‘Lucid dreaming’ is when one is aware they are dreaming, it is also the title of the Korsakow film from 2011 I studied. In lucid dreaming, the dreamer has a greater sense of participation and may be able to somewhat control their experiences within the dream. They are described as ‘vivid and realistic’. In this Korsakow film, dreams and nightmares were explored in a simple interface lay out.
The simplicity of the interface is what drew me in with this Korsakow film. There are only two options to click; dark or light. They are two polar opposites and the videos that follow resonate with this. Click the black background image and you are taken to a short clip resembling a nightmare, click the white background image and you are taken to a short clip resembling a warm, comforting dream. Using this interface is like travelling through a series of lucid dreams; you don’t know what you’re going to get, or what it will be about however you participate by choosing light or dark, relaxing or chaotic. The two buttons are in the lower two corners, opposite ends of the clip that currently plays. They swap sides with every click, so the light dreams are on the bottom right and the next clip they are the bottom left. This highlights the erratic nature of lucid dreams.
After clicking the light square, a short clip will be played with content that is warm and calming. There are clips of a family on the beach, a grassy meadow, a child running through a forrest and so on. For me, many of them triggered memories as they were general enough to relate to a wide range of people. And for me, not just any memories, but childhood memories that seem almost if they were a dream now. The pier reminded me of fishing with my uncle on the Mornington Peninsula. The child running through the forest reminded me of a time I slept over at an old friend’s house on the top of Mount Macedon and we carved our names into trees in the forest there. All these clips use minimal camera movement, or slow movements to enhance the calming atmosphere. Soft and dainty music can be heard over selected clips, the tune different every time, whilst other clips only use diegetic sound such as waves crashing on the shore. It is reminiscent of sounds you hear during a yoga class or at a spa/salon. The colours used in the clips are pastel and warm colours, again fitting in with the theme. All of the light button clips convey a sense of warmth and comfort and are easy to watch on repeat.
As a complete opposite, the black button clips are unsettling to watch. They resemble the nightmares within dreams and live up to the name. There are clips of lonely warehouses, cob webs, figures in the dark and hands bashing on doors. Some of these also triggered memories for me. The figure wrapped in a sheet creeping up on the camera in the dark reminded me of how I was afraid to open my eyes at night in a certain period in my childhood because I was afraid someone would be standing next to my bed. Some of these clips were edited in a fast paced way to create a sense of chaos within the ‘dream’. To enhance that, the camera movements were also fast and shaky. There were sounds of banging whilst grieving was hear off camera somewhere and complete silence as figures creeped around. The colours used were dark and grey. Altogether the clips were not comfortable to watch and you would rather stop them half way and click the light button.
A pattern through out the clips was focus. Shots were constantly pulled in and out of focus, either creating a sense of disorientation or a soft fuzzy warmth, depending on how it was used. This out of focus also made the clips seem like a forgotten memory and very dreamlike. All the clips seemed to be as if I was looking through someone else’s eyes. The focus and the point of view style shots combined to create the feeling of being in a dream, and this was the pattern through out all the clips. This pattern of being in a dream and the interface, joins to create a travel through lucid dreams in the form of a Korsakow film.
The film is experimental. It tells no narrative nor does it have any story. It is merely poetic, with a bunch of clips that are tied together by their pattern. The bunch of clips challenges the viewer, triggering memories, both good and bad. It creates a need for order, How do all the clips tie in? Do they? I think by watching these clips in random orders a story could be built upon the random order. Piece by piece, these clips could structure a character having the dreams, their darkest fears, their happiest moments. Although there is no true narrative or story in the Korsakow film, one could be built with the audience’s participation.
