The Pillars of Creation: Stories Of a New Dawn
Welcome back to another year of blogging on everything related to film production, cinematography, and my personal journey throughout all of it!
It’s been a good couple of months during which it has been rather quiet on here. However, this doesn’t mean that I was inactive during that time. With the start of the new – and my final (!) – academic year, I am finally able to present to you what I have been working on during this summer.
Despite my rather poor health during most of summer, I was lucky enough to not only being able to work on my dissertation, but also to develop an idea for a short film along with its own script. An idea, which I can proudly say has been picked as one of three for our Final Major Project module this week: The Pillars of Creation!
Alchemy
I’ve always been fascinated with the concept and premise of Alchemy. The thought of being able to generate one element from another, and to create something new, not only let me to watching the anime Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood back in the day, it also led me to read Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist at the age of 17.
While I know that Alchemy carries no scientific basis nowadays, back in the day when guys such as Paracelsus dabbled in the proto-science of Alchemy – and with Alchemy’s origin in the allegorical to its further development into scientific methodology and controlled experimentation – they laid the foundations of what is today’s chemistry, founded the basis for many cures by means of trial and error, and expanded knowledge in the field of astronomy and philosophy.
Yes, they believed in the creation of the ultimate remedy, the “Elixir of Life” or the “Philosopher’s Stone”, and were considered to be rather wacky in their pursuit of gold and creating an artificial human being – a homunculus. And there were surely a lot of tricksters who hijacked the field of alchemy for their own personal gain.
However, what I found the most intriguing about alchemy was not only the beautiful symbolism, but also the inherent premise that everything existent in the universe is somehow connected and that nothing gets lost – neither energy nor information – another concept that is shared by quantum physics. Add a little of mysticism surrounding the various formulas and you have the perfect mix to tell a story.
The idea that everything originates from the same source and can be obtained through mixing, and especially the creation of artificial humans – already a concept in Jewish mythology with the Golem – reminded me of outer space, the universe, and lastly Science Fiction itself. The Big Bang, the development of molecules, which become increasingly complex until they move from inanimate materials to organic materials and animate beings – a process called abiogenesis – to the concept of A.I. and cyborgs as artificial human agents.
The longer I thought about it, the more I realised that some concepts and ideas of science fiction bear resemblance to concepts in alchemy. And I felt that there was a story hidden, waiting to be told. So I conducted some research:
My Research
One of the earliest findings on alchemy you could possibly make is the description of the Tabula Smaragdina – the Emerald Tablet – which supposedly carries not only twelve allegorical verses about the nature of the world itself, but also the inscription: “As above, so below. As within, so without.”
This tablet – here presented as an artist’s expression – has allegedly been written by Hermes Trismegistos, a person, who turns out to be fictional as he is considered to be an amalgamation from the Greek God Hermes and the Egyptian God Thoth, the latter of which is considered – amongst others – the god of wisdom, science, art, and the dead and who carries the serpent staff; a symbol that is still used today to signify pharmacy and apothecaries:
Across time, there have been numerous alchemists that made it into the annals of history, such as e.g. the Swiss Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, the Danish Tycho Brahe and even Isaac Newton.
However, in contrast to the Western branch, there are also two other strands of alchemy, such as the Chinese and the Indian branch, all of which originated from Egypt, spanning the history of alchemy not only across three continents, but also across four millennia. Etymologically, the word for Alchemy either originates from the Arabian al-kīmiyā – meaning: “to cast the metal” – or from the Arabian khémia – meaning “transmutation of earth”.
Thus, it is no wonder that Alchemists adhered to the belief that materials can be purified, matured and perfected, leading to the pursuit and transmutation of ‘base metals’ into ‘noble metals’ such as gold, especially since gold symbolised the eternal life, the quintessence, the aether. In order to protect the formulas they created, they hid them behind veiled symbolism, with elements and formulas sometimes being arranged in transmutation circles such like this one:
As such, it seems only natural that anyone who would seek a prolongation of his or her own life would be interested in alchemy. Which led me to the thought that being able to transmute or create all elements, being able to create life, and becoming immortal would be the key definition of being a god.
With all this background information, I was slowly but surely able to develop an idea that would connect Science Fiction with Alchemy.
The Pillars of Creation – All is One
As above, so below. As within, so without. All is one.
"Mark Zane’s life is about to find a lonesome end amidst the stars when his rescue capsule runs out of oxygen. With only six days left, he places his fate in an Alchemist’s manual and having nothing to lose, he transmutes all elements necessary to survive. As he sets course back to Earth, his curiosity leads him to create two humans. However, his opus magnum is about to be destroyed when an asteroid hits the spacecraft. Facing the inevitable, he transmutes himself –and saves the lives of Adam and Eve."
Yes, my idea ties into the Christian belief system while simultaneously picking up the concept of panspermia – the idea that life on earth has originated somewhere else. While science, evolution and Christian belief seems to be at odds regularly, I figured that it might be fitting the brief regarding the common Science Fiction adage and the scientific prospect that mankind might be tasked to migrate to another planet and subdue it if we want to survive Fermi’s Great Filter – it might be fitting the brief. Thus, I’ve attached the slides to my pitch in the following:
Caveats
If you wanted to argue that this is a challenging task that I’ve set my course mates, our art director Eline and myself, then yes, I agree. I am fully aware that this project is ambitious and has many opportunities to fail horribly and I would not have pitched it if we hadn’t started the pitching process three months early. However, with the crew that I pitched and their collective ambition to make this project the best that they possibly can, I decided that I would be up for the challenge.
Looking back at my previous work, I realised that – while secondary research and theory is my strong forte – my practical application is lacking and not at all up to the same standard. As the industry doesn’t hire cinematographers based on their concepts, but based on their visual output, I realise that I need to step up my game tremendously. Which is why I set myself the task of filming a story that is imbrued with symbolism to be reflected in the visual storytelling AND which requires a strong cinematography by pure choice of its genre. My hope is that these challenges will force me to up my game – quickly and efficiently, and that I will be able to use my Minor project and my FMP to do so.
Since Science Fiction is a tremendously difficult genre to master as a student, it is imperative that the style is firm and set and the visuals as well as the symbolism befitting to the genre. Thus, I’ve already held a first read-through of our script with my Director Has, walking him through my ideas and imagery; followed by a production design meeting with our Art Director Eline. I was happy to realise that Has and I had the same visions and that I was able to hear his perspective and that Eline will incorporate natural elements into the architecture of the spacecraft. This already led to a rewrite of the script, which is currently in its third draft and will be collectively read by all crew members next Monday.
And for anyone who could possibly feel offended by the idea of Adam and Eve having anything to do with outer space and/or Alchemy, feel free to instead imagine the Old Norse equivalent of Adam and Eve – Ask and Embla - who were taken from driftwood that was found at the beach.
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