The Artist Attraction
Entrance:
Sitting in the screening room, we will watch as the latest George Valentin film begins playing on the screen. In the film, George’s character will be playing a spy who is chased and caught by police, who shine a bright light in his face. That light will seemingly emit out of the TV, throwing the entire screening room into a brief flash of light. When the lights go down, we will realize that we are now inside one of the films, as we move forward through where the screen was (every wall in the room is pulled up, out of sight of the guests). As the piano music begins, we will see the words “The Artist” materialize in thin air above our heads on an intertitle (accomplished by a projection onto a glass pane), before we enter the first scene.
First Scene- Movie Theater:
In front of us, a large movie screen is showing another Valentin movie. We are put into the position of movie goers, and to our side, “hidden” in the wings of the stage is George Valentin, watching his movie. The movie ends and Valentin struts out, waving to a silent audience as we pull away, moving into the next scene.
Second Scene- A German Affair:
Entering the scene, we see a notice posted, showing who the newest dancers are, complete with headshots. Of course, the most prominent dancer is Peppy. We see George and Peppy dancing together, laughing and completely out of character. Behind them, the crew looks on, shaking their head as the director writes a new number on the clapboard, and we can see a large pile of used clapboards behind the director.
Third Scene- The Rise of Peppy:
This scene is split into two parts. In the first part, we enter another screening room, complete with AAs of Zimmer and Valentin. On the screen, we see an actress acting in Romeo and Juliet, and we hear her very tinny voice saying “Wherefore art thou Romeo”, causing George to stand up and start laughing hysterically. We move around to the other side of the screen, where we move through a wall of screens, as we see credits for different films and Peppy’s name rising through them until we reach the final screen, showing her in a talkie, where the sound quality is better than before, but it’s clearly not anywhere near the quality of today’s movies and television.
Fourth Scene- Streets of Hollywood:
This scene begins with us turning away from Peppy’s talkie to see a Hollywood street, and directly in front of us is a large theater marquee, advertising Peppy as the star of Guardian Angel. Slowly, we pull in front of the marquee, looking at the theater before the street erupts in sound as a car horn blasts “Ahooga” and we dodge out of the way from the oncoming cars, going off the “track”, weaving our way through the loud traffic as we hear mixed pedestrian conversations. Those of us that are observant can see more posters of Peppy, further indicating her rise to stardom. This entire effect is accomplished by the cars being behind a false wall that moves while guests are looking at the marquee, and the cars moves quickly on a specified track as the ride vehicle moves past the cars. The pedestrians are actually on screens to either side of us, but the illusion of depth combined with forced blurriness to convince us that we are moving faster than we are really sells the effect. At the end of the scene, we move quickly towards a theater topped with a marquee for George’s new movie, Tears of Love.
Scene 5 - Tears of Love
Passing under the marquee and leaving the hustle and bustle of Hollywood behind, we find ourselves in a pitch black room, with the exception of a single spotlight which is trained on George as he furiously types at a typewriter, his back to us. The only audible sound is the sound of his typing, though this slowly fades into a piano piece.
Moving past, we find ourselves backstage at the “Tears of Love” premiere. On the screen we see the reverse of the climax of “Tears of Love.” To our left, we see George as he disappointedly peeks around the curtain, watching the audience’s reaction. Through the screen we catch a glimpse at the audience. The already small theater is mostly empty. The few people who are there in the audience are noticeably bored. In one of the boxes, we can faintly see Peppy, who is intently watching the film.
Scene 6 - Fire
Rounding the corner, we again find ourselves in a dark room, illuminated only by a large projector screen projecting one of George’s films, which looks similar to Zorro. As we move closer, George’s silhouette moves over the screen. He seems distraught as he angrily tears up multiple spools of film reel. After throwing the reels to the floor, we see him light a match and throw it down. The silhouette of fire quickly overtakes the film as the projected film begins to burn up. The projector screen tears and erupts in smoke as we continue forward into it.
Passing through the smoke screen we find ourselves in the middle of George’s burn-out apartment. Most of the damage seems superficial - charred appliances are scattered around, and burnt wall ornamentation hangs on blackened wallpaper. In the center of the room we see George sitting in a worn-out chair. He sits with a blank look, staring off into the middle distance with a pistol in his bandaged hands. Jack props himself on his back paws using the chair as he whimpers at George. We circle George as the lights of the apartment all darken. Eventually, the only source of light is a lone spotlight over George. Suddenly, we are pulled backwards out of the apartment.
Scene 7 - Spiral
We are pushed backwards in a single file line before being whipped around and coming to a sudden stop. As the car whips into the stop, we find ourselves in George’s plush office in his old home. He sits at a large wooden desk, his back to us, furiously typing the “Tears of Love” script while Jack sleeps beside him. A blonde woman stands at the other side of the desk. She looks angry. “Talk to me, George. Why won’t you talk?” she says angrily as we speed away. Swinging away from the office, we notice that the cars have once again split, speeding off deeper into the darkness.
Suddenly we hear a gavel as we, and the other cars start to snake around George’s possessions. As we venture deeper, we begin to hear voices. Most of them are inaudible, though sometimes we can distinctly hear the word “talk.” We pass George’s three monkeys statues, his typewriter, and eventually his massive self portrait, all the while the cacophony of voices grows louder and more overwhelming. A loud bang breaks the noise.
Silence. The orchestra comes up as our cars rejoin and round a corner, revealing Peppy’s car crashed into a tree. She stands halfway out of the car looking excitedly at George who stands at the front of the car. She is holding a script. The music shifts into a jazzier tune as we turn away from the car crash.
Scene 8 - Finale
Rounding the corner, we find ourselves directly in front of George and Peppy as they dance on a recreation of the set from the final scene from the film. The dance very quickly comes to a head with a large single note held out by the orchestra. With this note, the lights go out, leading into a percussion interlude. The lights slowly begin to come up, revealing various structures making an abstract representation of 1920s Hollywood. As the percussion picks up in tempo, each of the sets begin to fill with color, eventually settling on the warm tones of technicolor. The room is bathed in a warm red and blue light as the orchestra again begins to build itself up. The orchestra now in full swing, a few pieces of the sets open up revealing a trio of small chorus lines. George and Peppy again reappear on a screen in front of us. As they begin to dance again, so do we as our vehicles again separate and dance around the room, giving us a closer look at the vibrant sets.
The vehicles meet again at the far side of the room, again in front of George and Peppy who have just finished their dance, audibly panting with their arms outstretched towards us.
“Cut! Excellent!.” The house lights suddenly light, revealing that we are in the middle of a film set. A scrim to the right of George and Peppy lights up, revealing Mr. Zimmer, who is sitting in a director’s chair, surrounded by camera men and boom operators. Zimmer turns to George and Peppy.
“One more? Please?”
George turns to Peppy, then back to Zimmer.
“With pleasure,” he says with an audible French accent. We pass the pair as they prepare to redo the take. George winks at us as we pass him and pull up to the unload platform.
