Thursday 14 July 2016

Filming It

I have previously discussed how to film Poul Anderson's Mirkheim (see here) and his "The Game of Glory" (see link from link). Two scenes in Anderson's The Merman's Children (London, 1981) have always struck me as filmable.

(i) The merman king says:

"'...to us, these waters are now banned. For us, the light will always blaze and the bell will toll and the words will curse until the Weird of the World.'" (p. 15)

We should simultaneously hear:

these words;
a Latin exorcism (see here);
a tolling bell -

- and see:

the houses of the merfolf city, Liri, rocking and crumbling;
the crystal dome shattering into bright shards;
a fisher boat with a chanting priest, the tolling bell and a blazing light.

(ii) "'Westward, maybe to Vinland or beyond. Whole vast realms of nature, Faerie, and man must be there, untouched by Christendom, open for our adventuring...we might become gods.'" (p. 256)

From "Westward..." to "...adventuring...," we should see the merfolk swimming at speed (see image). While hearing "...we might become gods...," we should see the coast of North America.

In a film trailer, the blazing light at the end of (i) could fill the screen, then fade to be followed by (ii).

(The linked exorcism is of a person but we only need to hear the opening words: "Exorcizo te, omnis spiritus immunde..." etc.)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Altho the Mer-king and his people at first tried to simply migrate to new lands, Poul Anderson was too good a writer to settle for something as straightforward as that.

And I continue to believe "The Game of Glory" might be a good choice for film makers willing to take a chance with one of Poul Anderson's stories. I've thought of setting it mostly in the Bahamas.

Sean