Lucid

2013, 9 minutes

Lucid follows a mans spiralling descent into a strange and unsettling dream-world.

Lucid begins with a flurry of invasive sounds and images. The Protagonist – unnamed throughout the film – wakes up from a vivid nightmare of someone drowning in a dark torrent of water, a recurring vision he has had for some time. Tired from a bad nights sleep he begins his mundane cycle of nine-to-five office hours, tapping soullessly at a typewriter and sipping from an endless coffee cup. After awakening on a wide expanse of beach, The Protagonist wanders an alien landscape, coming across a dense forest. Stumbling through the undergrowth, he discovers a chilling reminder of his waking life and the claustrophobic sounds of his office surround him. Scared he bolts back into the forest – waking up again in his office to realise it had been a lucid dream. Throughout the non-linear narrative, The Protagonist shifts between his monotonous life and a fantastical dreamworld. Eventually, the two realities begin to blur and he witnesses a painful memory from his past. In an attempt to save himself and break free from his wearisome existence, The Protagonist rows out to sea and to rescue the drowning figure from his previous nightmares.

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