Dreamlike mood

The whole scene reads with a dreamlike perceptual tone that does not firmly anchor ordinary rules of reality.

Visual traits

• ambiguous continuity
• unsettled sense of scale
• dreamlike perceptual tone

Expected changes

• The scene is more likely to read with a dreamlike tone that sits slightly outside ordinary rules of reality

Definition

Dreamlike mood is an overall atmosphere in which continuity, scale, or causality feels ambiguous. It does not determine sleep, specific dream content, the supernatural, a fantasy narrative, blur, a particular color, or a mental state.

In more detail

It makes a scene read with a dreamlike tone that seems slightly outside ordinary rules of reality. It does not fix the subjects or events as dream content, and it does not require magic or supernatural beings. Rather than optical softness from defocus or a narrative genre, it specifies the perceptual tone of the scene as a whole.

Includes

• An overall atmosphere in which continuity, scale, or causality feels ambiguous

Excludes

• Sleep, specific dream content, the supernatural, a fantasy narrative, blur, a particular color, or a mental state
• Optical defocus or a particular narrative genre

What this does not imply

• Sleep, dream content, the supernatural, a fantasy narrative, blur, a particular color, or a mental state

Variability

Subjects, setting, narrative, color, focus, and the degree of realism can be adjusted separately.

Usage

• Use it as a scene-wide perceptual tone without automatically adding sleep or supernatural content

Distinguish similar expressions

• Use blur or lens terms for defocus, and specify supernatural beings or a fantasy narrative separately only when needed

Typical uses

• Give a dreamlike perceptual tone to scenes containing people, animals, unoccupied spaces, or landscapes

Possible failure modes

• The result is fixed as a sleeping person or a specific dream story
• Supernatural beings or magic are added as required elements
• It is expressed only through defocus or a particular color