A Virulent Catharsis by Syed Hasan Abbas

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Fear. A sketch by Syed Hasan Abbas

VIRULENT CATHARSIS

A STORY OF FEAR AND POWER

STRUCTURES

Faculty of Fine Arts, Music, and Design KMD

MA in Visual Communication Design

University of Bergen, UiB

Author: Syed Hasan Abbas

Supervisor: Dóra Ísleifsdóttir

Second supervisor: Åse Huus

March 26, 2019

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can I use visual storytelling

to capture the essence of fear as

seen through the lens of metaphysics?

ABSTRACT

In my design project, I use visual storytelling to share

the essence of my fears in relation to power structures

in order to empathize with anyone who share the same

feelings.

Over the years I believe, our societies have transformed

into rigid power structures instead of co-evolving into

fluid socio-economic structures. In light of history and

my own point of view, one of such rigid power structures

is the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States,

which has been criticized by many for generating fortune

for a few powerful figures at the cost of inflicting

hardships on the general public. In the age of globalization,

I feel the worst impact of power structures are being

contained within the poorer parts of the world, such

as the volatile regions of the Middle East, and furthermore,

the people of such regions are increasingly facing

hostility when they seek refuge in richer parts of the

world. My fears in relation to power structures are not

necessarily with people in power, but with the general

public (myself) that I feel enables their power.

The theoretical foundation of my design project is based

in storytelling and metaphysics in order to visualize the

worst face of my fears in relation to the power structures.

The primary goal of my research for my design project

was to find a way to visualize the essence of fear as

close to how I feel it. For this purpose, I applied theories

based in metaphysics to my primary research methods,

i.e., animation and illustration.

In other words, I used animation and illustration to

engage my unconscious mind in order to visualize my

fears. In light of metaphysics, unconscious mind is the

deepest level of human consciousness that holds information

which is not readily available to the conscious

mind. During these experimentations, I used my personal

background of living in a hostile environment as part

of a minority, in order to evoke the most intense feelings

of fear in relation to power structures. Furthermore, I

used hermeneutical understanding as a process of elimination

to scale back my design project in the interest of

clarity, quality, and time.

I used my research findings to write a story and establish

a visual style for an animated film for my design

project.

A B S T R A C T

The main story of my animated film takes place inside

the unconscious mind of a MAN where he confronts his

archetypes that represents the essence of his fears in

relation to power structures.

There are two main socio-economic structures in the

main story, one is based on current global capitalistic

system, and the other one is based on sustainability

(see section: 1.2.6). However, the MAN fears centralized

power at the core of both socio-economic structures.

The result of the project is a six minute animated sequence,

which is part of the prologue of the main story.

I believe, in the age of globalization, more people from

different background are getting in close proximity to

each other, and the difference in background can often

lead to hostility towards one another, especially if those

difference are handled inappropriately by those in power.

Through my design project, I used visual storytelling

to introduce my feelings to anyone who might be caught

up in such a hostile environment in the interest of promoting

empathy and compassion.

Power structures. A sketch by Syed Hasan Abbas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10

1.1 Social/Cultural/Historical Relevance 11

1.2 Literature Review 16

1.2.2 The Red Book by Jung, C. G 17

1.2.3 Labyrinth by Jorge Luis Borges 22

1.2.4 The Hero with a Thousand Faces

by Joseph Campbell 24

1.2.4 The Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra 26

1.2.7 Summary of Literature Review 26

1.3 ROLE IN THE PROJECT 27

1.3.1 Personal Background/Motivation 27

1.3.2 Background/Motivation as a Designer 30

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 33

2.1 Objective 33

2.1.1 Research Question 33

2.2 Recipients 34

2.3 Research Methods 35

2.3.1 Engaging the Unconscious 36

2.3.2 Thumbnailing and Free Writing 36

2.3.3 Illustration 37

2.3.4 Hand-drawn Animation 37

2.3.5 3D Animation 38

2.4 Appraisal 38

2.5 Research 40

2.5.1 Thumbnails 40

2.5.2 Aaimation/Illustration 41

2.5.3 Free Writing 56

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN 58

3.1 Strategy 58

3.1.1 Intentions 58

3.1.2 Plans 58

3.1.3 Core values and qualities 60

3.2 Project 65

3.2.1 Pre-production 65

3.2.2 Production 79

3.2.3 Post-Production 120

3.3 Result 123

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 155

4.1 Reflections 155

BIBLIOGRAPHY 159

APPENDIX 161

A1: Prologue 165

A.2 Screenplay 167

A.3 Timeline 187

A.4 Backstory 188

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

My design project is a visual storytelling project

where I share my feelings of fear in relation to power

structures in order to empathize with anyone who

might feel the same way or establish an understanding

with anyone who might not feel the same, in an effort

to promote compassion. For my design project, I

developed a story and a visual style using theoretical

foundations in metaphysics and my educational/

professional background in Fine Arts, animation, and

illustration. And I used process of elimination based on

hermeneutical understanding to scale back the scope

of my design project in the interest of clarity, quality

and time. My approach to my design project is not as

much empirical but perhaps more shamanistic in order

to visualize my fears that, as an emotion, doesn’t have a

physical manifestation in the real world. And that is one

of the reasons storytelling is at the core of my project.

Storytelling has been used since ancient times, as I see

it, in order to understand concepts that require a bit

more than processing data, and logical thinking. Storytelling

uses metaphysics, which is a branch of philosophy

dealing with ideas and concepts that has little to no

basis reality, in order to build fantastical characters and

mythological worlds that corresponds to real life issues.

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ABBAS: VIRULENT CATHARSIS

For my design project I used real life issues such as the

negative impact of power structures, as I see it, and I

used fantastical characters to share my feelings of fear

in a mythological world of the unconscious mind.

I do not necessarily fear any power structure, but my

fears lie in the connection I see between power structures

and some of the world problems that concern me,

such as prevalence of war, refugee and immigration

crisis, and constant degradation of the environment. In

this paper, I am not presenting any statements on the

power structures or world problems as a matter of fact,

but I am simply presenting my point of views and interpretations

of the connections that I see between some of

the power structures and the world problems, in order

for the reader to understand where my feelings of fear

in relation to the power structures comes from.

1.1 SOCIAL/CULTURAL/HISTORICAL

RELEVANCE

In terms of social, cultural, or historical importance my

design project is concerned with the functions/dysfunctions

of power within established social and economic

structures.

I believe power is an extremely volatile phenomenon

CHAPTER 1: INTRODCUTION

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and if centralized within social structures, it can be

used to favor a small group of people over huge populations.

And as I see it, that is how social structures have

evolved over the years through globalization; instead of

growing as fluid sustainable structures, our social structures

are turned into rigid power structures.

The biggest power structures that frightens me is the

United States government and it’s privately owned

central bank, because I cannot find myself to ignore

the connections I see between these American power

structures and the majority of the world problems that

concern me.

The Federal Reserve Bank has been criticized, since

its inception, for serving the interests of few rich and

powerful man at the cost of inflicting hardships on the

public (Joseph, 2007, pp. 173-187).

Even the creation of the Bank is clouded with controversy.

The proposal to establish the Bank came up after

a market crash in 1907, which many men, who were

deeply involved in the inner-workings of government

financial sector, believed was trigged by powerful bankers

(Ibid.). And the bill that made possible for the Bank

to operate was drafted in extreme secrecy by bankers

and not law-makers (Ibid.)

Even though the Bank was sold to the public as a market

stabilizer, there had been numerous recessions since the

inception of the Federal Reserve Bank (Ibid.).

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Over the years, the Federal Reserve Bank and major financial

players/institutions associated with it, including

government officials serving in public offices, have also

been linked to the events that launched United States

into World War I and World War II (Joseph, 2007, pp.

200-217).

The United States entered the WWI and WWII after the

sinking of Lusitania ocean liner that were carrying 1200

civilians and the attack on United States naval base

Pearl Harbor, respectively. It has been speculated by

many that Lusitania was deliberately sent through the

warzone, despite the German embassy warning against

it (Ibid.). It has also believed that the attack on Pearl

Harbor was well known in advance and was allowed to

take place in order to garner support from the people of

the United States to enter WWII (Ibid.).

Whether the sinking of Lusitania and the attack on Pearl

Harbor was orchestrated or not, there is substantial

evidence that the bankers and other financial players

associated with the Federal Reserve Bank had financial

interests in both wars (Ibid.).

In the modern world, since the end of WWII, as I see

it, the warzone has moved to poorer parts of the world

such as the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa.

The people of this region are experiencing the worst

impact of power structures as they live with little to

no life or financial security on a daily basis (Ahmad,

2010; Milton-Edwards, 2017). These regions are being


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exploited by superpowers in the race to secure control

of 70% of the world’s energy resources that are situated

in the Middle East and the surrounding regions (Ibid.).

However, there is little to no effort in restoring the living

standards for the people of the exploited regions by the

superpowers once they withdraw (Milton-Edwards,

2017; Bew, 2010).

The common people of the Middle East, who usually do

not have any quarrels in the conflicts of their regions,

travel half way across the world to seek refuge, but in

the new lands they are usually met with hostility when

they are labeled as growing security threat (Milton-Edwards,

2017).

The common theme that I find between the issues that I

highlighted above is that people in power tend to subjugate

those who give them the power.

The events surrounding the Federal Reserve Bank and

world wars that I mentioned above, forces me to see

that the people in power need public approval to exercise

their power. That is probably the reason why I feel

they wanted to orchestrate the market crashes, or war

tragedies, in order to sway public opinion one way or

the other. I believe through market crashes they made

the public fear for their livelihoods and financial securities,

and through that fear they were able to establish

a bigger power structure than the market itself known

as the Federal Reserve Bank; and through war tragedies

they made the public upset enough to send their chil-

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dren to war. And through those wars, as I see it, those

powerful figures turned United States into a mega superpower

that a lot of nations would not go against. For

me that is a frightening level of centralized power.

My fear in relation to the power structures is not the

fear of the power structures or even the people in power,

but what frightens me is the people who give them

power, including myself.

Where there is harmony, there is also hostility.

Man live in one world. But he is divided

through imaginary borders, conflicting beliefs,

and self-conceived cultures.

The fear of the other is the fear of the unfamiliar.

The fear of the strange.

Man is now pushed into a horrible machine

of his own design that has alienated him

from his roots.

The resistance of Man to return to his roots

is because he is no longer familiar with it.

He fears the strange when he should fear

the familiar.

— A poem by the author, Syed Hasan Abbas


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1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature in metaphyiscs helped me build my theoretical

foundation for research through drawing, animation,

and writing.

The theoretical foundation that I established through

reading literature in metaphysics also helped me

position myself as an individual human being, people

around me as my community, and the interaction

between myself and my community as my perception of

the world around me.

A more clear positiong of myself, my community, and

my perceptions assisted me in establishing a better

understanding of my fears embedded in the power

structures.

1.2.1 OVERVIEW IN METAPHYSICS: THE

UNCONSCIOUS MIND

In his book The Hero With Thousand Faces, Joseph

Campbell describes the unconscious mind as mythological

realms that we carry with in.

In the field of psychology and metaphysics, the human

mind is believed to be a collection of three levels of consciousness:

conscious, subconscious, and unconscious.

The conscious mind is in direct contact with the world.

It is everything that we experience in the present. The

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subconscious mind stores information that doesn’t have

immediate use but can be accessed by the conscious

mind when the need arises. The unconscious mind is

where all life experience is stored but it is not readily

accessible to the subconscious or the conscious mind

(The Mind Unleashed, 2014).

For my design project, I shall focus mostly on the theories

of unconscious mind and how those theories can be

used to visualize the worst face of my fears.

1.2.2 THE RED BOOK by Jung, C. G.

The Red Book helped me establish my theoretical

foundation for research methods and apply Carl Jung’s

psychoanalytical theories on the main character of my

story for the animated film for my design project.

Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founded the field of

analytical psychology. The Red Book is a compilation of

Jung’s experiments in psychoanalytics. In The Red Book,

Jung takes us through analysis and findings of his experiments

with the unconscious mind, and in doing so, he

also provides an overview of unconscious mind, personas,

archetypes, and process of individuation among

countless other theories and hypothesis.

In the following sections, I am only discussing the theories

that I worked with in my design project.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIOMN

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(A) Confrontation with the unconscious

Jung experimented over thirty years where, in his

words, confronted his unconscious mind by pursuing

what he called his inner images, i.e., his dreams and

visions.

The idea behind his experiments, as he describes it in

The Red Book, was to get to the bottom of his inner

processes, to translate emotions into images, and to

grasp the fantasies which were stirring underground.

He called this process active imagination (Jung, 2009,

p. 202). Jung conducted these experiments in isolation

where he would speak to himself and waited for a

response from his unconscious mind. He described this

experience as speaking to his soul (Jung, 2009, p. 206).

He would record and analyze his conversations with his

soul; he interpreted symbols in his dreams and visions;

he made mandalas in order to visualize the information

bursting forth from his unconscious.

This style of experimentation, the confrontation with

the unconscious, became my primary research method

in developing concepts, story, characters, and even

visual style for the animated film as part of my design

project.

Jung divides the unconscious into two categories:

Personal unconscious – life experience

Collective unconscious – inherited

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(B) The personal unconscious

In light my interpretation of Jung’s concepts, personal

unconscious is built through life experiences; knowledge,

understandings, and events since our birth constitutes

the personal unconscious; everything that we

forget and is no longer accessible to the subconscious

or the conscious mind lies in the unconscious but it is

never completely lost (Jung, 2009, p. 208).

(C) The collective unconscious

I interpretrated Jung’s concept of collective unconscious

as the knowledge and experiences of everyone that

came before the person; it is inherited (Jung, 2009, p.

208).

I believe knowledge and experiences Jung is referring to

are hardwired primal instincts. Nevertheless, in the light

of Jung theories the unconscious mind is not just bound

to an individual but it also connected to the entire human

race. I interpreted collective unconscious as a spirit

that connects all human beings into one entity.

I applied this concept of human race as one entity to

the main character by making him an avatar for entire

human race as the spirit of mankind.

(D) The process of individuation

The process of individuation (Jung, 2009, p. 208), as I

understand it through Jung’s concepts, is a process of


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shedding bias developed through outside experience in

order to understand oneself; and shedding bias stemming

from within oneself in order to understand the

outside world.

In other words, in order to understand oneself and the

world, one has to be completely neutral and objective

deprived of any prejudices; the process of understanding

without any preconceived notions about the subject

is the process of individuation.

I used this Jungian concept to the character arc for the

main character of my story.

(E) Archetypes

In light of Jungian concepts, archetypes can be one

or mixture of many traits of an individual’s collective

consciousness such as great mother, father, child, devil,

god, wise old man, wise old woman, the trickster, and

the hero. Jung describes the two significant archetypes

as self (Jung, 2009, p. 245) and shadow (Jung, 2009, p.

289).

(i) Self

My interpretation of self is the persona of person as a

whole in the conscious mind.

(ii) Shadow

My interpretation of shadow is the persona (or the absence

of persona) in the unconscious mind.

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(iii) Logos and Eros

Other archetypes mentioned by Jung in The Red Book

are logos and eros that are predefined as the masculine

and feminine traits of the unconscious mind. Jung refers

to logos as the logic side of the individual, while eros

to the rational; logos represents the spiritual principle

of the unconscious and eros represents the unspiritual

principle; logos is an independent principle of form that

means understanding, insight, foresight, legislation, and

wisdom; and eros is desire, longing, force, exuberance,

pleasure, and suffering; logos and eros are essentially

two fundamental psychic powers that form a pair of

opposites, each one requiring the other. (Jung, 2009, p.

367)

The story of my animated film takes place inside the

unconscious mind of the main character and I used different

archetypes to build characters within his unconscious

mind.

I used the self and shadow archetypes of the main

character of my story to build a heroic figure (self) and

its counterpart the villain (shadow) placed inside the

unconscious mind of the main character. In the same

way, I used logos and eros archetypes to assign opposite

genders to the supporting characters representing

different personality traits in the unconscious mind of a

man (the main character).

The characters based on archetypes represent different


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personality traits/point of views of the main character.

1.2.3 LABYRITNTH by Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges was a short-story writer working with

the themes of dreams, labyrinths, and mythology.

In his book Labyriths, Borges presents several short

stories that deeply inspired me with some of the reoccurring

themes, connections, and philosophical tirades

wthin those stories. One significant reoccurring theme

in Borges’ short-stories is the concept of a labyrinth

that, according to my interpretation, was metaphor

for chaotic state of mind. Two of the main concepts I

extracted from the stories were time and walking the

labyrinth.

I used these concepts in metaphysics to establish a theoretical

foundation for the main character’s state of mind,

structure of the story, environmental design for my

animated film, and spatial design for the presentation of

the story for my design project.

(A) Time

According to my interpretation, in his short stories,

Borges draws a picture of complexities of the world

through concepts of singularity in time.

In his presentation of time, I believe Luis strips away the

past and the future in order to place importance on the

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present; he proposes a present with no memories of the

past and no ambitions for the future (Borges, 1962, p.

153). I believe, in taking away the past and future Borges

wants to purify the mind from the contamination of

life experiences and ambitions.

In other words, without the complexity of time, a level

of simplicity can be attained that is suitable to gain

proper understanding.

(B) Walking the labyrinth

One common theme throughout all the short stories in

this book is the concept of labyrinth.

What I understand after reading all the stories is that,

Borges is presenting labyrinth not as physical structure

but as a contraption that exists in the mind to confuse

men (Borges, 1962, p. 106). From Borges stories, I

understood that a labyrinth has several circuits with a

path that can be traveled to either reach the center or

find the exit. I believe, Borges is suggesting that a chaotic

journey through the labyrinth is essential in order to

gain a deeper understanding.

In other words, labyrinth is not an artificial tool of meditation

but rather a naturally constructed phenomenon

that is the chaotic state mind and at the center of the the

labyrinth, one can find clarity.


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1.2.4 THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES by

Joseph Campbell

I used Joseph Campbell’s well known literature work,

The Hero with a Thousand Faces as a conceptual and

technical guide in formulating the story and developing

the main character (MAN) of my animated film for my

design project.

Campbell was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence

College who specialized in comparative mythology

and comparative religion. In his book, Campbell

presents what he calls the Hero’s Journey, as a storytelling

format that is common to world mythologies/

narrative storytelling. Campbell’s theories on myths and

archetypes, also helped me develop an understanding of

what a hero is and what kind of challenges and transformations

he goes through if he takes on the Hero’s

Journey. One of the potential transformations for a hero

is transformation into a villain.

This potential transformation into a villain was explored

during my research in the Hero’s Journey (see section:

3.2.1 (A)(i)).

(A) THE HERO

In light of Campbell’s concepts that he explores in this

book, in most myths, a hero takes on a journey in order

to save his people (Campbell, 2004, p. 182).

For the hero, this journey often turns into a path of

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understanding himself and the world around him. he

comes out of this journey a wiser, if not a changed person

(Campbell, 2004, pp. 291-329). And I believe in that

transformation lies a hero’s triumph and heroism.

Understanding the transformations of hero help me

build a dynamic character arc for the main character of

my animated film.

(B) HERO’S JOURNEY

The Hero’s Journey is a journey from an ordinary world

to a fantastical world filled with obstacles, allies, enemies,

ordeals, and the return back to the ordinary

world.

Campbell’s Hero’s Journey follows a format of four

stages with multiple steps in each stage. The four stages

of the Hero’s Journey are: Departure, Initiation, Return,

and The Keys. Departure stage has steps that hero has

to take to travel from ordinary world and enter the fantastical

world. Initiation stage has the steps the hero has

to take in order to pass through the fantastical world.

Return stage has the steps hero has to take in order to

return to the ordinary world. The Keys stage has the

steps that reveal the transformations that hero has

achieved through the completion of his journey (Campbell,

2004, pp. 45-227).

I used the Campbell’s concepts of the Hero’s Journey in

the research, development, and implementation stages

of my design project.


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1.2.6 THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS: A SCI-

ENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING by Fritjof

Capra

In establishing my theoretical background for my design

project, Fritjof Capra’s book, The Hidden Connections: A

Science of Sustainable Living, helped me see one of the

alternatives to the existing power structures.

Capra is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems

theorist, deep ecologist, and a founding member of

Center of Ecoliteracy in Berkley, California. In his book,

Capra draws connections using complexity theory based

on the inner-workings of livings organisms and massive

social and economic structures. Through these comparisons

he proposes that social and economic structures

should be designed/emerged in the same manner as

network of cells creates a living organism; he proclaims

that such a design shall establish ecologically sustainable

community.

I used Capra’s theories on ecologically sustainable community

to write the backstory for my animated film.

1.2.7 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature in metaphysics provided me with the concepts

and theories in storytelling, objectivity, connection

between myths and reality (recipients), and symbolism,

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and how these concepts and theories can be applied in

the process of understanding.

I applied these concepts during my research to understand

the nature of my fears in order to accurately

present those emotions through visual storytelling. The

concepts and theories in metaphysics also helped me

develop the main character of my animated film. Meanwhile,

Capra’s text in social ecology helped me understand

possible alternatives to current power structures.

I utilized the theoretical foundation of my design project

in building a dynamic narrative arc for the story of

my animated film.

1.3 ROLE IN THE PROJECT

In this section, I will be sharing my personal background

that I used to channel my fears during the

research for my design project.

1.3.1 PERSONAL BACKGROUND/MOTIVA-

TION: LIVING IN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT

(A) Background: living as part of a minority

I was born and raised in Pakistan as part of a Shia minority

in a Sunni majority country.

Growing up there I experienced intense hatred and


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discrimination towards me and my family. We were

continuously condemned by fellow citizens as unequal

to them. Some of my fellow citizens did not believe that

we had the right to live at all, based on our creed and

religion; some of those people were my friends and

colleagues. I had the same experience living in America

as part of a minority. Over there I was a Middle Eastern

Muslim at the height of Islamophobia and anti-Arab

atmosphere in the wake of 9/11 tragedies.

In Pakistan, I feared for my life, and in America I feared

for hatred directed towards me, but in both countries

the constant was that I lived in fear.

In addition to verbal abuse and daily life discrimination,

in Pakistan, my family faced constant threat to our lives.

In 1995, a neighborhood mosque was attacked by a militant

group who shot down 6 people that were waiting

for morning prayers. I was 8 years old at that time and

through my house window I could see the victims of the

attack being carried out of the mosque. The assailants

were captured and one of the survivors testified against

them but they were eventually freed due to the ‘mental

condition’ of the survivor who testified; I always saw the

system favored the assailants because they were part of

the majority and the victims were the part of the minority.

In fact, in the 70 year of history of Pakistan, I believe,

there has rarely even been a conviction of an assailant

whose victim was a Shia Muslim, or any significant

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effort made by the authorities to eliminate such militant

groups.

Another constant source of my fear during my time

living in Karachi, Pakistan was the rampant crime and

violence.

Almost everyone I know has been robbed at a gunpoint.

Even my four-year old niece experienced gun-point robberies

twice. During one of those robberies, the assailant

fired his weapon, injuring my niece’s grandmother

who babysitting my niece at the time. Some people I

know personally even lost their lives or crippled during

such violent incidents. I grew up in a very hostile environment,

which made me constantly feel under threat.

In other words, I have lived under fear for the better

part of my life in Karachi, Pakistan.

I see crime and violence as a by-product of an extremely

fractured system that drives the gap between the rich

and poor further apart, leaving more people vulnerable

and desperate to adopt a life of crime and violence.

(B) Motivation: empathize with anyone with

similar experience

My fears today as I am discussing them in this paper, I

believe, are still rooted in the years of living in a hostile

environment.

However, I have always felt that people that discriminated

against me did not have any personal issue with my


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beliefs or creed, but they were under the influence of

agendas based in intolerance that were being spread by

an authoritarian system. For instance, my Sunni friends

will discriminate against me based on something that

they heard from someone, usually a cleric, belonging to

a higher position in the social/religious hierarchy. And

if I was being discriminated in United States for being

a Muslim, it was based on the same phenomenon, i.e.

priests, politicians, and media painting Muslims as the

enemy of the state.

My disdain for power structures is essentially rooted

on how these structures, in the light of history and my

personal experience, promotes hostile environments for

the interests of those in power.

1.3.2 BACKGROUND/MOTIVATION AS A

DESIGNER: FINE ARTS, ANIMATION, AND

ILLUSTRATION

(A) Background: education/experience

In 2006, I started my education in Fine Arts at De Anza

College in Cupertino, California.

I studied drawing, painting, and design in classical style

as part of my foundation studies. In 2008, I transferred

to San Jose State University in San Jose, California to

study animation and illustration. During my time there

I studied traditional hand-drawn animation and var-

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ious styles in illustration. It was also in San Jose State

that I was introduced to 3D Animation and Autodesk

Maya software. In 2013, I started studying advanced 3D

Animation at Academy of Art University in San Francisco,

California. At the Academy, I studied different stages

of 3D Animation such as 3D modeling, rigging, texturing,

rendering, compositing, establishing a production

pipeline, etc. During my time at the Academy, I was also

given a chance to work on real productions through inhouse

school studio called Studio X.

In between my studies, over the last ten years, I have

also worked as a 3D character developer, 3D animator,

facial analyzer, compositor, 2D artist/illustrator, graphic

artist, and a storyboard artist for studios based in Pakistan,

United States, and Germany.

(B) Motivation: my love/hate relationship with

the animation industry

During my studies at San Jose State University, I fell in

love with animation.

It was fascinating to study classical Disney animated

films and contemporary Pixar films, and realize how

much creative work and decision goes into making

those films. While studying these films, I learned how

much importance is placed on the story, and animation/

design is mostly seen as the fun part. That is primarily

the reason the core values of my design project are

based around storytelling. But recently I have been


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quite disappointed with the Disney and Pixar productions

because I feel like their productions are suffering due to Disney’s

rise in the arena of global capitalistic system as one of

the biggest media corporation in the world (Selyuk, 2016).

Even though I know that there is still a lot of effort made by

a huge group of talented people on Disney and Pixar films,

but I have a strong feeling that Disney’s primary goal has

become more business oriented at the cost of losing some of

its creativity.

Pixar is producing more sequels than they ever did before;

sequels in the film industry are widely considered unoriginal/non-creative

attempts of milking past productions.

Disney and Pixar were also involved in wage-fixing lawsuit

among other major animation studios to keep the wages of

animators down (Johnson, 2017). There are numerous other

reasons that I have slowly fallen out of love with Disney,

Pixar, or any other major animation studios, but the primary

reason lies in their creative and business practices. In no way

I am putting my design project in competition with Disney

animated films, but I did use my disappointment with Disney

and Pixar among numerous animation studios, as a motivation

to focus more on my story, in order to, in my mind, do

justice to animation as a storytelling medium.

One of the elements of animated films that fascinated me was

the supernatural/fantasy element in the stories and how the

metaphors embedded in the fantastical parts of the story resonated

with real world issues. And that is one of the reasons

I based the theoretical foundation for my design project in

metaphysics.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of my design project is to share

my feelings of fear in relation to power structures

through visual storytelling in order to empathize with

anyone that feels the same and evoke compassion from

others who do not feel the same.

2.1.1 RESEARCH QUESTION

In light of my main objective for my design project, I

formulated my research question as:

How can I use visual storytelling to capture the essence

of fear as seen through the lens of metaphysics?

Through visual storytelling I wanted to place as much

importance on the visual part of storytelling as the

narrative itself.

In other words, I tried to tell the story with the visual

style and sequential images (animation) just as much

as the narrative, plot, or sound. Instead of unloading

my complete range of emotions, for the interest of time,

clarity, and leaving space for the recipients to put them-


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selves in the story, I wanted to present just an essence of

my feelings (fear).

I wanted to used theories in metaphysics in order to

accomplish the above two goals because of the links I

found between storytelling and metaphysics.

2.2 RECIPIENTS

For my design project, I used my own feelings and state

of mind to empathize with anyone who feels the same

for the same reason, and I used myself as an example of

an extreme user, or extreme recipient, of my own film.

Through my design project, I transformed my observations

and feelings, that I suspect are shared with

unidentified others, into a work that can be seen as

a meeting place for like-minded people, and possibly

can function to create conversation (where there is too

little) and a shared experience (viewing the film, discussing

the film), and perhaps, could also function as

a wakeup call or call to action. In order to define the

recipients of my design project, I had to come to an

understanding that my feelings of fear in relation to the

power structures could be based on my background and

lived experience, and perhaps there are many others

that have similar background or lived experience, who

might find comfort through my film in knowing that

they are not alone. Through this understanding, I had to

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also acknowledge that there are people who do not have

similar experience, and those people, through my film,

might find compassion for the ones that have similar

background and lived experience as myself. For instance,

people from Europe, might develop more compassion

for refugees coming from similar background as myself.

In order to put it simply, the purpose of this film is to

find a peaceful place in my mind for myself and share

that place with others (like-minded or opposite minded)

through my animated film in the interests of promoting

empathy, compassion, and tolerance.

2.3 RESEARCH METHODS

As I mentioned in the introduction, my approach to this

project is not as much empirical but more shamanistic

in the interests of staying true to the purposes of storytelling

as I understand it through my exploration of

literature in metaphysics.

However, in establishing my research methods, I applied

the theories in metaphysics with the same approach as

hermeneutical understanding, which is an alternative to

processing data with systematic analysis as it is practiced

in scientific research. I found hermeneutical approach

closer to the shamanistic nature of storytelling

and that is why I chose to utilize it my research through


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design. Through the research methods based on concepts

in metaphysics (and hermeneutical approach),

I wanted to maximize the potential of storytelling by

raising questions that cannot be answered by a yes and

no; questions that are more philosophical than mathematical;

questions that go beyond the realm of logic and

reason for the sake of new knowledge.

In other words, I want to explore questions that add to

my understanding of myself and the world around me

instead of just confirming my point of views or third

party scientific data.

2.3.1 ENGAGING THE UNCONSCIOUS

The main research method for my design project is a

Carl Jung’s experimentation in psychoanalysis which he

called confrontation with the unconscious (see section:

1.2.2). This approach is used through my research and

development phase. The objective of this method was to

minimize the engagement of my design knowledge and

explore the ideas that came naturally to me once I focused

my feelings of fear in relation to power structures.

2.3.2 THUMBNAILING AND FREE WRITING

In order to record the ideas that emerged through the

above process, I decided to use brainstorming methods

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that I had used previously during my studies in animation/illustration

and my professional experience in the

animation industry such as thumbnailing and freewriting.

Thumbnailing and freewriting are methods where

I focus on a certain topic and draw small sketches or

freely write without stopping to think, edit, or filter any

ideas. These brainstorming methods were primarily

used to establish conceptual ideas for the story and the

visual style of my animated film for my design project.

2.3.3 ILLUSTRATION

I used more advanced illustration skills to further

develop and establish the visual style in terms of color,

edges, texture, and level of detail. I explored the variety

in visual aesthetics that are native to different mediums

such as digital painting, gouache painting, and pastel

sketches/painting, in the search of visual qualities that

are more accurate to my feelings of fear.

2.3.4 HAND-DRAWN ANIMATION

I used hand-drawn animation and experimented with

different animation techniques, such as opacity, repetition,

offset, frame rate, etc. These experiments were

also based on the findings from previous experiments in

illustration.


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2.3.5 3D ANIMATION

Similarly I used 3D animation and experimented with

different techniques that are native to 3D Animation,

such as animated lights, environmental fog, camera

movements, etc. These experiments were also based on

previous experiments in illustration and hand-drawn

animation.

2.4 APPRAISAL

The theoretical foundation of my design project is based

on my views on the power structures (see section: 1.1),

theories and concepts in metaphysics (see section: 1.2),

and alternative to current power structures as proposed

by Fritjof Capra (see section: 1.2.5).

The methodology for my design project is based on the

theoretical foundation in metaphysics, as mentioned

above, and my background as animator/illustrator.

Overall, my design project had three phases: research/

findings phase, development phase, and implementation

phase. During the research/findings phase, I used

concepts in metaphysics, specifically active imagination

(confrontation with the unconscious (1.2.2 (a))), to

engage my unconscious mind, and I used my animation/

illustration skills to record my experience during that

engagement. And through analysis of what I recorded

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during active imagination I established key visual and

story elements and I moved forward with these elements

into the development phase. During the development

phase, I used the findings from the research phase

and further developed them using concepts based in

metaphysics and my skills as an animator/illustrator.

Then I took these developments and implemented them

into an animated sequence based on a small part of the

developed story. I collaborated with a music student

from Grieg Academy to compose an original soundtrack

for my animated film.

The objective of my design project was not to produce a

finished animated film but to develop a story and visual

style, and implement those developments in a small

sample of animated film that I could perhaps use, after

finishing my studies, in order to secure financing for

producing a complete feature length film.

2.5 RESEARCH

During my research through experimentation and

design, I explored various mediums, techniques and

methods, but in the interest of time, I will be only going

through a few significant ones. The research and experimentation

also continues up until the final result, but

in this sections I would be discussing the experimenta-


PAGE 39 of 204

tions that helped me establish core values of the visual

style and story.

2.5.1 THUMBNAILS: BIRTH OF FEAR

The first major breakthrough happened in the early

stages of my research through experimentation. In light

of Carl Jung’s experimentations in confrontation with

the unconscious, I did thumbnailing with my emotions

focused on power structures and major world problems,

and I ended up with a series of images that that had one

thing in common, i.e., fear. That is when I decided to

focus on the feeling of fear for my design project.

2.5.2 ANIMATION/ILLUSTRATIONS: EMER-

GENCE OF VISUAL STYLE FROM THE UN-

COUNSCIOUS

I further explored my inner images through the process

of visualization that helped me identify some visual

elements that I used in establishing a visual style for the

animated film of my design project. During this round of

experimentation, I focused on the emotion of fear in the

context of power structures and global critical issues,

and visualized that fear under different narrative setting

using different methods/medium (see section: 2.3).

These experimentations in visual narrative presented

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(2.5.1)

me with a focused understanding of the nature of my

fears, and a clearer picture of how I can visualize that

fear in a narrative.

(A) The spectacle: a digital painting

(i) Experimentation

The first iteration of fear I explored was based on the

fear of being watched; the feeling was based on the

notion that my life is being dictated by a hostile environment

promoted through various power structures. The

feeling was a feeling of being bounded in chains like a

slave putting on a show, against his will, for a cheering,

speculating, and often blood thirsty audience. In the


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light of these feelings, I imagined a chained gladiator in

front of spectators and tried to digitally paint the image

as close to what I saw in my mind as my skills allowed.

(ii) Analysis

After I was finished painting this oppressed gladiator, I

began to analyze this illustration and found that some of

the elements that I saw were not in-touch with realism,

which had been my primary style for painting. For

instance, the lighting is not something that I would see

in an open air arena; the color of the sky might never

get that green; the rim light on the gladiator does not

match with the rest of the lighting in the scene; the

vertical blur effect on the back of the gladiator’s is also

not something that has a physical manifestation in the

(2.5.2 (A))

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real world, however, it can still be a visual illusion when

captured through a lens (camera/eyes).

(iii) Findings

The two primary visual elements I extracted from this

visualization were unnatural lighting and eerie atmosphere

that establishes a dream-like environment,

which I interpreted as a representation of my unconscious

mind. Another interesting visual element that

I picked prom this illustration was vertical blur effect

that distort details. I interpreted distortion of details

as confusion in thoughts or feelings coming out of my

unconscious mind. This effect can be manipulated to

visualize different levels of stability of my unconscious

mind. For instance, the chaotic state of my mind can be

represented with amplified vertical blur effect, and moments

of clarity can be represented with the absence of

vertical blur effect. From this experimentation, I established

that the visual style of the animated film for my

design project should be a fusion of my two worlds: the

real, which is the outside, and the unconscious, which

is the inside. But one issue I had with this experiment

was that there was too much detail both in visual and

narrative terms.

(B) Confrontation with animals: pastel sketches

(i) Experimentation

When I continued my experimentations in active imag-


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ination, I started to see less and less about my interaction

with the outside, and started seeing more and more

confrontations with animals, that I interpreted as my

primal instincts, which belong in the inside. There were

numerous confrontations with various animals, however,

due to limitation of time, I will be discussing only

two that I visualized: confrontations with owl and giant

octopus. In the interest of exploring various mediums,

for these particular experiments, I switched from digital

painting to traditional sketches using pastels to go for

more of a less-defined look, which was more close to

how I was seeing these images through active imagination.

(ii) Analysis

I interpreted the very act of confrontation with the

animals as my personal disdain for primal instincts

dictating my actions despite the nature of those actions,

sometimes being harmful to myself or to others. The

first image I saw was an owl gnawing with its beak

on my forehead. And the way I interpreted that image

was how wisdom and knowledge makes me feel guilty

about my actions that might be harmful to myself and

others. The next confrontation happened at the depths

of sea against a giant sea creature with tentacles that I

eventually saw as an oversized octopus. I interpreted

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2.5.2 (B)


PAGE 45 of 204

2.5.2 (B)

this confrontation as how I can use intelligence in pursuit

of my own personal agendas and manipulation of

other people to benefit my personal interests. And also

how I can use intelligence (or the perception of being

intelligent) in order to feel superior and establishing a

condescending tone towards others. In terms of visual

analysis, the pastels forced out some details with more

undefined edges. The images also came out to be a bit

dark, but there were several bursts of bright colors in

dark areas. The pastels also became a natural choice

to obtain vertical blur effect from the previous experiment

based on how pastels can be easily smudged with

fingers. Another effect I obtained from using pastels on

a rough paper was a granular texture, another visual

element that I felt was closer to how I was seeing these

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images through active imagination.

(iii) Findings

The three main elements that I extracted from this

round of experiments was bright colors, lost edges, and

granular texture. In this experimentation, lost edges

blended the foreground into background in some areas.

The areas with lost edges lost clarity but the image

altogether still read clearly, which was also close to how

I was seeing these images through active imagination: I

could not optically see all the details but I still felt what

was there. A range of neon bright colors appeared in

some areas in the details of the images coming from

active imagination, but the overall images remained

predominantly dark. I interpreted darkness as the

reflection of my cynicism which spreads to almost

everything that I analyze; and I interpreted the bright

colors as a small amount of hope that keeps me going.

At the same time, I also interpreted darkness as the vast

areas of my unconscious mind that are still unexplored

and the bright colors as the information that is coming

forth into the conscious mind.

(C) Global critical issues: pastel paintings

(i) Experimentation

At this stage of experimentation, I willingly began to

take more control as a designer and started using theoretical

foundations (see section: 1.2), findings I made


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during active imagination, and my knowledge and experience

as an animator/illustrator in order to establish a

coherent visual style for my design project as I moved

closer towards the development phase. In this stage of

experimentation, I wanted to explore fear in context of

global critical issues. I selected two images in relation

to global critical issues that I saw in the earlier stages

of active imagination: a burning flag raised in a heap of

rotting bodies and screaming/singing faceless children

choir.

(ii) Analysis

In the visualization of these images, I noticed a dark

aura surrounding these images that made them appear

to be visible through semi-clear spot in an otherwise

opaque fabric. I interpreted the clear spot as the window

between my unconscious mind and the real world.

(iii) Findings

One important visual element that I established during

this experimentation was a vignette: a dark frame that

radially fades towards the centre of an image.

(D) Self and shadow in time: hand-drawn and

3D animation

(i) Experimentation

In the next stage of experimentation, I wanted to take

the findings from the previous experiments and put

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2.5.2 (C)


PAGE 49 of 204

them together in an animation format, since that is the

primary medium of storytelling in my design project.

I decided to use my confrontation with octopus that

I saw earlier during active imagination as a narrative

theme for this experiment. I started to re-explore this

confrontation with the added element of time. In other

words, I began to experience fear in motion; the motion

of fear was very slow. It was as if I had to experience

every microsecond of my emotion submerged in the

darkest depths of an inescapable abyss; an infinite nothingness.

I felt like floating around in an ocean with no

horizon, no beginning or end, with something massive

rising behind me until I came face to face with the giant

octopus.

During this experimentation, it felt appropriate, based

on what I had experienced during my active imagination,

to position myself as Jungian archetype of self (see

section: 1.2.2.). Furthermore, I applied Borges’ concepts

on time (see section: 1.2.3.), to address the strange

slow-motion that I felt through active imagination.

(ii) Analysis

During the process of visualizing fear in motion, I applied

the above mentioned theories and skills in order

recreate the fear in motion that I was experiencing during

this experimentation as accurately as possible.

I drew myself with hand-drawn animation, in light of

Jungian archetype of self, i.e., representation of myself

as a whole (inside and outside). And then I experiment-

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(2.3.2 (D))


PAGE 51 of 204

ed with time, in light of Borges concepts on past, present,

and future: I repeated the next (future) and previous

(past) drawings of my hand-drawn animation with

a slight offset and gradually reducing opacities. This

created a fading effect which was very close to how I felt

my emotion of fear in motion.

I positioned the octopus as Jungian archetype of shadow,

i.e. the representation of myself in my unconscious

mind. However, the octopus still represents primal

instincts in my unconscious mind as established earlier

(see section: 2.5.2 (B)). While experiencing fear in motion,

I also saw bursts of light and bright colors echoing

in the dark abyss. These bursts were rapid in contrast

to the slow-motion of time. I interpreted this as the

signification of rapid eye movement also known as the

state of sleep. I further interpreted this state of sleep as

a metaphor for ignorance.

In order to add this into my visualization I used 3D animation

where multiple lights illuminating the 3D model

are turned on and off at rapid rate with a slight offset,

so the complete image is never lost; a similar concept to

lost edges (see section: 2.5.2 (B)).

At the beginning of this experiment, I only expected to

composite my findings from the previous experiments,

but I ended up experimenting with various elements of

animation such as time, speed, motion, repetition, animated

lights, fusion of 3D and hand-drawn animation

etc., based on what I experienced during active imagination.

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(2.3.2 (D))


PAGE 53 of 204

(iii) Findings

With this experimentation I established three main

visual elements of my animated film for my design

project, which are fading effect, strobophobic effect, and

fusion of 3D and hand-drawn animation. With the use of

fading effect the drawings of the present time becomes

clouded with fading drawings of the past and the future,

based on my interpretation of Borges’ concept of time,

represents a chaotic state of mind. The strobophobic

effect represents the state of sleep but also captures the

uneasy feeling of fear. And the fusion of hand-drawn animation

with 3D animation, made me realize that I could

use one style of animation to signify the real world and

the other to signify the unconscious mind.

2.5.3 FREE WRITING: EMERGENCE OF STO-

RY FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS

(A) Experimentation

Another method I used in the experimentations in

engaging my unconscious mind was free writing, where

I wrote about my fears without stopping, filtering, or

editing.

In other words, I was writing about what I felt with

my emotions focused on power structures and global

critical issues. However, during this stage of experimentation,

I was also influenced by some visual and story

elements that I had already established during previous

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(2.3.2 (D))


PAGE 55 of 204

experiments, such as confrontation with animals, which

gave me a more focused narrative direction as compared

to the previous experiments. Nevertheless, for

this experiment, I wanted to add the element of isolation,

because Carl Jung also conducted these experiments

in isolation.

For this purpose, I went to an isolated cabin in Televåg

for three days with limited food supplies and without

cigarettes, electricity, internet, or other indulgences in

order to minimize outside distractions and focus on the

inside.

(B) ANALYSIS

After three days of writing, I had a concise story that

surprisingly had biblical undertones with Adam and Eve

scenario complete with a serpent.

The biblical undertones must have come from my religious

upbringing, which I used to believe didn’t influenced

my work since my education, practice, and peers

has mostly been based in the West. Nevertheless, the

free writings had some consistencies with my previous

experimentations in visual style, such as confrontations

with animals, but this time these confrontations had

clearer meaning and were more connected to a single

narrative.

I sketched out the key moments resonating with different

stages/steps of the Hero’s Journey (see section: 1.2.5

(D)) to see if the myth emerging from my unconscious

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aligned with Campbell’s theories or if I had to modify

the Hero’s Journey in order to stay faithful to what I

experienced during the experimentation.

(C) FINDINGS

The most significant outcome of the free writing sessions

in the cabin was the first iteration of the story

with a coherent plot and structure. I also found that

the story had religious undertones that I would have to

scale back in order to open up the story to a wider audience,

and that the story didn’t exactly follow the Hero’s

Journey.

The research and findings discussed in this section,

gave me a creative direction in formulating my design

strategy as I moved forward towards development and

process phases of my design project.


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CHAPTER 3: DESIGN

3.1 STRATEGY

3.1.1 INTENTIONS

The intentions for my animated film was within my research

question in capturing the essence of fear through

visual storytelling.

In terms of visual storytelling, I placed the emphasis on

visual images as a narrative tool rather than dialogue or

even plot. I used metaphysics as an alternative to linear

scientific analysis during my research where I established

key elements for the story and the visual style of

my animated film for my design project.

I used the key elements from research in order to place

my feelings of fear within the structure of the story and

composition of visual style.

3.1.2 PLANS

I modified the Hero’s Journey in order to structure the

story without compromising any key elements of the

story that I established during my research phase.

I used theories about symbolism from metaphysics in

order to establish a cohesive visual style. I used image

PAGE 58 of 204


rhetoric by defining signs, signified, and signification

within the key visual elements that I also established

during my research. Throughout the development and

implementation phase, the plan was to refine the story

and visual style for my animated film by using the process

of elimination. In other words, I did iteration after

iteration, to see what is working and what is not, until

I had a story and a visual style that was as close to the

representation of my feelings of fear as possible.

I also used the process of elimination, based on hermeneutical

understanding, in the interest of clarity and

scaling back the scope of my animated film.

Animated films are usually made with teams ranging

from thirty to a thousand people depending upon the

budget and the length (see credits at the end of any

animated film).

There is usually a team for each stage of production

such as story, visual development, 3D modeling, rigging,

animation, vfx, compositing, sound, etc. Understanding

my limitations as one man, throughout the development,

I was also searching for a part of the story with the

potential to capture the essence of the entire story that I

can animate within the time and resources I had during

the implementation phase.

I planned to use the short animated sequence based on

the selected part of the story as a sample to present the

visual style and the essence of the story I developed for

my design project.

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN

PAGE 59 of 204

3.1.3 CORE VALUES AND QUALITIES

For the better part of the development and implementation

phase, in terms of narrative, character design,

environment, effects, and shot compositions and sequences,

I focused on capturing various aspects of my

fears explored during the research phase.

In the interest of making my animated film accessible

to a wider range of recipients, I introduced some

abstraction, both in the story and the visual style, that I

believed would leave some space for recipients to place

their own fears and feelings in my animated film. I also

introduced abstraction in the interest of representing

the unconscious mind part of the main character.

On the other hand, I used realism to represent the elements

of the real world.

(A) Visual Style

I carried my research findings in visual abstraction (lost

edges, vertical blur effect, fading, etc.) over to my classical

skills in realism based on my previous education

in Fine Arts, and I fused them together to create a style

suitable for my animated film.

With realism I addressed the realistic nature of the

origins of my fears, i.e., my fears come from real experience

and that it is not a work of fiction. With visual

abstraction I reduced the specificity in the visual style in

order to open up the interpretation of images to a wider

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audience.

The fusion of real and abstract also addresses the importance

I have placed on both the real world and the

invisible world that is the unconscious mind.

(i) Artistic realism: the old masters

According to my own understanding based on my training

in Fine Arts, artistic realism is realism stemming

from the unconscious.

It is not photorealism as it doesn’t recreate what the eye

sees but, creates what the mind perceives. In artistic

realism an artist might use colors, edges, and texture

that might not exist in the real world. However, all together

the image holds up to be realistic because it still

adheres to values, gradation, and form that exists in the

real world. Reference from the real world is used only

to adhere to the above mentioned visual elements, rest

comes from the ‘soul’.

Artistic realism is in the core of the art created of the

old masters such as Johannes Vermeer, Michelangelo

Caravaggio, and Rembrandt van Rijn.

Artistic realism should not be confused with impressionism,

where the artists take a wider range of liberty

with visual elements of colors, edges, texture, and especially

brush strokes.

The majority of the character design of the main character

(MAN) of the story for my animated film is based

in realism, such as overall figurative design (representa-

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN

PAGE 61 of 204

tion of forms of life, such as human body/figure), with

some elements hinting at abstraction, such as vertical

blur effect.

(ii) Abstraction in unconscious: key visual elements

from my research

In this paper, I am referring to abstraction in the light

of my research findings (lost edges, vertical blur effect,

fading, etc.).

Based on those findings, I see abstraction in unconscious

as visual communication between myself and

my imagination. And based on this theory, I tried to use

abstraction as part of visual communication between

the designer and the recipient.

In other words, I utilized abstraction in the unconscious

in order to evoke a specific or an abstract feeling/

thought in myself and/or other possible recipients.

(C) NARRATIVE STYLE

The narrative style for the story of my animated film

eventually became a fusion of linear narrative and fragmented

narrative style.

The fragmented style is based on the earlier stages of

my experimentation through active imagination, where

I only had parts of story with little to no connection to

each other. Whereas, the linear style is something that I

developed using theories and concepts that I picked up

from literature in metaphysics. For the story of my an-

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imated film, I used fragmented narrative style to highlight

the global critical issues and other abstract ideas

throughout the story.

On the other hand, the main story about the MAN and

the characters in his unconscious mind follows a linear

narrative style.

(i) Fragmented narrative: In Shadow: A Modern Odyssey

by Lubomir Arsov

One of the films that I viewed in order to gain a better

understanding of fragmented narrative, was the

short animated film In-Shadow: A Modern Odyssey by

Lubomir Arsov. Arsov uses animated illustrations to

present his views of modern day West in a fragmented

format. The film doesn’t have a definite protagonist/antagonist

or a plot, but only a theme and a viewpoint. In

my point of view, Arsov’s film covers a broad spectrum

of issues in a short-time by removing the unnecessary

baggage that comes with traditional narrative storytelling.

(ii) Linear narrative: Mother! by Darren Aronofsky

One of the films I viewed in order to gain a better understanding

of a good linear narrative was the movie

Mother! by Darren Aronofsky. In this film, Aronofsky

presents an entertaining and unpredictable story arc

that is delivered at an exciting and chaotic pace. These

two values of entertainment kept my attention, and

helped me absorb the images of the story and per-

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haps ponder on the meaning behind the allegories and

symbolisms. In my point of view, the arc and the pace,

similar to Aronofsky’s film, are effective in delivering an

exciting and effective viewing experience especially for

a horrifying subject.

(D) Camera work: The Tree of Life by Terrence

Malick

During my research phase, due to lack of time, I did not

get the chance to experiment with the camera movements

for my animated film, but during that time, I was

getting some ideas based on what I was experiencing

though active imagination.

I came across the film The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick

that I felt had a similar approach to the camera work

to the ideas I was getting during my research phase.

The story of Malick’s film felt as if it has been visualized

from inside out (looking at someone’s memories or

feelings). In this film, Malick uses unusual shot compositions,

non-conventional focal length, eerie camera

movements, unnatural editing, overlapping voice overs,

and non-linear narrative in order to, as I saw it, deconstruct

the artificial point of views of conventional filmmaking

and establish a fluid viewpoint of character’s

mind/soul; the camera shots, sequences, and scenes in

the film creates an impression of someone’s thoughts,

memories or experiences, rather than simply delivering

exposition and sequential unfolding of events.

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In other words, I felt that the imagery in this film is

shot in a particularly unconventional method in order

capture the dialogue between traumatized people and

their soul.

3.2 PROJECT

3.2.1 PRE-PRODUCTION: VISUAL AND STO-

RY DEVELOPMENT

(A) Story development

Through my experimentations in active imagination

during my research phase, I had images that represented

a fragmented narrative, and writings that put

transformed fragmented narrative into a relatively

coherent plot. In order to achieve a complete narrative

arc my plan was to utilize the Hero’s Journey, which is

storytelling format that Campbell believes is common

to world myths. However, this format did not exactly fit

with the story that emerged from my unconscious mind

during my research phase, so, in order to stay faithful to

my experiments, I decided to modify the Hero’s Journey

before I could use it to structure the story of my animated

film.

(i) Structure: the Villain’s Journey

There were several reasons why I did not see my story

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could utilize the Hero’s Journey, but one of the most

significant reason was that the Hero’s Journey, as I interpreted

it, is based on hope, whereas my story is based

on fear or rather hopelessness embedded in fear.

For the purposes of sharing an honest representation of

my fears, I designed an alternative journey taken by a

villain in the unconscious mind of a near hopeless person.

This hopeless person is the main character of my

story who will remain nameless throughout the story,

but I will refer to him as MAN in this paper and supporting

documents related to my design project. Nevertheless,

MAN is not the villain, his archetype of shadow is

the villain; this archetype is represented by a HYENA.

My story is about HYENA’s journey and not necessarily

the MAN, and that is why I am calling the format of my

story the Villain’s Journey.

In comparison to the Hero’s Journey, instead of bringing

back the magic elixir to his people, HYENA will bring

a destructive force towards the other characters that

represents various archetypes of MAN.

Instead of chasing hope, HYENA will embody fear and

destroy hope. And in doing so he will show the MAN the

worst face of his fears. This action of HYENA initiating

annihilation of entire inner world of MAN simply did

not fit in the Hero’s Journey. My story is not about feeling

good but uneasy; and I wanted to capture that feeling

of unease by utilizing a villain’s antagonist nature

to project the worst face of his fears. However, my story

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does have a hero, a CHILD, as a symbol of hope, who will

have confrontations with HYENA.

Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that, the hero,

villain, and other supporting characters are the sum of

one MAN; the hero is the optimistic part of MAN while

the villain is the more radical part.

3.2.1 (A)

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(ii) Screenplay

Once I had clearer vision of the story and how it can

capture the essence of my fears, I wrote a complete

screenplay spanning over 18 pages using a complete

narrative arc that I studied in films like the Mother!

However, the screenplay still need revision in light of

some story developments that came up later in the implementation

phase.

This screenplay can be read in Appendix A.

(iii) Backstory

For the backstory, I utilized my views on power structures,

and my interpretations of the solutions presented

by Fritjof Capra (see section: 1.2.6). The backstory is

based on my hypothesis that the sustainability solutions

presented by Capra will face the same problems

as the current social structures if those solutions are

implemented through combat and and pushed through

power/resistance. However, the backstory also still

need revision for similar reasons as above.

This backstory can be read in Appendix A.4

(iv) Timeline

In my story, the MAN represents spirit of mankind embodied

in a shell of a man.

The story in its entirety spans over different time peri-

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ods, including prophetic visions of the future. In order

for me to keep track of the timeline throughout the

story, I laid out major time periods that I plan to expand

my story in. However, the timeline also need revision in

light of some story developments that came up later in

the implementation phase.

The timeline can be read in Appendix A.

(v) Shot list

From the screenplay I defined the shots in terms of

composition, camera angles, and camera movements. I

used inspiration from films such as the Tree of Life to

establish a visual vocabulary suited for communicating

images that came out of my research.

(vi) Storyboard

In the interest of time, I decided to only produce a small

part of the story that will still capture the essence of my

fears.

For this purpose, I wrote a prologue for the main story

that focuses on the MAN on the outside and his transformation

into HYENA in the inside. From this prologue,

I picked the first six minutes of the story that I believed

I could finish for the final result. The prologue can be

read in Appendix A.1. Nevertheless, I went through

several iterations of the opening scene of the prologue

using storyboards, until I had a sequence that I can

comfortably produce in the time that I had for this pro-

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ject. The scene I selected involves the MAN, CHILD, and

HYENA and takes place in the commercial streets of old

town in Bergen, Norway.

This scene introduces the MAN to his unconscious

archetype CHILD and starts a confrontation with his

shadow archetype HYENA.

(3.2.1 (A)(vi))

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(B) Visual development

(i) Character design

I used traditional character design methods based on

artistic realism (see section: 3.1.3 (A)(i)) approach for

the MAN since he belongs in the ordinary world.

On the other hand, his archetypes, the animals and the

CHILD, belongs in the fantastical world of his unconscious

mind, therefore, I used abstraction in unconscious

(see section: 3.1.3(A)(ii)) approach for the those

characters.

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(ii) Environment Design

For the location of the prologue I decided to use old town in

Bergen as it was a constant inspiration in the last two years

of walking around in these streets, especially streets with

modern stores inside old/historical buildings.

These stores constantly reminded me how I feel about power

structures/corporations dominating in our culture/history.

Nevertheless, I took some pictures of the streets and old

buildings/stores to find some visual elements and design

that I could recreate in a 3D scene for my animated film.

I drew out a plan of the streets where the MAN will be

driving his truck in the prologue. I applied my interpretation

ofBorges’s concepts of labyrinth (see section: 1.2.3 (B)) for

the layout of the streets and the driving route for the MAN.

3.2.1(B)(ii)

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(iii) Presentation mock-up

For the presentation of my story, I wanted to take the

concept of the labyrinth and place it in the viewing experience

of my animated film. In other words, I wanted

to use spatial design in order to recreate the feeling of

fear in the real world. I went through several iterations

of this labyrinth in the real world, however due to lack

of budget, I had to abandon this idea.

I also wanted to create a window to the unconscious

mind in the light of vignette concept from my research

phase. In other words, I wanted to take away the rectangle

of conventional screens and make the images of my

animated film appear to be floating in air, as if looking

into someone’s mind. For that purpose, I decided to use

screen my animated film in a dark space and with use of

dark vignette throughout the film, the images appeared

to be floating in darkness.

Furthermore, in light of my experience during active

imagination, I wanted to move away from conventional

flat screen and introduced depth to the images of my

animated film. For this purpose, I decided to use layered

screens using translucent cloth. These screens creates a

dream-like effect, which is close to how I was seeing this

images during my experiments in active imagination.

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3.2.2 PRODUCTION: IMPLEMENTATION

OF VISUAL AND STORY IN AN ANIMATED

FILM

(A) 3D models

(i) Cage

I modeled the cage with an open gate in Autodesk

Maya for the fragmented narrative part of the 6 minute

sequence of the prologue. The cage with an open door

signifies how the MAN is bound to a power structure

even when he believes he can easily step out of it.

3.2.2(A)(i)

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(ii) MAN

The main and most complicated asset that I had to

produce was the 3D character rig for the MAN. I used

Adobe Fuse and Autodesk Maya to model the character

as close to my character design as my skills and the

software allowed.

I further used Adobe Fuse and Autodesk Maya to add a

skeleton that would help me animate the 3D model like

a puppet.

I used Maya to create a range of facial expressions using

multiple 3D models of the MAN’s head for each facial

movement (eyebrows, eyelids, nostrils, cheeks, etc.). I

added these facial expressions to the MAN’s character

rig.

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(iii) Truck

For the truck I collected several 3D models of different

types of truck from online 3D stores and picked them

apart for parts in Maya. In other words, I used different

parts from different 3D models to build a new truck

that I felt was appropriate for the driving scene of the

prologue.

I also modeled the chains, shackles, and frames inside

the container at the back of the truck, where the HYENA

is chained down.

I also modeled a morphed/exploded version of the

truck that would signify the MAN’s unconscious world

coming into the real world.

3.2.2(A)(iii)

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3.2.2(A)(iii)

(iv) Streets and buildings

Due to lack of time, I did not get the chance to work

on individual buildings in the scene. So, I just collected

several buildings that looked close to the buildings

from the old town in Bergen. However, I did modify one

building where the MAN would meet the CHILD, so the

building appropriately serves the story in the scene.

I modeled the streets using the pictures I took in the old

town of Bergen.

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(v) Surface textures

I used Pixologic ZBrush to hand-paint the textures using

the abstraction in unconscious (see section: 3.1.3 (A)

(ii)) approach.

I also created an animated texture for the morphed/

exploded truck after the explosion and the start of the

MAN’s unconscious world coming forth into the real

world.

3.2.2(A)(v)

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(B) Animation

For the animation part I divided the linear narrative

part of the 6 minute sequence into two: the driving

scene (before truck explosion) and the shop scene (after

the explosion of the truck/the unconscious world coming

forth in the real world). The animated the fragmented

narrative part of the cage in a separate scene.

(i) Cage

I animated the cage swinging like a pendulum based

on Borges’ concept of time. I imagined this cage to be

large enough to hold a man inside which drove me to

conclusion the cage must be quite heavy; I applied the

imagined weight of the cage in timing the movement of

its swing.

3.2.2(B)(i)

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(ii) Driving scene

I started with the driving scene and animated individual

parts of the truck shaking and also the MAN and HYENA

inside the truck shaking. I placed cameras following the

storyboard from the development phase. I animated

the streets moving back in space in order to make it

appear that the truck is moving forward when captured

through the camera.

3.2.2(B)(ii)

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(iii) Shop scene

The shop scene was the most complicated scene to animate.

I started with animating the moving parts of the

morphed/exploded truck. I placed the cameras following

the storyboard from the development phase. And

then I animated the MAN throughout the scene.

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3.2.2(B)(iii)

(iv) Hand-drawn animation

I used hand-drawn animation to animate the characters

from the MAN’s unconscious mind: CHILD and HYENA.

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(C) Rendering

(i) Blender: Eevee

For rendering I decided to use Blender’s real-time

render engine Eevee. So, I had to move all the produced

animation from Maya to Blender. For that purpose I

used Alembic cache, which exports 3D assets with animation

baked on the vertices of the 3D models. However,

Alembic cache doesn’t export the textures. So, I had to

reattach all the textures of the 3D assets once I imported

them in Blender.

I also added lights and fog to create an atmospheric environment

using abstraction in unconscious approach.

3.2.2(C)(i)

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(D) MUSIC COLLABORATION

In the interest of adding another voice to my design

project, I decided to collaborate with music department

of my school, the Grieg AcademyI sent the octopus

animation from my research phase to the faculty at

the Grieg Academy in hopes of finding a music student

interested in collaborating in my design project. There

were interest from several students but there was one

student, Jung-jae Kim, who showed the most interest in

the project, and based on his level of interest, I decided

to work with him. The collaboration with Kim resulted

in an original soundtrack for my animated film.

(i) Jung-jae Kim’s background

Kim is a Master student of musical performance at Greig

Academy.

He is originally from Korea and specializes in Jazz saxophone.

He practices free improvised music where he

uses texture-based sounds to produce atonal music. He

prefers this style because he feels that it gives him more

freedom to explore a more persona voice in his music

and discover his own qualities in musical performance.

However, he has a background in more traditional jazz

music, which has more groove and stable time, based on

harmony and chord structure.

But he got tired of using sound and structure that

already exists and he moved into more free jazz and

abstract music.

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He feels that free improvised music gives him the possibilities

of using different sound, technique, rhythm,

and time to describe higher range of emotions based on

colors, specific moments, and scenes. He feels that this

style helps him produce more effective, clear, and strong

musical voice.

(ii) Collaboration

The reason he had interest in collaborating in my design

project because he felt that there was an unknown

philosophy hidden in the visual style of the animated

film rather than the story. He also felt there were some

religious undertones based in Buddhism and Islam

that could be connected to his religious background of

Buddhism and his experience of travelling in Islamic

countries. He also thought that his musical style was a

good fit for my animation because of dark, chaotic, and

dissonant atmosphere that I had in my animation.

Kim started producing music using free improvised

music with his quartet of saxophone, trumpet, piano,

and guitar. He used noise based sound with an atonal

approach supported with some harmony. After several

iteration he decided to compose music for my animation

instead of using free improvised music. Through

composition, Kim felt he was able to define each moment

of the animation precisely, and I felt the same way.

However, Kim still used noise based sounds and atonal

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approach, i.e. irregular melody in relation to time.

The way we collaborated was I would send him my

work during the story and visual development phase

and he would try out different ideas in music. And we

went back and forth until I had a complete animation

and he made the final version of the soundtrack. Kim

felt that with each new iteration of the story and visual

style, he got new ideas, and he used the ideas that

worked throughout the collaboration to produce the

final version of the soundtrack. I feel that working with

Kim was a good match because we have similar methodologies

in creating our work.

(iii) Result

Kim used a software called Cubare to compose the noise

based soundtrack for the 6 minutes of the prologue of

my animated film. He uses sounds such as wood creaking,

helicopter propeller, thunder, and heavy rainfall. His

approach in picking these sounds was a bit abstract; he

wanted to use unpredictable sound to create a strange

feeling of unease in order to hint at the unknown philosophy

that he felt was hidden in the silent but uncomfortable

environment of my animated film. He was also

motivated by the inner-conflict of the main character.

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3.2.3 POST-PRODUCTION

(A) Compositing

I used Adobe After Effects for the 6-minute sequence

of the prologue in the same way I used it for animation

experimentation in the research phase. I placed the

animated texture of the morphed/ exploded truck to the

images of the shop scene that I rendered in Blender. I

applied vertical blur effect, strobophobic effect, fading

effect, and vignette to the final images of the entire 6

minute sequence of the prologue. I also did color correction

throughout the above mentioned sequence.

(3.2.3 (A))

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(3.2.3 (A))

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(3.2.3 (A))

(B) Editing

I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit all the shots

together and sync it with soundtrack that I received

from collaboration.

(3.2.3 (B))

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3.3 RESULT

The result of my design project is a 6 minute animated

film based on the prologue of my main story, the main

story itself, and the visual style that I developed for my

animated film. I see these three results as part of pitch

package that I can use in order to seek funding for a feature

length animated film based on the story and visual

style that I developed in my design project. The presentation

of the results of my design project can be divided

in two parts which are projection of my animated

film on layered screens and live-musical performance in

collaboration with Kim. The result of my design project

is not a finished feature length or short animated film

but a developed story and a visual style and the essence

of that story and visual style is presented through a 6

minute animated sequence from the prologue of the

main story.

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Screenshots from the Animated Film

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Blind Alligence. A sketch by Syed Hasan Abbas

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION

4.1 REFLECTIONS

I see my design project as a fusion of art, design, and

entertainment in an effort to capture the essence of

fear through visual storytelling. The art is embedded in

the use of metaphysics to get a deeper understanding

of my fears. The design is embedded in using that new

understanding and apply it in visual communication.

The entertainment values, as I see them, are embedded

in visual storytelling, presentation, and performance.

So, art, design, and entertainment values are utilized

throughout the project from research and experimentation

phase to design and implementation phases, and

up until the final result.

On a personal note, my design project has been a vehicle

of my virulent catharsis in relation to power structures.

In light of my own assessment, my issue with power

structures does not necessarily lie with those in power

but the ordinary public, including myself, who give

them power. I believe I, as part of a general population,

not only do I give them power, but also subject myself

to their power, and in that act of submission is where I

see the worst face of my fears. However, I didn’t want

to share my feelings in relation to power structures

just because of the above mentioned reason but also


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because I feel guilty for the negative impact of power

structures on the poor and unfortunate. I believe power

structures promote hostility among the general population

in order to retain power within those structures;

these structures are rigid and leaves very little to no

room for creativity and growth. I believe social structures

should become more fluid through the absence of

power.

Nevertheless, I come from a place where the negative

impact (unfair distribution of wealth, sectarian violence,

etc.) of power structures are more immediate, and I understand

that is the reason my feelings towards power

structures are more intense than someone not coming

from the same background. However, in today’s world,

more people (from the East) with similar background

as mine are coming to the areas (West) where people do

not have the similiar experience with power structures.

And the idea of sharing my essence of fear was to empathize

with anyone with similar feeling coming from

the similar background as myself, and also to create an

understanding with anyone who does not feel that way

because they come from a different background than

myself, in hopes of promoting tolerance and compassion.

I worked on a similar concept of sharing feelings based

on different backgrounds in Lodz, Poland during a

visual communication course called Rethinking Memory

Culture. During that course we worked with stories of

the holocaust victims and some survivors in an efforts

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to preserve and commemorate their memories through

innovation. I felt that a good way to commemorate their

memories would be to take a step towards eliminating

discrimination and hostility based on religion or creed.

I and my group worked on an idea of sharing stories between

people of the East and West who are/were effected

by war. I always felt that people in the East are not

fully aware of the atrocities of World War II and people

of the West are not that aware of armed conflicts in the

Middle East. So, the idea was to make people from both

parts of the world empathize with each other through

storytelling.

And after going through two years of understanding

my fears in relation to power structures, I realized how

people in the West feel about power structures a bit

differently than people from the East. Also, studying the

phenomenon of globalization I realized that we (people

of the East and West) would be seeing a lot of each

other and it is about time we get to know each other.

One way I am thinking about utilizing the findings of

this project in storytelling and visual style is to create an

animated series in order to share stories from the West

in the East, and stories from the East in the West. The

other way is to use the main story and the visual style

that I developed for my design project and address both

parts of the world through a single animated film. Or do

both an animated series and an animated film. I plan on

seeking financing for one concept or the other, either

through investors/animation producers or through


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crowd funding platforms such as Kickstarter. I am also

considering using collaboration platforms such as Artella

or Nimble. Regardless, I shall move forward with my

design project believing that storytelling can be used in

order to understand each other no matter how different

our beliefs, culture, or values are, and perhaps through

that understanding it will become easier to be kind to

one another.

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Capra, F., 2002. The Hidden Connections: A Science for

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Johnson, T. & Johnson, T., 2017. Animation Workers

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Joseph, P., Zeitgeist: The Movie Companion Source

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Jung, C.G., 2009. The Red Book = Liber Novus, New York:

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and the Middle East. Policy Perspectives, 7(1), pp.5–10.

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[Accessed March 25, 2019].

Milton-Edwards, B. & Milton-Edwards, B., 2017. Most

people in the Middle East are living on the edge. Brookings.

Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/most-people-in-the-middle-east-are-living-on-theedge/

[Accessed November 2018].

Anon, 2014. The Conscious, Subconscious, And Unconscious

Mind – How Does It All Work? The Mind

Unleashed. Available at: https://themindunleashed.

com/2014/03/conscious-subconscious-unconscious-mind-work.html

[Accessed 2018].

PAGE 160 of 204


APPENDIX

A1: PROLOGUE

BACKSTORY OF THE PILOT

The story takes place in the near future where the truck

pilot (MAN) is part of a neo-alchemist movement that

practices and advocates synthesized higher consciousness

to fight against global capitalist system. But he

doesn’t truly believe in the either this new movement

or the old fading system of capitalism. On this truck, he

is driving a carrier that holds a dark shadowy creature

(HYENA) in chains captured by neo-alchemists and

their witch-doctors. They believe this shadowy creature

can undo their efforts to overthrow capitalism and

returning the human race to their roots in nature. So, he

is transporting the shadowy creature to be incinerated

from existence.

PROLOGUE

In the midst of global critical issues his nightmares are

marred by his dreams. Iron twists out of the ground

as the dust and smoke settles in the wake of oppression.

A black hole in the ground spreads out as it eats

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everything in the haze of blood. A mother comforting

a child vaporizes in the coldness of nuclear winter.

Bloody bodies of schoolchildren flood a calm river. The

red moon splits in two on a starry night sky. Structure

of men calmly grows to life out of thin air in the stormy

ocean of tall trees. Lost leaves hang in the frightful ether

of nothingness. The space of a building grows as it pulls

apart its empty walls under the brightness of the fiery

sun. A traffic sign rises to the heights of outer space

piercing the bright blue sky and everything in between.

The musician shall lead the experiencers to the center

of the labyrinth where he shall join the rest of the band

surrounding the experiencers. A giant screen looms

above the center projecting moving images of the

story.

A cage large enough to hold a grown man, made of

rotten iron, swings in the red mist of smoke and fog.

Its door swings from side to side following the motion

of the giant cage.

A game of light and shadow takes place on the flesh of a

rusty old truck as it passes through the tunnels at night.

The wheels of the truck bounces off the bumps on a

cobblestone streets and the remnants of a bygone era.

The pilot tightens his grip on the steering wheel as he

breathes deeply. The carrier on the truck’s bed shakes

with the streets. The chains holding down a shadowy

creature inside rambles. The driver continues to breathe

deeply as he enters the central shopping street in old

PAGE 162 of 204


town but something catches his eye through an abandoned

shop window. He stares at the green glow piercing

through the glass from inside of the shop. Suddenly

he feels an impact as if hit by brick walls from all four

sides but everything around him is still and fading;

not breaking but morphing. His truck has grown into

something strange. Silence lingers in the air. But then he

slams open the truck door and leans out a little. He loses

his balance and falls out. He reaches out his hand on the

side of truck to get up on his knees and right hand. He

slowly begins to notice that the surface of his truck has

come to live as he sees the organisms within the composition

of the truck breathe, connect and grow in small

living systems in the dark ocean of life. He follows the

new strange structure as it reaches upwards towards

the purple sky in all its deformities. He gazes at the

other-worldly existence of this structure. It is no longer

his truck. He follows it to the back but inside the belly of

this monstrous structure all he finds are broken chains

and piercing sharp metals of the Trybinthe. He holds his

shattered body up as he bares his heavy breaths. Then

he feels the glow of the green stone piercing through the

window of the same shop that caught his eye before. He

limps towards it and stares at the green stone shining in

all its might as his curiosity turns into fear. At the same

moment the stone turns into a masked creature (CHILD)

with a giant white eye. Its hair flows in the neon oceans

of creation as the red mist settles on its horizon. He

stares at it in his reflection with sorrow and fright. The

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masked creature stares back at him in pure wonder and

joy. A shadow rises behind the pilot on top of the magical

wreck of his truck. The masked creature puts out its

hand on the glass in fear. The pilot turns around to face

the shadowy creature (HYENA) climbing on top of what

was once a carrier built to enslave it until its annihilation.

The shadowy creature that is the HYENA jumps through

the shop window and snatches the masked creature.

The pilot rises through the smoke coming out of the

shattered window and spreading out on the street. As

the pilot turns around and finds himself surrounded

by a crowd of shadows staring at him in sorrowful joy.

The buildings on the streets start to close-in on him as

he turns around in panic only to be stopped by a row

of houses moving at the speed of train. He jumps back

scared. As the train of houses clears out, he witnesses

a set of giant gears grinding through the earth in the

mountains. He approaches the hole in the ground created

by this machine and steps into a cave. The walls of

the cave breathe as if inside a belly of a machine. In the

center of the cave he finds the masked creature hanging

down from the roots growing out from breathing walls

of the cave. The pilot reaches out and frees the masked

creature but bright glowing eyes appear in the dark

corner of the cave. The pilot moves the masked creature

behind him. As the HYENA leaps towards them, the pilot

throws the masked creature out of their way. The HY-

PAGE 164 of 204


ENA pins the pilot down on the ground as it forces the

walls of the cave to his dark will and they begin to grow

out the roots to enslave the masked creature once again.

But just before the roots reach the masked creature

the pilot reaches out his hand and offers himself to the

roots instead. The roots begins to pulls him towards the

prison inside the walls of the cave but he keeps holding

on to the HYENA and takes it with him in the dark

abyss of enslavement. The masked creature stares at

them with wonder and sorrow and then starts to walk

out into the new world. But as it begins to step out, the

roots start growing out of the opening of the cave. These

roots begins to shift into the shadow of HYENA and the

pilot as it stands upright on its two feet towering over

the masked creature.

A.2 SCREENPLAY

FADE IN:

PROLOGUE – AWAKENING

EXT. DARK ABYSS – MAGIC AGE - ETERNAL NIGHT

Pitch black darkness

MAN (V.O.)

To be in a different time.

Speckles of light comes to life swirls toward the foreground.

As they come closer and closer their white light

in the swirls gives birth to color pigments.

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DISSOLVE TO:

INT. BUS – MODERN AGE - DAY

Empty streets and nature is observed through a moving

bus window. Drops of water move across the window

with varying speeds.

MAN (V.O.)(CONT’D)

A strange place.

FLICKER/DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FIELDS – NEW AGE - RED NIGHT

People float in leisure under the influence of higher consciousness

in their overly neglected comfort zones.


Surrounded by ambiguity.

They are strapped to the apparatus that opened the

gates to their dreamlands.


A melancholic calm among the chaos of the unknown

cosmos.

FADE IN TO BLACK.

FADE OUT TO:

EXT. THE DARK OCEAN – MODERN AGE - NIGHT BE-

FORE TIME

A boat floats across an ocean with no horizon.


This feeling that virulently blurs reality.

A man with fur coat wearing a plague mask sits in si-

PAGE 166 of 204


lence under an oil lamp in the boat. The boat goes into a

tunnel under a bridge.

FADE IN TO BLACK.

FADE OUT TO:

EXT. PARKING TUNNEL – MODERN AGE - DAY

The tunnel under a bridge comes out to a view of a

modern city in the mountains. The sky turns red as the

mountains morph in to a scattered crowd of people.

MORPH DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FIELDS – DREAM AGE - RED NIGHT

A man struggles to walk across the fields of people hovering

above the ground with only thing lifting them into

this transient experience is leeched on to their faces.


A moment that drowns me in dreams...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. DARK OCEAN – MODERN AGE - NIGHT

Tall trees rise and plunge with the swelling of the waves

in open sea. A Victorian ship sails across the woods

smoothly in stormy waters.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. BOY’S ROOM – NEW AGE – NEON NIGHT

A boy looks out the window of his room at futuristic tall

buildings.


...yet I constantly find myself floating in the bloody sewers

of reality

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FLICKER DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. RIVER BANK – MODERN AGE - DAY

Bloody bodies of school children in uniform float in the

river water.


EXT. OLD TOWN – MODERN AGE - DAY

Broad heel of a confident woman comes down on cobblestone

streets with firm resolve as if she is completely

sure of her destination.


EXT. VICTORIAN SHIP DECK – MODERN AGE - NIGHT

The guests dressed in exquisite clothes attend a fancy

dinner party.


EXT. CITY SENTRUM – MODERN AGE - DAY

Golden hair flows in the wind. Shimmering glow radiates

from the loose hair that attempts to block the sun

light. A person enjoys their refreshing drink from a

green straw.


EXT. DEVIL’S ALLEY – NEW AGE - NEON NIGHT

A futuristic suicide gang member smashes a neon flaming

bottle on brick wall that ignites a giant neon gang

sign.

The gang loiters with their fancy motor cycles in a dark

alley only exposed by abundantly used neon lights.


EXT. VICTORIAN SHIP DECK – MODERN AGE - NIGHT

Guests engage in delicate conversations. Men court

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women with chivalry that could have only been prevalent

several centuries ago. Women enjoy undivided

attention of charming men. They all feast together on

seemingly divine food.


EXT. WASTELANDS – NEW AGE - ETERNAL NIGHT

Modified tractors like monster trucks aggressively

plough through the trash fields.


And sometimes a nightmare...

FLICKER FADE OUT TO BLACK.

FLICKER FADE IN:

EXT. ABANDONED CABIN – MODERN AGE - DAY

An empty motorboat drives aimlessly near an abandoned

cabin.

MORPH DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. DARK ABYSS – MAGIC AGE - ETERNAL NIGHT

Color pigments dilutes into blood coming out of a HYE-

NA without a jaw forcefully submerged into the water.


that awakens me to an agonizing pain.

The HYENA is pulled out by an angry giant GORILLA.


I swam upstream in the rivers of time yet the current

keeps plunging me further down into the dark spaces of

an infinite abyss.

Red light flickering through the HYENA.

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PAGE 169 of 204

Nothing but darkness.

The HYENA suddenly opens his eyes.


May be it wasn’t a good idea to wake up today.

FADE OUT TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

THE LABYRINTH – PROPHETIC VISION OF THE FU-

TURE

EXT. WASTELAND – MAGIC AGE - ETERNAL NIGHT

The HYENA walks through the rubble searching for the

next piece of shiny item that might catch his eye. He is

interested in the aesthetics of something magical. Without

any reason or purpose.

But this time it was a rusty piece of metal that grabs his

attention. He picks up the twisted metal ring. Analyzes

it through different angles but then he spots something

more rusty. He clears out the rubble from top of it and

extracts a pair of antique vambrace. He tries them on. It

wraps itself around his arms and all colors of rainbow

flow through its lining.

Then suddenly, he hears a rustling behind him in the

woods...

He readies his weapons and aims it towards the sound.

He sees nothing. He closes his fists and move stealthy

towards the woods.

THE WOODS

Beyond the woods he comes to a clearing. A human

PAGE 170 of 204


CHILD sits in an upside down dead droid beetle looking

for something. She finds it and extracts it.

Soon HYENA notices fiery eyes in the woods behind the

CHILD. But a rustling behind him catches his attention.

As he turns around, a wolf jumps out of the bushes and

attacks him.

The CHILD reacts to the sound and wants to investigate

but another wolf jumps on the droid that she is sitting

in. She falls back and quickly turns around to abandon

the droid and starts to run into the woods.

The HYENA tries to fight off the wolf but the wolf is too

aggressive. So, the HYENA charges his newly acquired

weapon and blasts the wolf off of him. He then looks

back in the direction of the CHILD...

The CHILD is trying to escape the wolf but she trips over

a rock. The wolf approaches her rapidly. She tries to

back paddle on her arms but she gets pinned against a

tree. The wolf mounts her bearing sharp teeth ready to

devour her.

A sound of a charging weapon comes from behind the

wolf. The wolf turns around to see a bright light approaching

it decisively and the wolf is blown off the

CHILD.

The HEYNA comes out of the fading smoke and extends

his hands to the CHILD. She takes his hand and stares at

him gratefully.

She looks over his shoulders and suddenly embraces

him with all her might. He pushes her away and bares

his teeth in confusion but she wrestles her back to him

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PAGE 171 of 204

and draws his attention behind his back.

There is a pack of wolfs assembled in front of a giant alpha

WOLF. A vibrant magical moon glows behind them.

The HYENA moves in front of the CHILD.

WOLF

What you possess does not belong to you. Return it and

the CHILD shall not be harmed.

The HYENA aims his weapon towards the wolves. But

that doesn’t threaten the wolves and they charge at the

HYENA in packs. The HYENA shoots at the wolves with

multiple blasts as him and the CHILD starts running.

The wolves chase behind them in full speed.

THE TREES

Just when the wolves starts to catch up to the HYENA

and the CHILD, the HYENA pulls the CHILD to their left

and quickly climb a tree before the wolves could manage

to turn and catch them. As they reach the top the

MAN turns around and with a blast from his vambrace

sets the base of the tree on fire.

The wolves reach the tree and begin circling it looking

for an opening to climb.

The HYENA observes the wolves to make sure there is

no way they can get to them. He turns around to look at

the CHILD and check if she is okay but then he remembers

why he saved her. He looks at her hand clasping on

to something. He needs to know what it is. He needs to

know if it is shiny. He needs to have it.

PAGE 172 of 204


The HEYNA approaches her hand. The CHILD retrieves

her hand but he forces her hand open and takes a green

GEM from her grip. The CHILD protests but he holds her

back while staring at this magnificent gem.

OWL

Truly magnificent isn’t it?

A wise OWL approaches them from behind the leaves. It

approaches the CHILD and caresses her hair.

OWL (CONT’D)

But its beauty doesn’t hold up to its value. Even a gem

like that is worthless if it doesn’t serve any purpose

beyond its aesthetics anymore.

OWL softly touches the HYENA’s vambrace. The HYENA

retrieves his arm in disgust.

OWL (CONT’D)

Do you even know what it is that you hold so securely in

your iron fist?

The HYENA looks at his fist and then glances towards

the CHILD who looks as if she doesn’t know anything.

OWL (CONT’D)

It is nothing but waste. Remnants of human ambitions

that they believed would save them from themselves.

Sometimes you can find these elements in its purest

form inside droid beetles, which are some of the few

technological inventions still living from the human era.

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PAGE 173 of 204

You see, even beyond their graves they have found a way

to haunt us and corrupt the only sole survivor of their

species.

The OWL looks at the CHILD.

OWL (CONT’D)

But for you this stone doesn’t serve any purpose. No

need to hold on to something just because it is nice to

look at.

OWL moves behind the HYENA while staring at the

GEM. The HYENA clutches the gem. The OWL points

behind the man.

OWL (CONT’D)

Oh look, a UNICORN!

The HYENA turns around and the OWL snatches the

GEM from the HYENA and flies away.

HYENA

MotherFUCKER!!!

The HYENA starts to go after the OWL. The CHILD tries

to reach out for them but have they moved quickly beyond

her reach.

The HYENA jumps from one branch to another trying

to catch up to the OWL. He loses sight of OWL for a

moment but then spots it sitting on a branch at a distance.

He picks up his pace and the OWL starts to fly

away again. He takes bigger and bigger leaps, reaching

branches further and further apart until there are no

more branches. The OWL stretches over the sky with

PAGE 174 of 204


the GEM jammed between its claws.

The HYENA jumps into the sky reaching for the GEM.

He is just an inch away from the GEM. The OWL loses its

grip on the GEM and it starts plunging into the darkness.

The MAN starts to fall following the same trajectory as

the GEM. The GEM disappears into the darkness.

THE ABYSS

The fall of HYENA is broken by cold surface of still water.

He drowns into its depths. He can’t see anything but

he hears a deep voice of an intelligent OCTOPUS.

OCTOPUS

Wouldn’t it be smart for you to abandon this foolish pursuit

of something that you don’t even fully comprehend?

Something that brings you nothing but fatigue and frustration.

And soon that bodily expenditure shall turn into

mind fucking misery. Would you still feel any worth in

all the trouble that you are willing to go through for this

worthless piece of stone?

The GEM floats graciously between the sea creature and

the HYENA. The HYENA stares at the gem for a moment

and then extends his arm to reach for it. The OCTOPUS

sprays the ocean with black ink. The HYENA can’t see

anything, so, he charges his weapons and shoots them

downward with full force until he plunges out onto the

river bank.

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THE RIVER BANK

The stone lies a few meters in front of him. He

reaches for it but he notices a serpent slithering

beneath the leaves in the waters. A black COBRA

emerges behind him. The HYENA turns around and

stares at the COBRA in paralyzing fear.

The COBRA launches itself with open jaw and

naked fangs onto the HYENA’s face. The COBRA

just gnaws at his face and the HYENA eyes are soon

filled with blood. The COBRA slithers back into the

river with the GEM.

A figure emerges out of the water reaching the sky.

A GODDESS. She approaches the HYENA with the

serpent slithering across her body. Her hair floating

as if she is still underwater. The serpent turns into a

dress covering her body.

The GODDESS wraps her arms around the HYENA

and brings him closer to her. She whispers in his

ears.

GODDESS

Why bother with all these savages over a piece of

jewelry?

The HYENA gets lost in her eyes. Her scent intoxicates

him.

GODDESS (CONT’D)

It is silliness. It’s child’s play.

She moves his hands around her waist.

GODDESS (CONT’D)

PAGE 176 of 204


This, well, this feels nice.

Her dress starts to vaporize from where he touches her.

GODDESS (CONT’D)

Do you really need anything else?

She puts her mouth on him. He kisses her back. He forgets

everything else until he feels sharp teeth piercing

his skin around his mouth.

THE ARENA

He opens his eyes. A monster has its jaw locked on

his lower face. He tries to scream but his mouth is not

available to him at the moment. And then it gets taken

away entirely as the GORILLA rips off half his face with

his mouth. The HYENA screams - A hallowing scream of

a creature without a jaw.

GORILLA

Time to die, bitch!

HYENA

(mutters)

FUCK!!

The GORILLA grabs him by his throat and plunges his

head in swamp water. After filling his lungs with some

water the GORILLA pulls him out and slams him on the

ground and smashes him, punches him, and pounds on

him to an inch of his life. He tries to block the assault,

he tries to fight back but to no avail. The GORILLA is too

fast and strong for him to use his weapon. The HYENA

starts to accept his fate. He no longer see the worth in

fighting for it anymore. The odds are stacked against

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him. He has no chance. He should have listened to everyone

that warned him before the GORILLA.

Then he catches a glimpse of the GEM in the GORILLA’s

chest. It is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Another

punch from the GORILLA forces his eyes towards

his weapons wrapped around his arms. He tries to

charge these weapons but can’t. He doesn’t have enough

strength. But he tries to will back his strength. He focuses

all his energy to these weapons on his arms and

attacks the GORILLA with a mighty blast. The GORILLA

falls far away.

The HYENA gets up with fire running through his body.

He turns around and charges the GORILLA followed by

a vicious attack. The GORILLA tries to return the punches

but almost to no damage to the HYENA. The HYENA

strikes the GORILLA with mighty punches charged with

blasts from his weapon. He then throws a godly punch

that launces the GORILLA in the air. The HYENA molds

the fire from his weapon into a blade, catches the GO-

RILLA mid-air and slice opens its chest.

He reaches into its open chest and pulls out the GEM.

The GORILLA’s carcasses morphs back into a dead CO-

BRA.

A RAVEN in the sky blocks out the sky and drops the

CHILD wielding a dagger on the HYENA. The CHILD

pierces the HYENA in the neck and he drops the GEM.

The CHILD grabs the GEM and moves away from the

HYENA. She quickly puts the GEM in her right eye socket

of the MASK.

PAGE 178 of 204


The HYENA manages to move back up to his right knee

and left foot still holding the wound on his neck. He

turns to find the CHILD kneeling on her feet with his

GEM embedded in her MASK. He raises his other arm to

blast off the CHILD…

CHILD

Mother

He sees tears coming out of her MASK. He relaxes his

hand and lowers his arm a little bit trying to understand

what is happening.

EPILOGUE - THE BRIDGE

RAM

Do not hesitate

An old RAM approaches the HYENA coming out of an

old gate behind him. The HYENA keeps staring at the

child.

RAM (CONT’D)

Do not let the tears cloud your judgement.

The RAM moves around the CHILD still in trance.

RAM (CONT’D)

The CHILD is beyond help now.

Some of these animals that you ran into are just trying

to stop her from using these GEMs. They still believe

there is hope. They think they can change her ways.

They think they can save her from herself.

And then there some that even enable her habit because

they carry the same hope as she does.

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But these animals’ minds are getting corrupted from

using all the chemical ELIXIRs developed by humans as

a last resort to save their kind.

But I never indulged in anything that was tainted by

human intelligence.

So, I know for a fact there is no hope for her.

She will keep using these GEMs to see her mother.

She fails to realize it’s just the memories of her that the

GEM manifests in the dreamlands.

But, it is probably a way for her to forget what she witnessed.

To forget that her mother is dead.

Like the rest of her kind.

EXT. FIELD – RED NIGHT

A CHILD sits in front of her mother as she is brutally

leeched upon by a rogue droid beetle.

RAM (CONT’D)

That is why she will keep on looking for this GEM after

GEM clinging on to this false hope of being with her

mother again until there are no more GEMS left.

A beast is seen in the sky with wires running down to

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the apparatus used by people.

RAM (CONT’D)

You see it is not her state of mind…

MONTAGE – VICES OF MEN – EXTREME CLOSE-UPS

EXT. PUBLIC PARK – MODERN AGE – DAY

A child sits on her father’s shoulders as they stroll

through a park with their dog.

EXT. EMPEROR’s PALACE – EARLY AGE – DAY

A Roman emperor holds his child while waving to a

crowd on his chariot.

RAM (CONT’D)

…but the core essence of her existence that is corrupt.

INT. SPORTS AREA – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

Mixed Martial Art fighters engage in a bloody battle as

the blood thirsty crowd cheers them on.

INT. GLADIATOR ARENA – MIDDLE AGE – DAY

Chained slaves engage in a bloody battle as the blood

thirsty crowd cheers them on.

EXT. BATTLE FIELD – ROMAN ERA – DAY

Crowd cheers the Roman soldiers and throw garbage at

crucified rebellious slaves.

RAM (CONT’D)

The disease is in the composition of her blood.

EXT. AIRFIELD – MODERN AGE – DAY

Crowd cheers and wave American flags as the soldiers

return home.

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PAGE 181 of 204

INT. HOSPITAL – MODERN AGE – DAY

A nurse arranging medicine as she notices the sound

of a drone flying over and then with a loud bang

everything turns black.

EXT. VILLAGE – MODERN AGE – DAY

A soldier behind a mounted machine gun in helicopter

shooting civilians on the ground.

RAM (CONT’D)

It is hard wired in her DNA.

EXT. AIRFIELD – MODERN AGE – DAY

A small child hugs his dad as he returns from battle. His

wife embraces him.

EXT. CITY CETNER – MODERN AGE – DAY

A man unplugging his Tesla and driving it with a satisfied

smug smile on his face.

EXT. CITY CENTER – MODERN AGE – DAY

A child walking among the cars in dust and smoke with

a bucket and rag to clean cars.

RAM (CONT’D)

Every cell in her body is cursed. Nothing can reverse

that. No amount of stones, interventions, or assistance.

INT. DESIGNER STORE – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

Epic struggle between two extremely passionate people

over a divinely discounted piece of clothing.

INT. BEDROOM – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

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A couple have extremely cinematic intimacy as their followers

shower them with infinite likes and comments.

RAM (CONT’D)

The simplicity of a CHILD is no match for the complexity

of the beast that enslaves her kind time after time.

But the sad thing has always been that they bring their

own beasts to existence.

EXT. POLITICAL RALLY – MODERN AGE – DAY

A charismatic politician gives a speech to a thunderous

crowd.

INT. BANK – MODERN AGE – DAY

An old woman sits down at the desk negotiating a loan

plan with a banker.

RAM (CONT’D)

They feed the beast until the beast outgrows them and

doesn’t fit their agendas anymore.

INT. BEDROOM – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

A person caressing their newly bought unopened iPhone

box next to their old iPhone.

INT. TEMPLE – MIDDLE AGE – NIGHT

A preacher gives an extremely passionate sermon.

INT. EVENT CENTER – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

A tech guru stands in the spotlight as he highlights his

vision for their future.

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PAGE 183 of 204

RAM (CONT’D)

And then they blame each other for it.

EXT. CITY CENTER – MODERN AGE – DAY

People protesting against each other. One nice protestor

throws an egg on a hateful protestor.

RAM (CONT’D)

Sometime they even manage to get rid of it. But sooner

or later they replace it with another one. And the cycle

goes on.

They extinguish any ray of hope they get. Gods, science,

technology, and social revolutions were all corrupted

and manipulated to feed their core basic desires.

In their last days they thought transcendence towards

higher consciousness might help them.

EXT. DESERTED CITY STREETS – MAGIC AGE - DAY

A ripped poster of the wall saying BE FREE

An empty apparatus box saying GATEWAY TO HIGHER

CONSCIOUSNESS

RAM (CONT’D)

To be free of all corruption.

EXT. PLAYGROUND – NEW AGE - DAY

Children sitting in circle as one of the boys passes

PAGE 184 of 204


around his collection of rare coins. One of the other children

puts a coin that doesn’t belong to him in his pocket

in a way that no one sees him.

INT. LUXRIOUS MEETING ROOM – PALACE – DAY

A man in a suit meeting a man dressed in traditional

clothes.

RAM (CONT’D)

To finally rise above animalistic instincts.

INT. COMMON ROOM – MIDDLE AGE - NIGHT

A night of drinking and fornicating.

INT. NIGHT CLUB – MODERN AGE – NIGHT

A night of drinking and fornicating.

RAM (CONT’D)

To live free of desires and selfish ambitions.

EXT. FOOTBALL FIELD – MODERN AGE - DAY

A graduating student throwing his cap in the air.

INT. COUNTRYSIDE – MIDDLE AGE - DAY

A family building a house together.

RAM (CONT’D)

To abandon fucked up ideas of happiness.

INT. MATERNITY WARD – MODERN AGE – DAY

A mother cradling a newly born baby.

RAM (CONT’D)

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To live in tranquility without the need to gain or the fear

of loss.

EXT. MCDONALD’s – MODERN AGE – DAY

An obese child with a hamburger in one hand while

playing with the happy meal to with the other.

EXT. TRIBAL VILLAGE – MIDDLE AGE – DAY

A child cries in the middle of a raid by foreign forces.

RAM (CONT’D)

But even after inventing the technology powered by the

MASK that was supposed to give them the passage to

achieve all of that, their dreams and ideas of happiness

remained the same. The MASK just became another

tool for them to do shitty things more efficiently until it

brought them to the brink of extinction.

EXT. FIELDS – DREAM AGE - RED NIGHT

The people are plugged in to their apparatus.

RAM (CONT’D)

It is not your sympathy that this CHILD needs. It is the

fire from the weapon you wield. It is this moment in

time for you to make a calculated decision.

The HYENA moves towards the child with determination

and rips out the GEM from her mask. The CHILD

helplessly tries to get the GEM back but the HYENA

smashes it on the ground and crushes it with his boots.

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RAM (CONT’D)

Do not fear their loss. It is what kept them in their cages.

Rise above that fear and let the fire burn away her disease.

It is the only way. Everything else has failed.

The CHILD crying tries to put the GEM back together in

panic. But then throws her head down sobbing.

RAM (CONT’D)

Or would you rather entertain false hopes of a CHILD

and reignite her cycle of misery?

The HYENA steps back and charges his weapon. It turns

black and its lining blazes with red fire

The CHILD removes her MASK and picks up the powder

remaining from the GEM. She looks at the HYENA.

The HYENA gets ready to shoot...then the expression on

his bloody face changes slightly...

[THE END]

A.3 TIMELINE

NON-FICTION

EARLY AGE

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STONE AGE

BRONZE AGE

IRON AGE – CLASSICAL AGE

MIDDLE AGE

MEDIEVAL

POST-CLASSICAL

MODERN AGE

CONTEMPORARY

FICTION

NEW AGE

NEAR FUTURE

PURSUIT OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

DREAM AGE

DISTANT FUTURE

ABUSE OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

DREAMLANDS

COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

MAGIC AGE

PROPHETIC VISION

POST-APOCALYPSE

HUMAN EXTINCTION

A.4 BACKSTORY

THE NEW AGE – PURSUIT OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

In the near future, on the edge of the NEW AGE, the

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gateway to HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS was more readily

available to people then clean air to breath.

After the world was left in ashes with constant wars,

consumerism, and imperialism the pursuit of higher

consciousness began as a last resort to save mankind

from themselves. A group of radical scientists known as

the NEO-ALCHEMISTS synthesized the journey needed

to transcend to that level of consciousness. Their work

was based on a labyrinth that was designed by Himalayan

SUFI MONKS.

These MONKS lived for generations after generations

isolated in highest mountain ranges of Asia working

on a path that once traveled would guarantee HIGHER

CONSCIOUSNESS to the person who reached the center.

And after centuries of their scholarly labor they managed

to create a perfect path to transcendence known

as the LABYRINTH of FEAR. But the journey through

this LABYRINTH was so long and treacherous that only

few brave souls ever tried and only one ever reached

the center and made it back alive. He was a SUFI MONK

that volunteered to test the LABYRINTH to confirm its

integrity.

But then a group of NEO-ALCHEMISTS came up with the

idea of making this journey as easy as breathing air. So,

ten of them begin this journey with biometric apparatus

that would track the chemical changes in their

minds throughout the journey until they reached the

center and traveled back to the exit. The journey was

treacherous. Not everyone made to the center and only

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one managed to come close enough to the exit that the

retrieval team was able to salvage the data but not her.

Based on this data these NEO-ALCHEMISTS tried to map

the chemical changes that were triggered in the brain of

the martyr scientist during the journey and the radical

shift of brain composition when she reached the center.

After years and years of attempts they were finally able

to recreate the same changes in the brains of human test

subjects after making them inhale a perfectly balanced

blend of rare chemicals and miracle herbs that came to

be known as the NEON ELIXIR. The resulting behavior

of the subjects apparently confirmed their transcendence

or so they believed.

The NEON ELIXIR was mass produced along with a special

apparatus known as the MASK of SHANGRILA that

would assist in vaporizing the NEON ELIXIR and make

it ready for use immediately. These seemingly magical

equipment and potion were made available at a cheap

cost so anyone can afford it. And most people did. The

experience was like nothing else they had experienced.

The excitement spread worldwide. But no one actually

used it to reach HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS. Most people

used these triggers to escape their daily problems and

find peace and tranquility. But gradually some people

started figuring out the power of this new state of mind.

The power of imagination in this new world. They began

to use this opportunity to have fun. To experience things

that they couldn’t afford in real life. Be with people that

they could only fantasize about. To transform them-

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selves into a person that they believed they could never

truly be in real life. It became addictive to a point that

less and less people were leaving this state of trance

that came to be known as DREAMLANDS.

To solve this problem neo-alchemists designed droid

insects based on the appearance and pesticide functionality

of BEETLES to attend to the bodily needs of the

people who were too busy exploring new possibilities of

their mind.

And soon enough the entire planet became deserted

only littered with lifeless bodies of people lost in their

DREAMLANDS.

There was no longer any need of governance and administrations

and authorities. There was no one spreading

any propagandas, waging wars, drawing borders,

saluting any flags, or preaching of salvation. Everyone

was free. Free to roam in their minds seemingly to bring

their dreams and desires to life as they pleased in this

new platform.

But the world around them crumbled.

People took their last breaths in their dreams. No one

was reproducing anymore. The population begin to sink

gradually.

The humanity now lingered on the brink of extinction as

they entered the age of dreams.

THE DREAM AGE - THE WANDERING MAN

The SUFI MONK who was the only person to ever complete

the original LABYRINTH once had an affair with

a street prostitute that he managed to keep secret his

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whole life. He fell in love with the woman. During his

last breaths he was convinced that it wasn’t his unmatched

discipline that he perfected for decades in the

temples but her love that helped him complete the journey

in the treacherous paths of the impossible LABY-

RINTH. It was the energy harnessed from her tragic life

and the fact that she trusted him with her heart despite

all the reasons not to that turned into his desire to see

her again and brought him out alive.

Out of their pure love came a son. But due to fear of

repercussions from the SUFI TEMPLES and the brothel

madam they trusted their son to a common friend that

raised him in a boutique monastery that thrived at the

center of a charming town off the coast of northern

lands.

Growing up this child felt an uneasy emptiness. That

he was missing someone that he has never met. Something

that he has never experienced. He tried to follow

the footsteps of people around him to find his purpose

in life. To find something he could do while he is here.

In doing so, he also joined the others to roam in the

DREAMLANDS. But more time he spent doing what others

were doing more he became aware of that fact and

more he began to disengage. And one day he simply lost

the motivation to continue his farce life. So, he became

the first MAN in a long time to voluntarily step out of

the DREAMLANDS.

Or so he thought.

THE MAGIC AGE - THE PROPHETIC VISION OF THE

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FUTURE

When he stepped outside there was nothing but trash and

dirt everywhere. Not even his memories of himself. When he

looked at himself he saw a HYENA looking back at him. But

he felt the same as before.

He had indeed not stepped out of the DREAMLANDS but

wandered into a place in his sub-conscious that he wasn’t

aware of. There he wanders as a HYENA where the human

race has become extinct but the world still desolates under

the effects of their actions. It is a prophetic vision of the

future.

THE OUTCAST HYENA

The HYENA wanders the wastelands after he was expelled

from his pack for being unmotivated. He wasn’t participating

in their scavenging expedition with full heart so they told

him to disappear where they would never see him again. So,

he wanders around collecting things that he finds visually

pleasing to him and he does nothing else.

THE CHILD LEFT BEHIND

In the new age of living in synthesized dreams children didn’t

survive that often because their mind were still fragile and

developing. Most parents plugged in their children but forget

to check up on them since they rarely ever step out of their

imaginations. Due to the vulnerability of their mind the children

would often involuntarily step out of their dreams after

intense experiences like waking up from nightmares. But

when there was no one to plug them back in they wandered

the wastelands crying for their mothers and eventually died

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of starvation and neglect.

However, some responsible parents tried to meet their

children in the land of COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.

COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS resided in the deepest

parts of the unconscious mind which was considered

inaccessible for longest time. However, the wide spread

and long term inhabitance in the gateway to higher consciousness

known as the DREAMLANDS helped built a

bridge between the sub-conscious and the unconscious

mind and made it accessible to some people. This phenomenon

opened doors COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

where the time and space in dreams are shared with

other people who also managed to wander into their

deepest depths of consciousness.

One CHILD’s mother made perfect use of this opportunity

to keep an eye on her girl.

She set a time and place to meet her girl in the collective

conscious twice a day. And whenever her CHILD won’t

show up she would step outside her dreams and help

her CHILD step back into the DREAMLANDS and once

she was securely plugged back in the mother herself

would go back in as well.

However, one time when her CHILD didn’t show up she

tried to step outside but she forgot that it was the day

of her routine maintenance of her body. So, when she

stepped out a droid BEETLE was still attached to her

body. The conscious person confused the BEETLE. The

usually motionless body suddenly in motion made the

BEETLE feel under threat. Its survival instincts kicked

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in and made it extremely aggressive to a point that it

mauled the mother to death in front of a fully awaken

CHILD.

THE LONE SURVIVOR

The CHILD never managed to plug herself back in. But

the trauma of watching her mother being made a snack

by the BEETLE left her filled with hate and desire for

revenge against these droids. She would try to hurt

them any way she could whenever she saw one until

she figured out how to kill them. She was killing them

by numbers and scavenging their bodies for food to

survive. She couldn’t find any other humans. She was all

alone.

During this scavenging hunts she found a green GEM inside

the stomach of a dead BEETLE. It was a rare find so

she kept it. She would look at it whenever she felt down.

She came up with different games she could play with

the GEM. Once she put the GEM inside the cavity of the

right eye socket of her MASK and it magically attached

itself with great force. She became scared and tried

to remove the GEM but she couldn’t. In this terrifying

moment she felt helpless. She couldn’t do anything but

wish for mother to come and help her. And she did.

She saw her mother before her eyes. Telling her it is

okay. She is here with her now. She held her in her arms.

She could feel the warmth of her body. Her breath on

her neck. She was there. She was real. She was real to

her in that moment and time. She told her to not worry

about the GEM. That it looks good on her. It com-

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pliments her red hair. It is a gift from the universe. It

brought her mother back to her CHILD. With this GEM,

you can have anything you want. Anything you can imagine.

So, she did. She kept her mother. She built a magical

shelter in the trees that touched the skies. She spent

as much time as she could with her mother completely

ignoring that her mother doesn’t act beyond her memories

of her or her desires for what she want her mother

to be. But she is happy. That is what matters to a CHILD.

And nothing else.

However, the next morning she woke up, her mother

was gone. Her house was gone and everything she built

in it. She tries to will everything back to reality but it

doesn’t work. The GEM has lost its color.

So, she goes on and kills several more beetles until she

finds the same GEM again and again.

SOLDIERS OF THE FOREST

The CHILD would often wander into the forest to use

these GEMs. The forest is filled with ANIMALS who once

served under the leadership of an old RAM as SOLDIERS

OF THE FOREST. The RAM banded these animals together

to clean-up the forest from the left overs of human inventions

including NEON ELIXIRs. However, some of the

animals became exposed to these inventions which gave

them magical powers and abilities. After being corrupt

with these powers they send the RAM into exile since

his leadership didn’t serve their new lifestyle anymore.

These disbanded SOLDIERS came across the CHILD

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once and noticed that she was alone and suffering,

so they decided to help her. But first they wanted to

stop her from using the GEM to see her mother in the

DREAMLANDS because it kept her from living in the real

world with them. But the CHILD wouldn’t quit. So, they

banded together once again but with a new mission to

get rid of all the GEMs that the CHILD or anyone else

comes across.

But not every ANIMAL felt the same way. A RAVEN

believed that the CHILD should be able to do whatever

made her happy so it decided to help her in finding

more of these GEMs anyway it could.

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THANK YOU :)

A Virulent Catharsis by Syed Hasan Abbas

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