The essence of a movie can usually be described in one sentence, which gives you enough information to get a feeling what the movie is about. This sentence has been formed based on an idea. When that idea has been thought up the script writer start expanding on it. Together with set builders and many other people involved in preparation they are the architects who create the world in which the movie will be set. This can be a single room or many locations, anything is possible.

When preparation is done the director and actors step into the world and take care in filling in all the small details. They do this by improvising, making changes to scenes or shooting it a specific way. All this takes places within the confines of the concept for the movie.
When the movie finally has been edited, it’s up to the person that goes to the cinema to step into this temporary reality. If the movie is a good one you’ll disappear in it, the world around you no longer exists and you forget that you are sitting in a chair at the cinema. You are actually in the place that is shown on the screen. The ending of the movie is the shock that takes you back to reality. If the movie was powerful and had some messages that resonate with your own ideas they might even become part of your own values. If that’s the case, the whole team behind making the movie has made a masterpiece.

Inception uses this concept, but instead of movies they use this on dreams. Christopher Nolan ( Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight) shows his vision on what’s possible in your dreams, but has he managed to create a masterpiece? Continue reading →