Opening Titles: The Traversers Book of Riddles

Production begins!...Well, at least the opening titles begin!

Opening credits are something you think about and think about. Shall I use animation like some of my favourite openings form movies have (The Charge of the Light Brigade 1968, Flash Gordon 1980) or quick black screen with white text which seems to be the norm with this type of mystery genre? These ideas bounce through your mind, but of course, as I find I always do in my productions, score or soundtrack dictates action.

So one bright, flowery, wind-swept morn, I was driving in my car listening to a classical radio station and this beautiful and mesmeric piece came on. I was already cursing the radio host because I know they sometimes do not announce the track but talk about something pretentious in their day to day and was afraid I would be haunted by the fact that I may never know the name of the tune. Thankfully, this particular host did relay it's title. Curse retracted. Then I raced home to my computer and went to a public domain site to see if there was an adequate recording of this centuries old piece and if it was clear to use. Once again, thankfully, there was.

The piece spoke to me. It told me the story. Two Traversers, one male, one female synch up their time devices and enter code. This time machine pairing is a romance sequence, not your soft drink guzzling, nerdy hacking, all night MTV style sequence, but a thing of beauty; a ballet.

What's the particular track? Well, you will have to watch the video when it is done,

I had always known what the time device would look like. It was something I have had in my possession for a good 10 years now. I always coopt pieces I have in my home. I don;t like anything standing idle. When I was a child I would always find an object in the house or garage and repurpose it for my make-believe endeavours. A brass pipe with a tightly wound elbow attachment and screwed on tightly spanner would become the world's first portable machine gun - you know, the one the armaments and ordinance higher- ups would not sign off on? Nothing has changed in my films and I knew since purchasing a particular piece from an antiques store in Wentworth Falls for one single Australian dollar that this piece would be the Time Machine.

It sat on a table outside the shop. A beautiful silver trinket box with blossom decoration that showed its age and neglect. It was Japanese, possibly late 19th century or early 20th, but the kind store owner only wanted a dollar for it. "The inside felt had gone and it has been kicked around."

I looked at it, it was still beautiful, perhaps even more so. What has this box seen?

My mind raced through the 20th century. I gave her my one dollar and when my mother saw she asked if she could restore it. She did a wonderful job of lining it with black felt and removing some of the tarnish, and it sat on a small antique table in front of my Chesterfield for years. Every time I opened it I felt I was opening some magical device. There was never going to be another time portal.

The Time device: The Traversers Book of Riddles.

You see, the trinket box was not unique. Sure there was a craftsman, maybe even a small factory, but several were made in Hiroshima and after the disaster the distinct metal in these boxes retain something of the radiation that allow postwar scientists to develop them into time devices. That, or just turn an every day item converted into a time device: To be explained later.

The Japanese box diving its Timey Wimey stuff. From the opening credits.

What I can tell you is that for time travel to occur there must be 2 device with code that is paired. I have shot 80 percent of the this preamble and now I am looking for a beautiful lady with lips as red as the hologrammatic time sphere to give the piece its romance. Stay glued to this post.

In addition to the repurposing of the silver trinket box I also needed to display the Time Jammer (The device that is used to intercept and block time travel by identifying and blocking the code) This couldn't be a complete object but something bastardised.. Here you can see several pieces of technology created in the last century, such as an elevator control box, 1950's type pad, mantle clock face and early micro monitors put together to form something that could exist in a mid-century government time war office.

So, Happy that I have embarked on some actual filming. Once casting and filming of talent for the opening titles is through, it is onto the next stage: Production Proper. Please pair your devices for further updates.