> > I'm doing a script for a short scifi film about a future revolutionary > guerrilla warfare in Northern Europe. My problem is how to show > to the audience in a simple way that the things are happening in the future > (yes, I know that a guerrilla war itself is a sign, but..). The main > character sits in covered ditch in the woods, where he's planning the > attacks to an area nearby. I would like to add to the setting something > simple (but not too obvious like clothes) that gives the audience a > quick clue that he's living in the future. I was thinking that he might > have a small TV-set to pick up news and information, where the situation > is being explained. > > Does anybody have some experience on this matter? Have you seen a film where > this "futurizing" was done in an elegant way? > > > Jukka Aronen > Dept. of Pol. Science > Helsinki University Jukka....This may sound strange, but in the environment I work in, we do a lot of "futurizing" and one of the latest developments is in palm-top or wrist-top computing...you could have his(her?) communications system be a miniaturized plam-top system, into which he is speaking, and then cut to a picture of the person to whom he is speaking on a screen in the palm-top system. I would also include computerized maps that show in the screen of this palm top system, and the maps would be three dimensional video graphics of the places he is planning to attack. The way to make this planning look incredibly inauthentic is to think that far in the future, we will still be using paper maps. Most systems will be voice-activated (that's what the most current developments in systems seem to be) with the ability to switch from one type of visual display to another very quickly. I've not seen this used in another film recently...but then, something like this wrist radio stuff has been around since Dick Tracy comics, and there have been innumerable scifi films using these devices...I think the important thing to remember is that very high quality graphics and interactivity are going to be the significant features of future systems... Good luck.... Sandy Dwiggins. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Sandy Dwiggins Internet: [log in to unmask] + + Building 82, Room 111 Phone: (301) 496-7406 + + Bethesda, Maryland 20892 Fax: (301) 480-8105 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------+