Movies in your head

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I've been doing this for years. Since the age of five I would wander around the school playground thinking up scenes in my head that were very lifelike and further on I will come up with a plot and begin to develop my characters. It was always the same protagonist, a young boy. I watched a lot of movies with a similar protagonist. Even though I am a girl I never much cared for female protagonists.

Eventually the scenes would be feature length and range from action movies to gangster to fantasy. Anything really. One was even inspired after I watched Baby's Day Out. Well, I was a little kid. Now I would just find watching that movie torture.

In my early adult life after a long break from creating these movies in my head I started them up again. I still remained a film buff all those years and was watching a variety of different films.

Somehow I got the idea to write them down. Now I was studying how to write novels and still being influenced by film or TV. I would watch everything, so I could see many different styles. It didn't matter how bad the film was.

Over four years I struggled to write my first novel. I gave up but I had so many chapters down already and the film trilogy - parts of it - would play in my mind so loudly I had to try to write it down again. Then I got the idea to launch straight into the screenplay and it felt so natural to me it felt like this is what I've always supposed to do.

In the few years I've lived on my own I must have come up with dozens of full films in my head. I know in the past we've done this thread to death but I really just want to talk to people who understand what it's like seeing these images in your mind.

For years if I couldn't sleep I would just loop certain scenes around in my mind and eventually I would fall asleep. If I got stuck on writing a certain scene, I just go away from my computer, close my eyes and BOOM there's my answer, right there in my head. I'd have to write it all down pretty fast. But it usually stays in my memory for at least another day.

It not just helps me write my screenplay but helps me rehearse conversations with real people I know. I just think up a location, some furniture and those people. One downside is when I'm depressed these scenes do turn very dark, but there's a downside to everything. I can also re-direct that thought by making the scene much brighter.

So, how about the rest of you? Do you have this very vivid and detailed cinema in your head? Have you ever written down your stories? Or do you have a very visual thinking style and have never even conceived something like this can happen?

Oh, it's called Fixed Fantasy and supposedly is a personality disorder according to psychologists. It can become obsessive which is why when I was about 16 I had to shut it off so I could work on my college assignments. But now I'm using it to my advantage to start off my career in film.

interesting.


i have limited capacity for imagination. i never imagine anything that is contextual because it seems pointless to me. my imagination is primitive.
my definition of "imagination" is the ability to conceptually idealize an otherwise non existent state of affairs.
i can make up music for example, but i do not imagine it. i know it. it is the same with patterns i think of. i do not imagine them. i already know them and simply discover that i know them.

as far as true imagination is concerned, i usually only let my mind wander (in a guided yet non real way) when i am going to sleep. i always think of simple sequential steps, and they are almost always the same when i am going to sleep every night.

i imagine owning a cargo 747 and ferrying cargo around the world often when going to sleep.

sequence:
1. arrive at hangar and walk around plane and inspect the things i need to (tyres, blades, outlets, pitot etc etc).
2. enter the plane and sit in the cockpit and "light up the boards" (a complicated procedure of starting the electrical system and configuring the flight computer with the necessary attribute values pertinent to the flight (long procedure (but i am usually asleep before this is completed))), and then spark up the APU and then crank the first engine ((left inboard) then right outboard then left inboard and then right outboard) into life which takes 10 minutes until they are stabilized (i do not edit out anything of my imagination of this process).
3. taxi to the freight depot and get off and give the freight supervisor the load details (i kind of skip the details at this part because it is a kind of boring phase of the process). i go back inside the plane and make a cup of coffee and watch the morning news (i do not imagine the content of the news, just the notion of watching it) while the grunts forklift the freight into the plane.
4. restart the engines and clear the flight plan with ATC.
5. taxi to exit runway.
6. go through the communications with departure.
7. roll and takeoff and merge with flightplan.
8. at 20,000 feet, engage gps guidance by selecting gps as the navigational guidance source.
9. check that the flight plan has no errors, and it's entry into the flight computer is correct.
10. 30,000 ft and i then imagine going to bed in a lavishly appointed bedroom where i can see out a window when i roll on my side.

i imagine having 5 separately programmed flight control computers that constantly check their data against each other in order to prevent a siren going off in my bedroom that alerts me to get to the controls as fast as possible.

i would love to go to a dreamless sleep over the sunny indian ocean on my way to johannesburg in my privately owned 747 cargo truck.

____________

i only ever think of that situation when i am tired of thinking about anything else, and i am ready to go to sleep.

i usually fall asleep early in the sequence of the imagination.
_________

the type of imagination you are talking about is "rich" imagination. i was told that term by my psychiatrist when i was a child.
there is crude imagination, and there is rich imagination.
rich imagination contains contextual placements of it's focal points, but crude imagination is like simply memorizing a tediously thought out sequence that is strangely soothing and calming.

i can go through my 747 imagination easily. i know every step, but it is not real imagination.

real imagination is where someone can postulate an event that is very likely to be regarded as normal even though it never happened.

my doctor loved me but she was not my mother.


i have a very simple imagination and i can not conjure up dialogues or pretexts or situational settings or emotional flavors.

people like j.k rawling have the gift of the ultimate gab. i can not begin to pay attention to anything she writes because i just know i will not be interested and so i save myself the disappointment of wasting my time.

Interesting; I have never heard of Fixed Fantasy before. I googled it and came up with two definitions: "a belief that cannot be confirmed" (explained at WiseGeek.com), and a non-transitory sexual fantasy (explained in the Wikipedia article; the first definition is explained in that article as well.)

I suppose what you are describing could fall under the second definition if we widened the definition to include non-sexual fantasies.

There is also a non-official mental disorder called "maladaptive daydreaming" (MD for short) that has gain attention on the internet. For more info: http://wildminds.ning.com/ I stumbled upon maladaptive daydreaming several years ago when I first started looking for an explanation for my mental issues. After learning more about AS, ADHD, and other neurological disorders, I am inclined to think that MD is often just a symptom of one of those disorders, but then, there are so many disorders in the DSM that overlap in various ways, I don't see why MD couldn't be added to the list.

I have been entrenched in mental fantasies since I was at least four years old. My experience has been similar to your except that I don't usually make up my own protagonist. My main character usually comes from another story I have read/seen, usually Harry Potter, although I took characters from cartoons when I was a kid. Interestingly, my main character is almost always a male, like you mentioned, even though I am a woman. I have alternated main characters over the years, but there have been two in particular that I have stuck with for several years.

Another difference is that I have never been successful in turning writing my stories down. I have tried to write fanfiction on a few occasions but due to my perfectionism and short attention span, I never got more than a few chapters written before I wanted to moved on to a different story-line. Whenever I have tried to write my stories down, I have written them as prose. Maybe I should try a screenplay the next time I decide to attempt it. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me writing down the stories is making up the descriptive sections outside of the dialogue, because the dialogue always comes naturally to me when I am daydreaming.

As far as visualizing my story, the image is usually not completely clear in my mind. I have a fairly detailed idea of how the physical environment is laid out (e.g. where the door is, where the stairs are, where each character is standing), but I might not see details like what color the walls are, what clothes the characters are wearing. With regards to the characters, I have a basic idea of what they look like, but I often don't visualize details about what they are wearing unless it is important to the plot. I do often visualize facial expressions, which might make me different from many Aspie fantasizers (note from my signature I am not autistic; I just have some autism-like characteristics).

As far as the benefits and downsides, my experiences have been similar to yours. I often use my stories to process my emotions about real-life situations and sometimes to practice conversations. I also have problems with dark fantasies when I am depressed. I need to get better at turning my dark fantasies into happier ones like you mention; unfortunately, my obsessive side often takes over when I am fantasizing and I get carried away, not able to control where it goes.

I am glad you have found a good use for this mixed blessing. Best of luck in your film career!

Last edited by rachel_519 on 07 Feb 2014, 9:41 am, edited 3 times in total.

I just remembered something else I wanted to mention: Point of view- Many people in the "maladaptive daydreaming" group have fantasy worlds in which they are themselves, or they are a character they made up. However, I almost always see my stories from a 3rd-person perspective. I usually have one main character that I emphasize with, and I see the story from a 3rd-person perspective that is closely centered on him, although I might briefly go into seeing things as a 1st-person view from his eyes or another character's eyes.

I have also been doing this for years. I also have to make a film/story/scenario in my head to fall asleep. sometimes It can cause issues because I can go to bed at 11pm and spend 4 hours making a story and not realise how much time is going.

I did not know it had a name though, I only do it when I am in bed really, not a sexual thing but its only when I have nothing else to concentrate on, also on journeys. I find it really fun, mine are usually related to my special interest which is harry potter as well as what other special interest I have at the time

you sound like you do exactly the same as me which is cool, harry potter characters is what I use as well as a main character, always male as well, in fact Snape is usually the character I use. I have also attempted to write fanfiction from my mental stories but it has never worked. I don't really visualise mine though, I am more focused on speech, and I have real trouble actually visualising what characters look like or the surroundings.

Wow, that's great. Seriously you need to ask someone about getting an agent and submitting them to Hollywood.

Can I make head movies? No, I can't do that at all. One reason is that my visual imagination is very poor. The other is that I would have difficulty creating characters with depth, because I don't understand people very well. That's why my favorite authors of fiction would be like, say, Jorge Luis Borges, who writes about concepts and fictions of things, and very little about emotion.

I'm the same way, and Maladaptive Daydreaming describes my experience.

I make up stories that make me feel things that I'm unable to feel in real life. Characters that love each other deeply, and feel an intense closeness. Who encounter serious problems – but the problems can be resolved, and there is always a happy ending. (Real life tends to not be that way! Haha)

It's definitely 'maladaptive' in my case, because I have trouble tearing myself out of my happy dream world, and focusing on reality. But yes it can be useful, and I've written some of my stories down, and shared them online, and other people have enjoyed them. (Most of these are fanfics; I daydream original stories too, but have never wanted to share them, because they touch on very personal issues.)

I guess I see it as a perfectly valid, harmless pastime, as long as it's not interfering with your life.

It calms me down, coming here and seeing that I'm not entirely alien.
I always use the same two main characters, but I've developed so many intricated plots and settings in my head. I also tend to loop scenes in my head when I can't sleep or when I'm feeling bad (I imagined a really good scene at my grandpa's funeral).
However since I'm pretty good at drawing I think I'm going to draw a graphic novel instead of writing a screenplay.
I would actually consider daydreaming my obsessive "interest".

I don't identify with maladaptive daydreaming at all. I daydream, but I don't remember my daydreams. I don't build rich inner worlds. In fact the day dreams I remember are just as repetitive as my stereotyped behaviour.

I've done this sort of thing for as long as I can remember but I only seem to do it when listening music or moving around.

I'm writing a novel of one of the movies in my head. I can shut it on and off when I need to focus, had have several short mini stories for my own pleasure. Then there is my novel, its about aliens, but one of the first earth people they meet is a young autistic woman. This novel/movie is a fun playground for thought experiments, how would this be done, how do the aliens express emotions differently, how do their bodies differ from anything found on earth, etc.

I can say that I've experienced "mind movies" since the age of 5 as well. Much of this happens whenever I'm listening to music or whenever I'm reading an interesting novel. Once in a while, these thoughts can become consistent and elaborate enough to act like an actual plot.

Wild Minds is what brought me here in the first place. MD explained some of the problems I faced, but not all. And let me tell you, it's still relieving to know I'm not the only one who goes into their own world.

If imagination opens a new world, I got my own solar system. I have a separate world for the place I made up, and I have nearby worlds for other people's places like The Matrix, Harry Potter, and my husband's RPG StoneLight. I only visit the other places to fix problems in the stories to make them better. Taking The Matrix for example, it's obvious the Wachowski Brothers only have a basic understanding of math, because positives and negatives are relative to how you write your equation. If Neo = a and Agent Smith = (-a), a +(-a) = 0. However, with a brief move around of the variables to put them on opposite sides, you get a = a. They should have been the EXACT SAME THING for each side -the good hero they have been waiting for- yet it was obvious he was the evil force and never had a chance against the idiot human. And that knowledge makes me want to pull my hair out.

I digress.

What I find I also do is keep going to the same fantasy over and over. I get a lot of enjoyment from the repetition. I also always put the protagonist as the not-completely human or completely non-human character. Always have I identified better with the unaccepted outlier of society, although lately they usually have a happy ending.

Plus these places must act in accordance to its own rules; there will be no "a wizard did it" explanation when I'm there. Which is incidentally how J.K. Rawling pretty much explains the tough questions of her story.

I think I go to these places so I can exert some sort of control and safety over myself. I go there when I'm starting to get overwhelmed, like at the shopping mall.

Also, I am attempting to write a series of novels for my personal world.

I'm really curious - how on earth did you manage to switch it off? I find it extremely difficult to switch off stories that I compose in my head like this.

I do the same with my Star Wars fanfics, trying to explain things that logically don't make sense. Never met anyone else who felt compelled to do that!