how the characters were drawn. The story of The Réal is told through 52 mysterious figures. While some are fleshier than others, they all began as character studies. Herein lies a large chunk of The Réal's production process. Written by José largely for Ralph's use, the studies are an attempt to dramatize Mark's thematic concerns. For better or worse, the majority of these notes never made it into the final product. The following passages illustrate how seven out of 52 of the The Réal's characters came to graphical life. [From a file last modified APR 21, 1996]
3. an honest cheaterThe honest cheater is a rundown winner. He was born into invisibility but only realized this when he began to look for work. The honest cheater is a Black man with a solid jr. college education. He keeps pieces of paper in all of his pockets, diagonally scribbled with probability formulas and cryptic psychological profiles of dealers, players, sharks, high-rollers. He wears clothes with plenty of shiny buckles, buttons, clips, and fasteners and keeps these all shiny and clear.
* Unlike any of the other rooms, the honest
cheater's body remains solid, en toto, though
invisible. If he is dismembered, his sleeves,
legs, waist, collar, watch, socks all retain the
shape of the bodypart they are wrapped around.* If a newspaper classified's section (in the room,
in the garbage can) is associated with any of his
body parts, he becomes visible: that is, his skin
is legible as that of a black man.* He is wearing a gray Champion t-shirt that reads:
"Property of the University of Hard Knox."* "He keeps pieces of paper in all of his pockets,
diagonally scribbled with probability formulas
and cryptic psychological profiles of dealers,
players, sharks, high-rollers." His hand should
be machine-like in its precision, ornateness.
The paper should be torn from the stationary
of the cheap motel this will eventually become.
Borrow the probabilty from the historical
story of the Nevada test-site scientists who
swept Vegas in the 50's. Borrow the profiles
from research tracts related to compulsive
gambling or sociological studies on racketeering.* "He wears clothes with plenty of shiny buckles,
buttons, clips, and fasteners and keeps these all
shiny and clear." This is not Michael Jackson ala
Thriller. This is more like a south-central L.A.
family man out on the town for his little girl's
baptism. The fastening devices should be included
in the clothing selection but not the focus. Bobby
Brown's wardrobe is almost exactly the case in point.
Remember, these are meant to be reflective details.Incidental Video Stills
In the middle of the desert, pink casinos.
Mark's hands, a smoker.
Rhymes with The _____, Las Vegas, NV.He wears several glasses and alternates these several times on a given night. He carries two wallets and within these there are alternate ID's, calling cards, credit cards, etc. His fingers escape even his own grasp, at times, and when he sleeps they pick his own pocket. He hides things from himself and can go for months without stumbling upon an important formula or valuable cache of chips. He has been preparing for a trip to Vegas, on and off, for 7 years. He has been working the casino circuit along the lines of an inward spiral. He often loses to watch other players win. He often loses to become even more inconspicuous. He pretends to be a pushover when he buys chips, drinks, tickets. Even when he wins he fumbles along to the cashier's window. He is a nobody, a geek. But inside his car, inside his bathroom, he shaves without cream and considers the 52 card deck carefully from multiple, inside angles: he dreams of stabbed Kings and concussed Queens, all of his Jokers are torn with grief. He never looks for trouble, he never looks away from a security guard's belt. He knows the taste of leather and the feel of metal bracelets not of his own choosing. The cheater never wins big. He keeps his bets down to a reasonable range. He knows that raising the stakes will only drive him up a lynching tree. He plans to win big by assuming the role of the hapless tourist. He wants to win a home or an American car something he can sell to pay for his business plans. He wants to open up a framing store. He likes to look at paintings. He is a solitary man but has had his heart broken in the past. He was too earnest in his plans, too desperate in his honesty. He keeps his glasses wrapped in separate handkerchiefs. His finer clothes are monogrammed with different sets of initials.
13. the perfect maid [excerpted]
The perfect maid has bad knees and vericose veins. She does not bend down to pick up garbage but rather uses a special scooper that she brings in from home. She does not wear her work shoes out of the hotel. She collects coins from the rooms she cleans, separating the bills from the change in her tips. She has a water bottle filled with change in her kitchen closet. She has a special change purse she wears while on duty where she puts the change that guests leave behind. She gives all of the dirty magazines she finds to her shift supervisor. She vaccums the carpet by making a "T", first, then an "C", followed by a "B".
* Put a painting of an ant farm on the walls. Draw out
the chambers with thin, watery strokes. The result should
resemble brightly lit veins under a microscope.* Scan in a pair of serious work shoes with heavy,
black, rubber soles. The shoes leave a horizontal
footprint with the boxed letters "TCB" where the
arch would fall.* The scooper should be the size of a shoe-horn, metallic,
with the Copper Nugget logo on its underside. It's also
in the right-hand pocket, with the prayer card.* When the vacuum is running, play the Well-Tempered
Klavier.* Inside the coinbag, put a variety of double-sided Susan B.
Anthony's with permed hair and closed eyes. Throw in
a few, bright yellow, chipped, 1 dollar chips. These should
be the only bright, luminescent objects in the entire tableu.
The coinbag is a cheap, plastic "Indian" sequin purse.When she daydreams at work it is usually of playing in a warm forest, barefoot or sitting down at the river's edge with her feet dangling into the water. She can judge the temperature of the water by counting Mississippi's as she cleans up a room. She still looks into the garbage as she dumps it out. She has to do this to make sure there are no sharp objects that could prick her skin. She sleeps with her eyes open.
* Every ten seconds, if the viewer's perspective
shifts, the walls of the room change from that
of the usual motel room to a warm forest
with a rambling brook. It flashes this way
for a second and instantly goes back to the
usual motel room. Again, it only happens
every 20 seconds if the viewer is not moving
about the room.* The garbage cannisters are filled with used
condoms and sharp, broken credit cards.
7. S&R TO UNVEIL NEW REPERTOIRE´ OF SUPERNATURAL ACTS [headline]
Renowned for their magical ability to make the disappeared reappear, Vegas's premiere illusionist couple is now planning to break all natural laws with their new number "Creation ex Nihilo."
Staged as a remake of the age-old legend of Doctor Faustus, S&R promise to turn a giant mound of white powder into a flying white horse.
Having successfuly bred the famous white lions of Nevada, the dynamic duo may now have scrambled genetic codes previously etched in stone. But no matter how this winged apparation materializes, the audience is guaranteed pure delight.
Spectators who worry about their saftey in the presence of flying horses need not be concerned. S&R have assured us that "the wings of desire always beat gently in God's holiest creatures."1. beside article: pictures of the S&R brothers, faces transposed so they're not recognizable:
a.) first photo is linked to "Hoc est Meum Corpus" , this is the picture of S&R with the Pope is clicked;
b.) photo is linked to "Hocus Pocus", this is the tiger picture (- tiger + horse).
2. underneath article, picture of alchemist, the words "White horse" handwritten around it.
3. Include this quote towards the top, cut out from the S&R catalogue with a real evidentiary look to it: "Nothing's impossible, nothing's concealed, Everything here is for real," Michael Jackson
27.
Bartender; all motel material
(Notes: The tipsy bartender is a white man in his late 60's. His jet black dyed hair makes him look an eternal 50. He has tended bar in Vegas for over 40 years. He works methodically, slow. He keeps his eyes on the reflection that the electronic ticker makes on his polished black bar. He keeps track of prime and odd number combinations in the sports scores. The tipsy bartender can read backwards and forwards, upside down and right side up. He has a repertoire of bar tricks. The favorite around town is when he pours drinks from the bottom of bottles with the cap still on. He can weigh ice cubes with his hands. He can light cigarettes with his breath. His teeth are flint tins and when he wants a waitress's attention he'll grind his teeth together to spark her name out. The tipsy bartender has a peg leg. He never wears it behind the bar. He no longer needs to hop across the 15 feet of the bar because he can maneuver the area like a cosmonaut in deep space. The stump on his left leg has a criss-cross scar on it where the stitching never properly healed. When a lucky person enters his bar he can feel this X tickling him. It takes a special kind of tip to get him to tell you if you are feeling lucky that night. The tipsy bartender collects more than just money. He collects stories about money. He likes to think he can index the flow of capital around the world through the stump in his leg. He has a soft, milky voice. He listens with his full attention though his eyes are keeping track of more than just drinks, tabs, and winning numbers. He has a little pencil by the cash register that he uses to work out his anagrams for clients, drinks and events. He is working on a bartender's almanac. He wears a black and white uniform: a white shirt, black bowtie, black button-down vest, black slacks and white socks with black sneakers. He knows the wherabouts of Jimmy Hoffa and the secret contents of Sammy Davis Jr.'s glass eye.)
1. The motel room
a.) a color photograph on the bed of "a white man in his late 60's," (the rest are in a pile underneath it. * b.) a color photograph of the polished black Formica bar with the LED display above. c.) a diagram of his peg leg with electric flows and magnetic fields around it.
d.) a b/w photograph of the pencil by the cash register and some blank anagrams.
e.) a b/w photograph of the uniform (from any formal wear catalogue)
f.) a dental x-ray of his teeth, with the mechanism of a lighter interposed
g.) a glossy b/w of Sammy Davis, Jr., the glass eye circled in waxy red pencil. 2. a tape player and a tape. Play the spiel above. "The tipsy bartender is a white man in his late 60's. His jet black dyed hair makes him look an eternal 50[and then, finally] Your mission...Your mission...Your mission".
29.surveillance studio; all motel room
The personal surveillance studio is filled with:
7. The room itself is circular, rather than square. 1. screen-less television sets; wiry, thin, metallic carcasses. 2. A tangle of green, red, yellow, and blue wires lead to a nest-like center in the middle of the room.
(animation)
3. Inside the metal frames greenish sparks fly from corner to corner, edge to edge. They are both noisy and smelly irruptions.
4. Each box has a different size and a slightly different shape. As multiple sparks pass through one another, holographic objects appear (briefly, instantly) in their area of intersection. Always, the object is either a greenish-yellow card, chip, dice, hand, finger, lip, eye, pocket, purse. (The objects are stylized, old-fashioned, as if props from a 007 feature. )
5. Inside the nest of wires is a tiny metal box with two lighted buttons next to one another: "Guilty" and "Not Guilty". The device bears the insignia of its manufacturer: Schuld-Geld. The buttons flick on and off, back and forth, at a rate of once per second.
6. There is another set of wires: thick, black, co-axial type wires. They rise from the television frames and hang limply in the air before all of them converge upon a central hole in the ceiling.
8. There is a repeating pattern that appears to be projected upon the walls. It consists of the following characters (blurred, blown-up, and reversed): s i n i s i n. The floor is made of concrete as is the ceiling. There is a small, pet-sized flap or "door" at ground-level; each one at 33 degrees from the other.
(notes: create one large circular room in photoshop, fill it with these items, divide the image into three sections (depending on where the materials are concentrated; i.e., a vertical slice, a horizontal slice -- however it works, but not in proportional swaths); arrange these three sections on a page corresponding to a motel room. restrict the animations to each section: when the mouse rollsover each section, begin the animation/sound files.)
33. One of Those Days [headline]
Photographs appear sequentially in the center of a white page, held in place by four old-fashioned photo-album corner tabs.
A roomful of capped empty bottles [mouse click; audio click] a gun with no bullets, a wallet with no money [click]
a family greeting card with no handwriting [click]
a bed with no sheets [click] cobwebs [click]
dice missing faces [click]
cracks in the walls [click]
a photograph of a lynching [click]
a set of handcuffs [click]
a key with no teeth [click]
a woman's hands with a broken nail [click]
shoes with their toes missing [click]
a shirt with no buttons [click]
a medicine label with no prescription [click]
a deck full of spades [click]
a morgue photograph [click]
a child's coffin [click]
a book with all the pages torn out [click] pale light [click] pale light [click]
pale light [click]
pale light [click]2. Start cycle over again; play 20's 30's ragtime/blues number about loss, vice and gambling
49. Slot Machine
Inside a motel room , by the closet near the bathroom.
Open opening this page one hears:
"It hasn't dispensed its load in over 50 years. It's a relic. The tightest slot machine in town."
The tight slot machine is bulging at the sides. It has copper sides and a gold trim around the display windows, which, in turn, have faded a shaded yellow to brown.
Click on the arm of the slot machine: Every spin displays a different set of prepared, glossy organs: kidney beans, liver spots, breast filets, vagina sheaths, anus wells, mouth water, ear wax, nostril hairs. Every object (from pathological forensics texts) is associated with a flat, female voice that pronounces its name.
INSETa: The arm is made of carved elephant tusk ivory. It's carved with an intricate circular pattern, describing in detail the story of how the West was won: Indians, Cowboys, Miners, Settlers, Casino-owners, Casino-patrons. This can be a vertically scrollable comic strip or a quicktime movie.
INSETb:On the outside, the tight slot machine is full of fingerprints and saliva marks. A series of scrollable close-ups.
Double clicking on the slot machine splits the screen open down the middle, displaying the insides of the slot machine:
(continuous animation)
On the inside, the slot machine spins around a small set of weights. The weights are made of small, glass, teardrop-shaped vials of varying sizes, filled to the brim with sand. The vials spin round in concentric circles, an increasing and decreasing spiral. The machine makes no noises when it is in operation. But if the arm of the inside out slot machine is clicked, the wheels are spinning and you can hear a ticking noise, like a watch being wound.
Clicking on the insides of the machine plays the following sound, read in the same voice as the organs:
"The innards of the tight slot machine are airtight. The coins are dull and soft. "
40. Speculator; all motel material
(Notes: The speculator is a thinking man's tough guy. He moves in and out of Las Vegas like a rain storm. He collects ticket stubs for all sorts of lotteries, from all parts of the world. He likes to finish off other people's sentences. He likes to predict the weather for other parts of the country. He never writes down phone numbers. He wears silk underwear and wool socks. The speculator bleaches his hair white, wears it with grease, parted down the middle. He was traumatized by dentists as a child and has two rows of gold-capped teeth, with a prominent gap in his upper front teeth. He reads the stock market reports like housewives read Crossword puzzles. He never guesses about stocks. He only guesses his date's weights. He knows where the dice will fall one night in every year. He is in search of the proper calendar. He is very familiar with Mayan, Aztec, Inca, Egyptian, Sumerian, Chinese, Greek, and Egyptian calendars, clocks, and assorted counting devices. He tips bills that have been creased at a 45° angle on the right corner, face-side. He shaves with a straight razor. The speculator makes his money by making dreams come true. He never has money, he always has things. His power is his power of suggestion. He always listens to the people around him but he seldom answers back or initiates a conversation. He uses pens not pencils. He only likes to watch the last ten minutes of movies. He fast-forwards rentals and purposely loiters in cinema lobbies to kill time before the ending of movies. When he has to buy a novel in an airport he rips out the last ten pages and returns the novel on the grounds that he'd chosen the wrong one. He has no credit cards. He believes in Easter Island, Stonhenge, and Atlantis. He is an atheist. He has no living relatives but is fond of elderly casino patrons and often talks up a storm with them. He has correctly guessed each season's dominant color over the last seventeen years. He watches cable television fashion shows like some people listen to the sounds of the ocean before going to bed. He knows a number of drag queens and only drinks liquor in cabarets. He owns land in every state of the Union but lives out of a torn leather suitcase. He likes to reread Job. When he's playing cards he thinks about concept cars. When he's playing cards he talks about the vagaries of cuisine from around the World. He eats Chinese food. He never touches the fortune cookie. He keeps all of his receipts in his front shirt pocket, believing that these will osmotically prime him for the future. He always wears thin ties and cowboy boots.)
1. Genet's face. Thin man. Thin ties, black suit and cowboy boots. Give an imperfect bleach job to Genet's face: let the roots show black. Have it slicked back like a greaser's hair. Parted it down the middle. Use a model's hair.
[Click on his eyes - number three - clicking on his mouth gives you the following]
morgue-type shot, if necessary of a man with an exposed mouth. Make the superimposed gold- teeth are the only color items in the frame and that the gap is prominent.
2. A picture of the Vegas landscape, from a distance, from above, alpha channel out the sky, insert image of a thunderstorm sky. Make it several frames, if possible, so that the storm comes and goes. This can be done even in Photoshop, if not Premiere.
3. Record the sound of two people talking. They are talking about the weather. One voice already knows the listings for national conditions, but the other voice keeps interrupting him/her with "I bet it's 50* and mildly cloudy...I bet it's going to rain for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning..." This can be recorded on tape for now. It would be nice if the speculator had a rough, raspy voice. Do not mention cities by name. Do mention Vegas. Do mention the word "weather", if possible.
(on the night stand)
4.
A.) A small day-planner type tele-phone. Scan in several pages of the directory so that the book can be "flipped through." Write random names into the pages at infrequent intervals. Use a black felt-tip pen and a loose, script-like print. Write diagonally at times or bunched up in one corner or another. Write in other information, as well: dates, temperatures, cities, concept car model numbers; Collect photocopies of popular science and astrology books re: time measuring devices of other, dead, civilizations. Write out in the margins of these scraps of information, (sometimes diagrams, sometimes just text) the numbers of the dates on his craps cheat sheets. Perhaps, make two of these "ancient time devices" align slightly, briefly, with the cheat sheet's results. Make these scraps small enough to fit in a wallet.
B.) Make a small, nondescript money clip. Place several 10's and 20's in it. Fold the bills "at a 45° angle on the right corner, face-side."
C.) Scan a diagram of a craps table. Draw arrows for trajectories and angles over it, as if on a transparency. Then, write in a thicker, felt-tip pen, "NEXT?" sloppy, as if an act of frustration or rage. Date that set of results a Tues. night in 76. Make 2 or 3 of these enlightened cheat sheets, changing the arrows and angles and what dice fell where that day. Date them all a different date for every year. Apply this scheme for dating them: If every letter is assigned a number, then let every number (4/6/68) be assigned a letter. Let 68 be 24 + 24 + 20, or the letter "W". Then, proceed to date these in such a way that a sentence can be read from their linear sequence over the years. Make all of these cheat sheets roughly the size of postcards and written as if on cardboard (the crap's table diagram can be fig. # from a "How to Win at Craps" book. Bend and crease the older cards as if they'd seen a lot of wear and tear).
5. Rip out a few pages of the Wall Street Journal: companies - biotech. Keep the color and texture distinction in the scans. Modify the date, advancing the years and rewinding them. Keep the pages immaculate, untouched. Tan or "burn" the older issues, "bleach" the future ones. (background image for the room of several motel room photos)
6. (Associated with a second photo of the Speculator) Record the sound of two people talking. A man and a woman. Use the same gruff voice for the speculator. Have the man guessing the woman's weight. Have the woman giggling and detouring the conversation.
- What's your weight, honey?
- Giggles.
- Naw, come on...I bet it's 127?
Record a similar exchange with a different woman's voice. Stray loosely from the opening lines. Add background noise from sound effects record: crowded bar, crowded restaurant, casino cocktail bar.
12. Scan in a black and white photo of a man shaving with a straight razor. Fade the photo, slightly, crease it, slightly, brown it, slightly. Place the photo in the speculator's wallet.
13. When the area around the speculator's eyes is highlighted, play the last strain of "When you wish upon a star." Put a twinkle (frame) in his right eye.
14. Find a faded, spotty brown leather wallet. Scan it at different angles, different proximities. The wallet should be stuffed with papers: IOU's for a variety of things - land, appliances, cars, motor-scooters, fertilizer barns, pets, little girls, watches, rings, sunglasses. They can all be written on napkin paper, with different casino/hotel logo's faded into the torn area or underneath the writing. Best to place a wet glass on top of the napkins, at different angles for a variety of napkins.
15. Put a spiraling playing card in his breast pocket. Keep the buzzing of conversation noise around his ears.
16. Scan in a Rolex. Keep it sticking and ticking on ten minutes to a missing 12.
17. Put a book of matches in his front pants pocket from an L.A. drag club, Wilshire Blvd./ address.
18. Make 50 business cards for the speculator. His business is realty. Every card has a different p.o. box in a different city of every state.
19. Prepare a click able deck of cards; alternate the face on the cards between regular icons and concept cars from MotorTrend or AutoWeek.
21. Scan in a handful of unopened fortune cookies.
