theoraclemachine

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 150/150

The End. Yay! The last page is a homage (not a copy, a homage…) to Hergé, for the end of Tintin’s Flight 714. Also a bit of a homage to that masterpiece ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (a big influence, even if Raider’s opening seems a little dated…) Thrilled to have arrived at this marker, Goal 2!Goal 1 was to write the screenplay. That took many years.Goal 2 was to draw it out, to share it with…

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 149/150

Almost the end… (‘beautiful end, my friend’ as sung by The Doors)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 148/150

At the risk of stating the obvious, seems to me that shared (& often secret) experiences are at the heart of relationships. (Hey, maybe some of us forget that sometimes?)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 147/150

After our protagonists’ glimpse across the universe, normality returns. (But will things ever be the same?)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 146/150

My other favourite page. I don’t think it’s a particularly expensive VFX shot. It’s a low budget movie. Plus even a low budget goes a long, long way in Cape Town (and a filmmaker like me has a little experience in stretching a budget..)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 145/150

Because a ‘grand-ideas’ screenplay needs a grand ending!

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 144/150

Conceiving the inconceivable… (My favourite page)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 143/150

I was tempted, after the top panel, to have our hero Scot say ‘So you’re the code-word?’, but of course that would have made it a different type of screenplay…

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 142/150

In the frozen moments of time, our heroes witness the AI resurrection! (And yes, it gets even grander…)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 141/150

I’ve always liked the idea of something secret & magical happening, whilst time has stopped for everyone else. (I think audiences like it too – like being let in on a secret, when no one else is looking…)I’ve played with that idea in my early 16mm film experiments – this I made in about 2002.

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 140/150

Gone…? (Keeping audiences guessing is vital) (even if audiences have a strong suspicion of what might come next…)

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg139/150

TOM pg139/150

Seems like the right page for a Friday…! Cape Town has been enjoying Burning Man type trance parties for years, since the ’90’s, though more recently we have Afrikaburn, which is modelled on the BM experience.This is an example of the enjoyable nature of secret knowledge. Us, the audience, knows what the explosion is all about, and we enjoy seeing the party crowd catching up with what we already…

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 138/150

[theoraclemachine]

TOM pg 137/150

Generally I found it hard to put every shot I imagined, onto the page, but for this cool sequence, I took the time…

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 136/150

Action!

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 135/150

The end (of the comic) is nigh!

[theoraclemachine]

TOM page 134/150

The Final Showdown! Or maybe not… (The desert-type location can be both beautiful & cost-effective* to film in!)*Cost-effective for Cape Town productions – we have some exceptional sparse regions close by.