Dreaming with your eyes wide open

Rain. The tears of heaven. The hero draws his sword. “It’s time!” he says, “I’ve been waiting for this day for years. This is the day of my revenge!”
Opposite him stands his bitter enemy. Years ago, they were allies, friends. Until the night of the bloody betrayal. One kingdom fell, a new one was born. The empire of a despot, the empire of a ruthless emperor.

Two friends, two opponents, two swords.
The rain pelted down on both fighters, wetting the shiny metal of their blades, dripping from the sharpened edges. Water, cold, colorless, lifeless. Soon, the swords would be wet with another liquid. Blood, red, warm, and full of life.
Just a few more moments, and…

My girlfriend enters the room. “What are you doing?” she asks, “watching a movie?”
“No,” I say, “I’m dreaming with my eyes wide open.”

The dream journey

Today we are brave and dive deep, far below the surface of human perception. We explore the effect of movies on the human mind. A good film can captivate us so much that we completely forget the reality around us. We forget where we are, we forget our worries, we become completely absorbed in the story.
Such a magical film experience can be compared to a dream. I have tried to summarize this similarity between film and dreams in one sentence.

Watching a movie is like dreaming with your eyes wide open.

If we accept this “dream experience” as a basis, then many new ways of explaining films open up to us. Suddenly, concepts such as dream logic, encoded symbolism, and dream associations become valuable tools that offer us new ways of understanding films.

As already mentioned in several other articles, humans are extremely complex beings. A computer’s operating system only knows two states: on and off. That’s all.
Human states of consciousness cover a much broader spectrum:

1. Wakefulness
2. Trance/meditation
3. Hypnosis
4. Dream state
5. Sleep state
6. Coma
7. Delirium

Movie Meditation

What happens to us when we become completely captivated by a story? How can we describe this state? Let’s give it a name: Movie Meditation. True to the motto: You name it, you claim it.
Because watching a movie can actually be compared to meditation. A skilled filmmaker can put us into a trance.
A director could be compared to a hypnotist who uses the power of film images and the effect of film music to hypnotize us.

Hypnosis, you say?

People in a state of hypnosis are more receptive to being influenced. They allow themselves to be guided more by their feelings. Their immediate surroundings disappear and they concentrate on their thoughts, feelings, and inner images.

Let’s now take a look at how hypnosis works and what elements hypnosis has.

How can the state of hypnosis be induced?

Physical methods: muscle relaxation, controlled deep, even breathing.

Through language: slow, soothing speech, vivid language, repetitions, creation of recurring speech patterns.

The eye: Fixation on an object, following a moving object.

Through images and visualization: The person is sent on a dream journey with the help of language, to a new place that reflects our feelings and desires.

Interrupting methods: The mind is overloaded, confused, unexpected movements, unexpected actions.
All these techniques serve to bypass the critical, analytical mind.

How can these methods be used by filmmakers?

Controlled eye movement:
A dark room, the eye is directed to a luminous object. This is the viewing experience in a cinema. Consciously directing the eye movement to a single moving object. The eyes follow the movements of the object.

The dream journey:
A clear, symbolic film language, that is the guided journey. A dream journey.

Overloading the mind:
The mind is overloaded with too much information in order to bypass the active mind.

Causing confusion:
By changing time (slowing down or speeding up)
Changing the angle of view
Changing colors
Unusual camera movements
A changed reality

Film music
Use of deep, subtle tones. Rhythms that resemble a heartbeat. Music that evokes a strong emotional response.

Hypnotic film editing
Connecting shots that fit together through association, not logic.
Example: Cutting from movement to movement, from light to shadow, to the same colors, to the same symbolic motifs.

“Invisible” cuts are also possible, i.e., shots that slowly merge into one another. The goal is to edit the film in such a way that it is not ‘seen’ but “experienced.”

Dream logic
Associative thinking in dreams is crucial. It is not about causality (one follows two) but about connections and emotions. Two things feel the same or have a common characteristic.

For example, two shots that each feature a red element may have a connection for the viewer in their “dream logic.” Similarly, a round table and then a view of a round clock face.

Symbols
Dreams are encoded in symbols. A film language that deliberately uses symbols has an immediate effect on an emotional level.
Example: A villa with a metal gate looks like a prison, while a wide plain symbolizes freedom.

What is more important? The story or the viewer?

A good storyteller doesn’t tell a story, he tells THE VIEWER a story. The viewer’s reaction is crucial. Their emotional reaction. Their “dream journey,” their reaction to symbols, rhythms, and music.
The best story is worthless if it doesn’t reach the viewer.

It is the filmmaker’s job to transform their story into dream elements, emotions, and symbols in such a way that the viewer can develop an emotional connection to the story.

This means that if you want to tell your story in a more exciting and emotional way, you have to strengthen the emotional connection with the viewer.

A good film is a dream journey, a shared journey between the viewer and the film.

Don’t start with the story

From all these considerations, we can conclude that it is a mistake to start with the actual story right away. A transition period is needed to lead the viewer from their familiar world into the dream world of the film.
This is probably one of the reasons why feature films start with a title sequence showing the names of the actors and the production.

It is a controlled transition from the viewer’s current reality to the new reality of the film. In addition, the fading in and out of the names creates a basic rhythm. This rhythm, this constant repetition of text symbols, also has a hypnotic effect.

Two films

So much for the theory. Let’s look at the above methods in practice. I have selected two films by two great directors: Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and Steven Spielberg’s “Duel.”

Alien (1979)

Alien is director Ridley Scott’s second feature film after “The Duellists.” The film Alien has become a myth and has spawned numerous sequels. Today, we are not interested in the story behind the making of the film and its impact on later films.

We are only interested in the “hypnotic” effects in the first few minutes.

The film:

A black background. We see outer space, with stars in the background.

We pass a black planet that is illuminated from behind.

Soft background music,

Slowly, very slowly, the word “Alien” appears.

An eerie sound mix of knocking and noises, almost biological.

We see the spaceship “Nostromo” passing by very slowly.

Element of time: Time is deliberately slowed down. Everything seems unreal, like in a dream. This unfamiliar sense of time draws us into the film. A change in time is a hypnotic element.

Now we are inside the spaceship itself. The camera shows us—also slowly—the interior of the ship. The ship appears dark and neglected.

Symbol: The dark spaceship in its poor condition symbolizes an old enchanted castle, a castle with a monster. The film is set in the future, but the symbolism remains the same. This spaceship is a dangerous place. Dark, black—we fear the darkness.

The sounds of the spaceship also seem biological, as if the ship itself were alive. We hear the heartbeat of the spaceship Nostromo.

Information overload: We see an object moving rhythmically in the background, the camera moves on, we see more chambers of the spaceship, lots of equipment, we don’t understand how the devices work. The spaceship is too complex.

A sheet of paper moves. Why? Can there be wind in a spaceship in space? That doesn’t make sense. However, if we see the spaceship as a symbol of an old castle, then it makes sense. In an old castle, there are leaks, open windows, and wind blowing through the castle.

We are on the dark bridge of the Nostromo. Until now, all the sounds have been very quiet, only in the background.

Now an acoustic shock: the Nostromo’s computers start working loudly, bright lights, loud noises

Information overload: many programs are running, many sequences are playing out.

Then back into darkness again. Quick changes between light and dark.

Only now do the lights in the Nostromo flicker on. Together with the camera, we enter the Nostromo’s “waking room.”

Time delay: The crew also wakes up very slowly. Several dissolving cuts overlap in a dreamlike manner. Slowly, slowly.

Only after more than 6 minutes—we see the crew eating—does time run at normal speed. We are now in the new reality. The film begins.

But the 6 minutes before took us out of our world and prepared us for this start.

ONLY NOW DOES THE FIRST DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CREW TAKE PLACE.

All the impressions before that were just light, music, colors, and movement.


I’ll repeat once more:

  • Several transitions between darkness and light
  • Slowing down of time
  • A biological, slow heartbeat of the spaceship
  • Information overload (We don’t understand everything, so only our emotions can help us.)
  • Strong symbols (darkness, the dangerous castle, the crew waking up from their “death sleep,” even the name ‘Nostromo’ refers to a book by Joseph Conrad, who also wrote “Heart of Darkness.” The Nostromo is our heart of darkness.)
  • Hypnotic, dissolving, self-contained film cuts


All these methods were deliberately used by Ridley Scott to draw us into the story. We are now in the story. We are ready for the story.

Duel (1971)

Duel is Steven Spielberg’s first film to be released in theaters. The film was actually shot as a television movie, but the audience response was so positive that additional scenes were shot for the TV movie and the film was released as a theatrical feature.

Over the years, Duel has become a cult classic that is still referenced in other films today. Duel was the film that gave Steven Spielberg the breakthrough he had hoped for in Hollywood. Spielberg originally planned Duel as a silent film with no dialogue.

Here, too, we will watch the first few minutes together.

The film:

We start in the dark, in a garage

The car drives out of the garage, but something seems different: the perspective is unusual.

We don’t see the perspective from a human point of view, but from far below, as if the car itself sees where it is going.

To put it even more strongly: we are not driving the car, the car is driving itself.

Several cuts that overlap and dissolve into each other.

We are in a city, surrounded by many cars.

After about a minute: we hear the radio.

A long drive through a black tunnel

Two long strips of light at the top of the tunnel pass us by.

We focus more on the radio

A short drive outdoors, then several tunnels, always with the two strips of light at the top of the tunnel.

Detail: The radio is unclear in places in the tunnel, we concentrate even more on the radio.

Several cuts, we are now on a straight road.

The radio stations change several times.

After about three minutes, all the other cars have disappeared, we are alone on the road.

After about 3.5 minutes: telephone noises, a radio show that broadcasts “funny calls.”

The entire background turns brown and green, and the red of the car stands out very strongly. A strong color contrast. The only thing that moves is the red car.

We only look at the movements of the red car and listen to the unusual radio show.

This is the first break in reality, a “prank” call, a staged call asking an absurd question. The call is not “real,” a first indication that even ‘reality’ in the film is no longer “real.” When reality is no longer the basis, anything is possible, anything can happen.

After almost five minutes, we see the “opponent” of the film for the first time. The rusty truck.

The truck is labeled “FLAMMABLE,” meaning it is a fire hazard. The truck is “dangerous”; it is our opponent. In addition, it leaves behind heavily polluted air. This is also a danger; the main character coughs.

Now it gets even better: We hear the loud noise of the truck driving by, the radio is still on, the voice is no longer understandable in terms of content, but it can still be heard in the background as a monotonous voice. It is a deliberate overload of the ears and the brain.

We can no longer actively take in the information. Logic no longer helps us. Only emotion.

The effect is strongest when the main character overtakes the truck. The voice on the radio and the sounds of the truck virtually merge.

No, this is not a coincidence. No, this is not JUST good sound engineering, it is much more than that. It is a deliberately planned psychological measure to influence us, to tear us away from reality, and to “hypnotize us.

You can laugh about it now. Consider it a ‘coincidence’ or ”nonsense.” But the special thing about it is: it works. The effect works. And it is so cleverly incorporated that we, as viewers and listeners, do not actively and consciously notice it.

I’ll gladly repeat it again: it works, we are now IN the story and we let ourselves be led. We are EXCITED to see how it continues.
Our reality, the reality of our everyday lives, is far behind us. We are now alone on this road with this dangerous truck.

All these effects have reached us on an emotional level. We now allow ourselves – willingly and voluntarily – to be emotionally captivated by the film. We are ready for it. We have been psychologically prepared for it.

More than five minutes have already passed: Only RADIO, VOICES, COLORS, STREAKS OF LIGHT, DARKNESS, CHANGE, and now the reduction to the red car in the brown, gray landscape.

What has been missing so far? There has been NO DIALOGUE; the main character has not spoken.

Only now, after more than six minutes, does the film really begin.

Judge for yourself: if you wanted to hypnotize someone, do you think the following elements would help you?

  • Shifting perspectives
  • Alternating darkness/light
  • Streaks of light passing by
  • Monotone (radio) voice
  • Overload of sensory impressions, voices, and noises
  • A colorful, red object that moves in stark contrast to the background
  • Use of symbols

I know you’re still skeptical. I understand that. All this talk of hypnosis and hypnosis techniques. Isn’t that ridiculous? Overanalyzed? Far-fetched?

A counter-question: Steven Spielberg is considered one of the best directors of all time. He has been a successful director and producer for many decades. Why? What does he know that others don’t?

Yes, we can talk about scripts, actors, and special effects.
But do these other things explain Steven Spielberg’s success? Could it be that Steven Spielberg sees the world differently? That he uses the medium of film differently?

Could it be that it’s not so much about the films we see, but about the methods a director uses to make films touch us emotionally?

How do we humans think? How do we allow ourselves to be seduced, impressed, carried away? How are we influenced?
Can a film hypnotize us? Could it be that a good director uses precisely these means to influence us, consciously or unconsciously?

I don’t know whether Steven Spielberg used all these elements consciously or whether he simply followed his instincts. (Addendum: I only found this information after writing the article. Before filming began, Steven Spielberg told the production team that the car model was not important—but the RED COLOR was important to him. So the color of the car was no coincidence; Steven Spielberg actively planned the effect. Because the effect works.)

All these elements are there. They can be used. And they work.

They work particularly well because we don’t actively notice them.

A final question for you: If you were a director and wanted to touch your audience emotionally, how would you achieve this? What methods would you use?

A suggestion: You probably have one or even several favorite movies. Consciously watch only the first few minutes of these films.

Pay attention to:

  • Information overload (too many unfamiliar things, too many questions that are not answered)
  • Changes in lighting
  • Changes in color
  • Use of music / multiple layers of sound
  • Emphasis on a central element (color, shape)
  • Use of symbols
  • Breaks in reality (unfamiliar sociological groups, unfamiliar rituals, unusual places)
  • Strong changes (fast, slow)

All these elements overload our logical center. The film “overwhelms” our logical center, leaving us with only the emotional level. Feelings, emotions. And that is what prepares us for our dreamlike or nightmarish film journey.

 

One last example

The film “12 Angry Men.” An unfamiliar place, an unusual event, the symbol of the courtroom, the symbol of a verdict that is a matter of life and death. All of this together is already exciting, but one essential element is still missing. Information overload.

And this information overload happens in the first few minutes of the film. The 12 jurors are shown, the camera moves very close to the jury bench. We see the 12 jurors in close-up. They are 12 different people whom we only see briefly. That is the information overload. We don’t know who these people are, how they think, we don’t know their names.

“Logic” does not help us here. It has been deliberately overloaded. All we are left with is a feeling. Who are these people? What do they think? How will they decide?

This is the emotional level, and we are ready to engage with the film.

We are ready for our cinematic dream journey.

Ready for our dream.

We will dream. With our eyes wide open.