from an environment overtaken by madness and brutality. They find a boarded up church with a unique warning on the door, which they ignore: what they find inside seems like sanctuary, but they soon discover something more dangerous than what they escaped.

Time-of-day Photos

The following photos represent the view of the sanctuary from the upstairs balcony, at different times of day. This section will be updated with addt’l images, e.g. dusk, dawn, night.

*The west-side circular stained glass window has temporary plywood, and the east-side has plastic sheeting: this means that light is temporarily restricted on the east side, most noticeable in evening images of the room. Meanwhile, the mid-day images show a less-warm light due to the temporary plastic sheeting on the upper east-side circular opening.

Both circular stained glass windows are due to be installed in September, which will give a more thorough and picturesque, colorful light in the room.

9:00 A.M.

1:00 P.M.

DRAFT SEQUENCING

Below is an abridged summary, followed by a much more detailed current draft. (Also included: a Kate Bush video, because Kate Bush.)

Sequencing UNABRIDGED

EXT CHURCH – AFTERNOON

Approach

Vintage Toyota LandCruiser approaches old church, parking in hectic manner with vehicle jumping curb. Small group of VISITORS wear weathered “protective” clothing and steampunk type goggles. Clothing and body language make VISITORS appear gender-neutral, possibly male.

Radio / 1518

Seated in vehicle with windows up, VISITORS observe a spray-pained message on a plywood board covering the main entrance door: apparently, Roman numerals that VISITORS interpret to indicate AM-1518 is the designated frequency for refugee messages about this location. VISITORS turn crank on self-powered radio, adjusting frequency dial to AM-1518. VISITORS hear only a “strobing” static sound, almost like a doppler-effect where the static repeatedly rises and falls in mechanical way.

Exit Vehicle

Deciding the 1518 frequency no longer broadcasts anything, VISITORS open doors of vehicle to exit. As the doors on each side of vehicle open, we hear an oppressive TBD sound like a siren, with similar “doppler” or strobing qualities like the radio static.

Enter Church

As VISITORS exit vehicle and close doors, we hear VO of a recorded message begin to play. [VISITORS don’t hear this, as they exited vehicle and closed doors.] The VO warning message plays as VISITORS approach church entrance and remove plywood. VISITORS enter church and close its door behind them.

NOTES – AUDIO1

AUDIO1 is looped recording (warning message, referenced in later sections on this page.) TBD whether warning message is read in English or a more universal and ancient language, such as Latin or Arabic, which would of course require subtitles to play for the VIEWERS to understand the message content.

INT. CHURCH FOYER – AFTERNOON

As VISITORS make their way into church foyer, they cautiously celebrate the sanctuary they have found from the chaos outside. They are on alert for potential threats but there is a welcome quiet and tranquility, in stark contrast to the oppressive visuals/audio outside.

What appears to be the “main sanctuary” space at the top of the foyer is covered by cardboard and newspaper. [TBD whether the cardboard and newspaper is applied on the inside or outside of the sanctuary window.] The VISITORS do not attempt to remove or peek through the cardboard and newspaper covering the glass; rather, they look to the right and see stairs leading upward, and they go in this direction.

The stairs the VISITORS ascend go up to the second-floor pews, where they stare at each other in relief and exhaustion after finding some peace. Ultimately, they settle in and get some sleep in a side room upstairs.

NOTES — EARLY MOVEMENTS

Possible to explore TBD movement gestures as precursors to more developed versions of the gestures in later scenes.]

NOTES — BALCONY vs OTHER SPACES

When Amy and Erin explored some spaces for use in the establishing scenes, we discussed how it may be useful for all co-creators to explore and note all 2-3 different paths that physically lead to/from the main sanctuary of the Hermitage, to determine which ones are best for the different types of “travel” the VISITORS and HOSTS may use. Which ones are the most interesting, visually. Which ones can be used to explore the basement area, which may be a component of the flashback scenes involving the HOSTS first arrival to the space. Etc.

For example, it may make more sense to the narrative to the have the VISITORS turn RIGHT when they enter the foyer and see the cardboard and newspaper on the sanctuary glass, because the path to the right leads to the “bedrooms” on the east side of the church. This may be interesting because it avails the opportunity for the VISITORS to find “clues” that others have been in this space: others who they will soon to discover in the main sanctuary (aka the HOSTS.)

Whatever paths are decided by co-creators for characters to travel, from the first entrance, to the basement sections and flashbacks, until the very end… these sequencing notes can be updated to reflect the actual paths.

Story Element:

A Warning

At the beginning of the piece, when the visitors pull up to the church, they see a boarded up door with cryptic lines/dashes spray-painted on it: it’s a radio frequency (AM 1518) that broadcasts a recurring warning message, at five-minute intervals. The visitors wind up their radio and tune in, hearing a break in static but no message. They exit vehicle, message starts playing.

Theme:

Dancing Plague

From an article on Medium.com:

In the sweltering summer of 1518, in the French city of Strasbourg, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into the street and began to dance. Not the kind of dancing you’d see at your cousin’s wedding after six glasses of champagne, though honestly that would have been strange enough. No, this was a feverish, uncontrolled movement that continued for days on end.

Contemporary accounts describe Troffea’s movements as wild and erratic: arms flailing, body twisting, feet stomping with no discernible rhythm. Her face contorted in what witnesses described as a mixture of pain and ecstasy. Most disturbingly, she couldn’t stop. When exhaustion overtook her, she would collapse, only to rise again and continue her macabre performance once she had regained minimal strength.

Click to read more

Also see: A Plague of Sleep and Silence

Story Elements:

Too far in

Right now – in the world we live in – it can be tempting to find a comforting place (sanctuary) and to blockade yourself inside the serene shelter. To go deeper and get truly stuck: there can be danger in going too far inside, retreating too far from the outside layers of existence (reality). This is why the visual representation of the exterior world, outside the church, could be done with a post-apocalyptic perspective. And it’s why the interior (sanctuary) can be represented in contrast to the outside world: it’s comforting and beautiful. And it may be why the lower levels, basement etc., are starkly harsh and without color/hue… it’s too deep.

ADDITIONALLY we could draw on themes re. theories that the world actually ended sometime between 2012-2017, and the majority of people “shifted” to a different dimension, while others are still trying to survive in the decaying remnants of the destroyed reality we once knew. This originates with CERN super-colliders having triggered some quantum/quark particles to split between their positive and negative quarks. YES it sounds crazy AF but it’s super interesting: there’s even a theory tracing it all back to the murder of Harambe.

Visual Elements:

Filming

EXT ideas

• Tilt shift on opening
• Compositing for ext?
• Or just WB and smoke bombs?

INT ideas

• Same model cameras sideXside during pivotal moment for instantaneous fps transition mid take (a la Blackhawk Down)

Audio Elements:

Music

Whoever creates the music, whatever it is, and however it is made, we should be cognizant of the moments during filming when big audio changes are needed, big moments. We will be planning out the stillness and crescendos in advance, and acquiring music that fits our movement score (this means filming and dance, both). Rather than fitting the filming and dance into a pre-established form.

Also here’s a real link to new expunk music.

Visual Elements:

Light/Color

• Radical lighting changes after a while of setting expectations, out of nowhere
• Lighting changes can include quick bright/dark over several seconds, or strobe
• Right to left when first going inside, left to right when shit gets real
• Model int/ext lighting in 3D software and/or AI of photos, intentionality
• Rules: pick a few and stick with them throughout, while breaking others

Strobing effects can be powerful for peak moments when slightly over cranked. While the following clip shows a tutorial for still photography, the models are seen in video clips documenting the still-image process: it’s an effect that could translate to film, if done for film: it’s a jump-off point to see if we can come up with something new and even more interesting, based on these raw ingredients.

Visual Elements:

Strobing Peaks

Below is a video about strobing, something we tested with Amy at Hyatt’s using John’s big strobes at the old warehouse office off Bridge. But we just took stills, this is about finding something new to say with strobes and movement.

Visual Elements:

Photo/Film

If face/head stays ‘still’ while dancer is standing, moving arms (see photos) could VIDEO capture this effect by removing blocks of frames in consistent increments for a few seconds? Assuming the rest of the room and the rest of the dancer’s body wasn’t also transitioning or moving through space.

Visual Elements:

Basement

Basement: Night of the Hunter

It might be compelling to consider the looks that are created in The Night of the Hunter. Click to learn more about how this film was shot, it’s really interesting and goes to the importance of process and innovation: they needed to draw on existing and logistical limitations to create something better, that enhances the storytelling.

Deprecated: Mannequins

Note: the idea involving mannequins may be less compelling than the Dancing Plague concept, so mannequins may not be involved, or involved less, ultimately? Anyways, immediately below is the original treatment

EXT. CHURCH – AFTERNOON

Vintage Toyota LandCruiser approaches old church, parking in hectic manner, stopping vehicle on curb. Figures inside vehicle turn the crank on a small box (AM radio) then adjust its dials, finally setting the box on the dash. The figures emerge from vehicle wearing protective clothing and rag-tag gas masks; they remove a board on the door that is covered with spray painted numbers.

INT. CHURCH – AFTERNOON

The visitors make their way into foyer of church, celebrating the sanctuary they have found from the chaos outside: they ultimately go up to the second floor pews, where they settle in and get some sleep.

TRANSITION

Time-lapse of sun traveling from outside the large stained-glass window.

INT. CHURCH – LATE NIGHT

in the evening with the light of the moon coming into the space, the visitor(s) notice a half dozen “people” seated but motionless in the pews. The visitors drop to the ground, shocked to realize that they had dropped their guard upon arriving to the space. They make their way downstairs to investigate and secure the area.

The rest of this sequence needs to be worked out, i.e. mannequins vs. dance flu. But either dynamic presents the tension. Lots of dramatic moments with music. Leading to the visitors attempting to take refuge in the ‘basement’ area, which is represented in black-and-white noir because it’s a null area, representing nothingness.