Inspirations

The concept of dreams is so unique to each person that there's probably an abundance of good research material out there. Unfortunately a lot of it can be fairly generic, but these are 3 films that I thought were better than Inception by miles really great at capturing elements of dreams.

Paprika

I was quite surprised with this one considering what most anime is like. It's visually stunning and very creative. Basically, it's about a woman who can enter the dreams of other people using a sort-of alter-ego. It's more of a bright, exciting representation, and it makes for some really wonderful scenes.

Science of Sleep

This one is much more relaxed but is more happy and warming. It's about a man who gets his dreams confused with reality and is trying to win the heart of the woman living in the flat next door. It's a bit unusual, but it's very sweet. There's lovely moments where he's able to rewind time, make clouds of cotton wool and attack the people in his office with giant hands. It really gets across the fuzzy surrealism of dreams while putting in really bizarre ideas in a nonchalant way.

Waking Life

This one is a very difficult (and probably pretentious) film and, while it does have dreams in it, is more based around philosophy than anything else. It's set out sort of like a documentary in parts, but is completely rotoscoped. It looks very strange, but it's also very beautiful. It's about a guy who feels stuck in a never-ending dream and meets loads of people along the way who impart their wisdom. It's really nice in its changing appearance, and again portrays that almost intangible 'oddness' that dreams have.