THE GREAT LAKES

1. Screenplay

Tristan Zorentino is a high school student who lives next to Lake Ontario in upstate New York, and he spends most of his time with his girlfriend, Maria Valencia, and his best friend, David Alexander. One night, David (who's a Native American) tells Tristan that he wants an Indian girlfriend, but there are only a few Indian girls in their school because Indians are nearly extinct. In order to help David, Tristan posts a message on his website that’s the only way for diversity to exist: “All races, ethnicities, and cultures need to have their own countries.” So, millions of people around the world rise up in anger, and New York charges Tristan with the new crime of hate speech, which results in an epic showdown in court. Tristan, Maria, and David (the Italian, the Spaniard, and the Indian) are bonded by their love for each other as they fight against more than anyone has ever fought before. Please click on The Great Lakes to read the screenplay (which will be a long movie of about 3.75 hours in order to definitively answer all of the major arguments). Also, you can click on Outline if you want to read an outline that gives summaries and explanations for all of the 40 scenes in this screenplay (note this is the only screenplay on this website that has an outline).

2. Pictures

All of the pictures on this webpage were actually taken in the state/province where the scenes will take place in the film. Thus, the two pictures of Niagara Falls were taken in Ontario, Canada; the one picture of the ocean was taken in Maine; and all of the rest of the pictures were taken in New York. They represent a small sample of how beautiful this film will look, and indeed, it will be one of the most beautiful films ever. Note the pictures aren't arranged in any particular order.

Right next to Lake Ontario, Tristan lives in a log cabin that's
beautifully shown in the winter and summer.
Tristan, Maria, and David visit Niagara Falls (note the picture at the
top of this webpage is of Niagara Falls too).
While it's snowing, Tristan and Maria dance together in a forest of snow-covered evergreens.
The film begins with Tristan and Maria cross-country skiing
through the woods while it's snowing.
At night, Tristan, Maria, and David swim in a hotel swimming pool where David admits he wants an Indian girlfriend.
Tristan and his adoptive family of Indians build a snowman in their backyard.
Tristan, Maria, and David swim in the pool on the back deck of Tristan's log cabin.
In a snowy forest, a red fox and several other animals of upstate
New York are shown as winter arrives.
Tristan and Maria swim in the ocean waves in Maine.

Several scenes take place inside the pretty rooms of Tristan's log cabin, including when it's nicely decorated for Christmas.
Tristan, Maria, and David drive a nice boat onto Lake Ontario for a
day of fun: They ride a raft pulled by the boat, go scuba diving, etc.
Tristan and Maria attend their beautiful Gothic church twice while it's nicely decorated for Christmas.

3. Music

Music will be a very important part of this film. Obviously, there will be a classical score by a composer, but there will also be six beautiful songs that will combine to have a great presence with a total screen time of exactly 21 minutes, and these songs will be made even better by the stunning imagery that will accompany them. Indeed, one may listen to their favorite songs or watch their favorite movies, but combining songs and movies delivers the best of both worlds. Other films with songs usually only have one or two of them, and/or only parts of the songs are played like in "Dr. Seuss' The Grinch" (2018). This isn't enough time to truly give the poetic feel that only music and images can combine to provide, and it doesn't make people want to see the film again in order to hear the songs. However, this film will have six songs that will play in their entirety. Also, four of these songs will be Christmas carols, which are probably the most famous and beloved songs ever made (with some of them being around for hundreds of years), yet no film has ever captured them like this film. This will dramatically increase the cultural importance of "The Great Lakes" since Christmas carols will always be associated with this film. Therefore, we'll have three things that will combine to give us a fantastic advantage over every other film: 1) Six songs will provide a strong musical presence. 2) All songs will play completely to allow them to be fully enjoyed. 3) Christmas carols will add cultural importance.

By the way, it might be hard to obtain the rights to these songs/versions due to the political nature of this movie, but that’s fine because we don’t have to obtain any rights: “The Holly and the Ivy,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” and “Silent Night” consist of music and lyrics that are free to use since they’re in the public domain, so we can easily replace the versions below with our own recordings of these songs; “The Little Drummer Boy” is copyrighted, but there are many other Christmas carols that are in the public domain, so we can easily replace this song with our own recording of a different carol; “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Silence is Golden” are copyrighted, but we can easily replace these songs with our own recordings of original songs that will give us the nice ability to write lyrics that are more related to the movie, or we can just do our own recordings of existing songs that are in the public domain. Anyway, these songs are arranged below in the order from left to right that they'll appear in the film, so please click on the audio players to listen to them:

"The Little Drummer Boy" by The Harry Simeone Chorale plays while
Tristan and Maria are cross-country skiing during the opening credits.
(3 minutes and 10 seconds)
"The Holly and the Ivy" by the choir of King's College, Cambridge (2008
version) is the version in the film, but it's "sung" by Tristan, Maria, the choir,
and the rest of the congregation at church. (2 minutes and 40 seconds)



"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler plays as Maria and David dance
together in a ballroom while Tristan enjoys watching them. (4 minutes and 25
seconds)
"Silence is Golden" by Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons plays while
Tristan and Maria dance in a forest of snow-covered evergreens. (3 minutes
and 15 seconds)



"O Come, All Ye Faithful" by the Camilli String Quartet plays while Tristan
and Maria talk to their priest at their church on the eve of Tristan appearing
in court. (4 minutes and 5 seconds)
"Silent Night" by Libera plays throughout a montage of Tristan, Maria, and
David during Christmas at the end of the film. (3 minutes and 25 seconds)