Beowulf

Programming / to stage

This is one of the most expensive and perhaps the least profitable of all my ideas – but wow, but yes yes, but no, but yes, yes of course, how amazing it would be – I cry with envy.

Now you know, when I find a bone, especially a big one, I don’t let it go easily.
Beowulf is a super-bone.

So I kept thinking about it, chewing on it, and wondering what I’d see on stage, while regretting not having shared with you a few scenes, with the prince’s real words.

You know – or you didn’t know, it doesn’t matter – that this poem begins with a funeral and ends with another funeral.

So I was imagining the start, the funeral of the first king: his body is taken to the sea and immersed.
I was thinking of Jeremy Soule’s music to accompany this scene and then my madness hit me in the forehead again.

– fortunately, I don’t take drugs, that would be a catastrophe.

All of a sudden, I saw this, with our audience under Virtual Reality.
Another blow to my poor head.

I had thought about not offering a set – I stand by this proposal for those spectators who want the live-vintage option.

The others, under helmets.
What do they see?

This scene – They will be either on the shore or near/in the drakkar that sinks into the abyss.

This is where I know I know, we have to create the set … this is where the money starts to sink like the old king’s drakkar.

I’m sorry. – no, I’m not. Let’s go on.

If you are in this sinking ship, what do you do then?

Can you imagine that?
You are sinking at the same time. I put you in FPS view – first person – you are “your eyes” – and you see the shoreline in front of you, full of people, the other boats moving away and the water bubbling up below you

And there, the music – do you realize the technical means that already exist to restore the music/the sound ?
You know that it is exploited with a concrete shovel?
We have the means to distribute music with the accuracy of real life.
The sound can be as close as possible to the conditions dreamed by the director
And on stage, what happens? ah yes, sometimes the sound runs from left to right – from front to back.
But seriously?

Whereas if you are sinking with the funeral boat, you won’t hear so well what is going on.
If you’re lost in the crowd, you won’t hear much more.
If you’re in a wind tunnel, you’ll hear one word in 30.

Isn’t that cool ? Of course it is.

So, you sink with the boat, the immense treasures dedicated to the sea and the body of the King.
Your hearing is blurred by the bubbling water that takes over the boat.
You realize that you are also sinking.

Now you have a choice.
Or you sink – and that’s it – no more show. That’s mode: alternative ending according to BioWare.
Or you struggle and get back to the shore and it continues, you can live the rest.

I agree, I add here an option that does not appear in the text: the most valiant warriors accompany the ship to the open sea, then they abandon it in the waves.
But, according to the customs of the ancients, to wish to stay and accompany one’s lord in death is not nonsense.

I am not even talking about those who stay in the ship to steal the treasure.
But, hey, who pointed out to me that the text speaks of two Beowulfs, hmm? The first one disappears very quickly, that’s right, son of the king and father of the other one, that will be all for that one – please, let me play with my text.

So some spectators will be forced to go to the surface and go to the shore.
The others will be caught in the crowd – they will see “almost”, they will hear less.
The classic spectators will be in the room, yes yes, without helmets, the way I imagined it yesterday.

And – as this text is a flood of epic scenes, opposing heroes of unparalleled violence, who explode walls like I explode wasps, brutally, without mercy & breaking everything around, can you imagine “being” in the middle of it all?
You will have to move and quickly – I do not guarantee the survival of your avatar – this will be the game.

Okay – you won’t see “everything”.
Okay, you don’t hear “everything”.
Okay, you will often be very busy not dying, falling into a rift, drowning, taking a dragon’s breath in your face

but Beowulf, you will have lived it as no one else has lived it.

The best part is that if you try it again, you won’t experience it in the same way.
You won’t be in the same places.
You will not hear the same phrases, the same music, the same sounds, because it will depend on your location and your state…

And seriously, frankly, dare to tell me that the day Altair announces this, there will be no one? pffft, I win, it will be full.
We can put all the VR difficulty levels I had imagined – we can have a “helmet in the couch at home” version – it will be a little less terrifying, but it will have to exist.
And even if staging it costs all the gold in the world twice – well, okay, it’s too expensive.

lalala song….

No – it will be a monumental success – it is obligatory – by the text – by the actors I have in mind to say it – by the VR entry that will be BioWare-style, 4th end.

It seems silly, this proposal of “death” of the avatar, right?
I bet you anything that this proposal will attract the most players, seekers of strong experiences – the challenge of the “one shot” is powerful.

If your avatar dies, okay, let’s say the “one shot” is too much, and if you paid for the whole place – you’ll be at the super-novice level of space, granny puts on her helmet and sits in her seat to watch the beautiful show. But that’s a bit awful, no ?

The biggest objection – which I don’t care about – is this: this mode of representation definitely breaks the principle of: everyone sees and experiences the same performance/show.

This proposal is the exact opposite: nobody sees, lives, hears the same show.

Those who are in vintage mode hear almost everything – and see a little. They hear according to their placement in the room – they shouldn’t think they are privileged – placement “sea” “shore” “cities” “mountains” “lagoons”…. and the sounds that go with it.

Those who are in Virtual Reality mode deal with what happens to them – they hear some of the actors’ voices – some of the music – and are very busy surviving in a setting struck by legendary heroes.

So no, no one is experiencing the same show.
And then there…. but how proud I am of myself –

Can you imagine living like this the huge epic stories that are in the movies?
What I don’t understand is how it’s possible that all this doesn’t exist yet.

What’s the point of inventing Virtual Reality to send us to watch sharks ???? Or to propel us into the virtual living room of the virtual buddie ????
Not understandable. Logical error. Trololo Song.

So: fixing the logical error is necessary.
What are you doing Shepard? We’re waiting for you to move on.

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