Dream of: 10 March 1995 "See The Demon"
I was walking through the halls of a large building which appeared to be a school or college. In fact, I was already enrolled in classes for this term; but I was thinking I would like to be studying something different. Classes for all sorts of subjects were given, and all I had to do was decide what I would like to take. Suddenly it occurred to me that I would like to learn how to be a camera man to make movies.
As I came to a door which looked like an elevator, I paused because it looked as if the door was going to close. An oriental man leading a group of perhaps twenty children marched up; it looked as if he were going to lead the children through the door. I thought they were going to crowd ahead of me; but they also stopped and waited.
I continued my musings. If I were a camera man, I could combine so many different areas of knowledge together in my work. For instance, as I looked around me, I thought about how I would need to know more about light. I would need to know how to adjust the camera to make the best pictures in varying shades of light.
I had never even held a real movie camera. Was it not too late in life to start learning something like that? I thought about George Tirl (a professional camera man whom I had met in Dallas). He had made many movies. But now he wasn't plying his trade. I figured that if I pursued it, I could still learn a lot about movie cameras and how to operate them. If George Tirl could now afford to take time off, I could consider the time I had already missed as time off and maybe catch up to him.
Snapping back to attention, I saw that the door in front of me was open and I walked through. But instead of walking into an elevator, I found myself in another room. I immediately realized it was the classroom where movie making was taught; about 20 large movie cameras were arranged along the wall to my right. Two fellows were standing nearby; I asked one if the class were going to be given next term. He said it was, and I began thinking about taking it.
Since the two fellows didn't seem to mind, I strolled around through the cameras, looking at the different designs of the cameras. Some had monitors which didn't appear to be movie cameras, but receivers for the pictures. I could see I would have a lot to learn.
From across the room another man approached me. He was thin and tall, had black hair and was probably in his early 30s. He was wearing a white shirt and tie; although I was unsure, I thought he might be the instructor. He seemed friendly and almost seemed to divine why I was here. I told him I had heard that each student made a movie during the course of the term. He smiled and indicated that was so. I understood by his smile that he meant the movies made were short, amateur projects. But I didn't detect any disdain in his expression, and I thought it would be exciting to make even a short movie.
He told me to follow him, led me to the other side of the room and said he would show me something which would clarify things for me. We walked up to a chair which somewhat resembled a black dentist's chair with various devices attached to it. He told me to sit down. I did so and leaned back. He quickly pulled around a device attached to a rotating, metal arm and brought it to my face. Like an optometrist might bring the device to the eyes to see through, he brought the device under my eyes, but he didn't cover my eyes. It was so close I couldn't see it well, but it looked like two flat, black pieces of metal with a little red light in the middle of each.
I quickly decided that somehow the little red lights were going to shoot images into my eyes, and I would be able to see a movie. Thinking I would be able to see the movie with my eyes closed, I closed them. However, I then thought to myself that the light wouldn't be able to come to my eyes with my eyes close. But when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't.
I felt frightened and the fear began escalating. I knew the man had turned on the machine, and I thought I could actually see some kind of images beginning. It wasn't clear, but I thought I saw an image of the black actor, the comedian Sinbad. I wanted to see the image clearer, but more than that, I wanted to be able to open my eyes. I hollered out, "I can't open my eyes."
To which the man responded, "See the demon?"
I was uncertain what he meant, but obviously more was going on here than simply watching a movie. I tried to see the images, and I said to myself, "Calm down."
But I couldn't calm down, and again I hollered out, "I can't open my eyes."
Again I heard the words, "See the demon?"
Again I told myself, "Calm down."
The cycle kept repeating itself with "I can't open my eyes," "See the demon" and "Calm down," till finally with a burst of effort, I opened my eyes.
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