Dr Plonk (the film) was invented in December 2005, when writer/director Rolf de Heer opened a refrigerator at his office that contained 20,000 feet of old bits of unexposed film stock. It was truly a lightglobe moment, as he visualised what these scraps might look like if run through a camera…likely just as bad as one of the old silent films and hey presto, there’s an idea for a film and here’s already half the stock for it instead of having to throw it away.
What, however, makes anyone think that a contemporary audience will go for an old-style black and white silent comedy? Give it contemporary relevance, of course. But it still needs to be grounded in the past, which means shooting it all in contemporary times is not so interesting. Two time spans are required…last century and this century. And there’s really only one way to travel between centuries, and that’s with a time machine.
That being established, thoughts turn to how. Well to get the same feel as an old film, it’ll have to be shot like an old film, with a very small crew, sort of make it up as you go, no lighting, using a hand-cranked camera and in black and white. All very useful, because most of that costs less than it costs to make films in the conventional manner, and if this thing is to be financed, it had better sit at a pretty low budget.
A long, long shoot will be needed, to discover how to do this in the first place and to have plenty of time to rehearse and invent on set, because all the tricks, stunts and special effects have to be done within the frame, rather than fudging it by cutting or in post-production.
The smaller the crew, the longer a shoot can be afforded. Better have someone to crank the camera and take light readings; and a stunt co-ordinator even though they didn’t have them in the old days but there are now issues of work place safety and actors are no longer also stunt performers, as they were back then; and with a time machine going back and forth we’d better have a special effects co-ordinator, for all those puffs of smoke and the like; and someone for wardrobe and props and the like; and we’ll probably need someone who’s generally handy, can turn their mind and hands to fixing and carrying and creating things when needed; plus, of course, a director, can’t really do without one of those. And that’s really it, a core on-set crew of six, and we’ll pick up any additional help required as needed. And won’t that be a lovely way to make a film?
Dr. Plonk… a Brief Synopsis
Dr Plonk, famous scientist and inventor, works away in his laboratory, trying to make sense of the world. It is the year 1907. Plonk is somewhat less than ably assisted by his deaf mute assistant, Paulus, and further disruptions to the clarity of his thought are provided by the winsome Mrs Plonk, and by his Tiberius, a dog obsessed with spherical objects.
One fateful day, the Plonkmobile runs out of fuel, leading Dr Plonk to a series of discoveries. Many calculations later Plonk deduces that the world will end in 101 years. Paulus laughs at him; the Prime Minister’s Advisors laugh at him; Prime Minister Stalk wants proof, proof more easily digestible than screeds of indigestible calculations…and the only acceptable proof lies in the very future that is about to end.
Plonk ruminates. Concepts of machine and time come fortuitously together…of course! A time machine is required, to bring proof back from the future! Dr Plonk sets about inventing one.
Tiberius is the first experiment, a hundred years into the future. He returns safely. Then it is Plonk’s turn, but Paulus, having received one too many kicks in the bum from his master, flicks the time switch in the opposite direction, and Plonk, 10,000 years ago, finds himself set upon by cannibals, who proceed to try and cook him.
But Plonk is resolute. Further forays into the future begin to reveal what a terribly strange place the year of 2007 is…little about it makes sense to the intrepid doctor, who finally finds irrefutable proof that the world is indeed about to end.
But his efforts to alert the appropriate authorities cause Plonk to fall foul of the law. The good doctor becomes a hunted man, with the nation’s entire law-enforcement system arrayed against him. A scientific question is posed…can Dr Plonk run fast enough?
