MovieChat Forums > Elephants Dream (2006) Discussion > Good graphics but can anyone explain the...

Good graphics but can anyone explain the plot?


The title is elephants dream, not elephant's dream so i guess it isn't meant to be a dream by an elephant? Is it just like some matrix rip off?

Help me understand this someone... Please!

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According to the members of the team, who made the movie, the plot was deliberately designed to be vague and thought provoking.

The "what the heck did the story mean" is a common reaction to almost everyone who has seen it.

The only basics that the makers of the film agree on, is that Proog is imagining almost everything, even The Machine itself, e.g. when he "dances" across the "gigantic chasm" on top of the typewriter keys, while Emo just walks across, an (apparently) normal floor.

One of the main goals for the film was to show off what the open-source, freeware Blender 3d package can do (in the right hands of course). To that end, the Orange project pre-sold ~2,000 DVD's to help fund the movie, most of the sales no doubt going to users of the Blender program.

I'm one of the people who bought the DVD. The movie and all the files (albeit ~4GB of them) that were used to make the movie are now freely available for download. For anyone interested in seeing how a DVD quality movie is constructed, getting your hands on the actual files and ...(with the right resources i.e a very fast computer or access to a render farm) being able to re-render / modify add to the movie is fantastic. It's been released under a "Creative Commons LIcense", which basically means that as long you credit the people who created the original content, you are free to do anything you like with the files.

Mike

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I've watched it a few times now. I do believe there is a deeper meaning in the story then what was apparent.. though i doubt the plot really needs to be analyzed as much as the metaphor..

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What about: it doesn't mean anything! It's just a fun ride in some complex computer graphics.




Your lies have killed more men in a day than i have in a lifetime. --CSM--

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The wikipedia article[/url] to this movie features a pretty nice (but still very vague) theory about the story and meaning:

"All of the elements in this short film represent the workings of a computer in a surreal fashion."

and, more exactly:

"Towards the end they come to a scene that represents the connection to the internet as a many tentacled beast. Emo exclaims "It's not real" as he cannot see it, even though the old man warns him that it does really exist.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephants_dream

Did anyone find any other interpretation attempts on the web? Please post some links, could be really interesting...

(And, a little bit offtopic: I enjoyed the production design of this movie so much. It remembered me a little bit to this psycho world in the movie "The Cell" (with Jenifer Lopez)...and when this giantic hand appears in the background at the end (maybe the colossus of rhodos?! don't know...): This moment had some of the magic when in "Matrix: Revolution" Neo arrives in the machine city. Uhhh...yeah...the production design is so stunning. Wuha.)

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In my opinion, it doesn't really mean anything. It's painfully obvious that this is a technology demonstration (and I wasn't impressed by THAT either. The animations looked horribly artificial and all of the objects screamed "COMPUTER GRAPHICS!!!") with absolutely no thought put into the plot. Very disappointing.

The reason that many people are trying to make sense of it is that the human mind abhorrs chaos and will find patterns in just about any noise. Be it the face of the Virgin Mary on a slice of burnt toast or some sort of logical concept in 10 minutes worth of absolutely unmotivated incoherent dialogue.

Had the characters not spoken at all, I would have enjoyed the short a LOT more. Like this it was painful and I had to fight the urge to skip because the dialogue was so embarrassingly bad.

Next time, open source community, find someone who can write.

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You've just helped me along my path to enlightenment. Before I read that post, I was in a state of stagnation and did not even realize it. Now I can move on a bit more.

However, though I haven't seen the movie, I bet I'd disagree with you, simply because I tend to give anything that even makes an attempt at being different the benefit of the doubt. I assume this movie makes an attempt (and possibly succeeds) at being different?

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Proog represents the unenlightened old guard, who believes we can't escape "the machine". He truly sees its power and menace, and is both threatened and awed by it. Emo represents a younger generation who has grown up with "the new reality"; he is unimpressed by, and fearless of, "the machine".

Proog tries to teach Emo to fear and respect "the machine". When Proog realizes Emo will not submit to his reality, and because he believes "the machine" to be punishing both him and Emo for their insolence, Proog strikes Emo.

That's the general argument, which can apply to any number of "paranoid status quo" vs "inevitable new reality" contexts - whether moral, political, religious, etc.

For example, given the film's objective (showcasing the power of Open Source), the context could be read to be the world of software and high tech. So "the machine" represents the hegemony of proprietary software through ugly design, and the fact that its staying power is based on the fear, uncertainty and doubt of escaping it. "The new way", then, represents Open Source, interoperability, community collaboration. In a few words, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

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Try to pretend there is no story and all the dialouge there is pretty much said by maniacal madmen who have no idea what they're talking about (and need to get off the peacepipe) and you'll do fine.

I like this short for the graphics, which is the main reason to watch. The story was a mess, if they wanted a story so badly to blend in with the really cool visuals they should've put more effort into it.

Stuff like this reminds me of "Movie Poop Shoot.com" from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

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