Welcome
Reverie is the storytelling expression of Luke Marchesani (see photo). This website (or world as we will formally refer to it from here on out) is a visual exploration of my expressions. In the world of Reverie, there’s a lot more than meets the eye. In order for you to have the most effective and immersive, yet inquisitive experience, I wanted to give you a brief guide or “map” for your exploration through our world. For starters, I think it’s important to nail down a few definitions that will provide a solid linguistic framework, beginning with the most obvious word - Reverie.
According to the Oxford Languages definition, Reverie means “a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream.” This truly is the perfect word and definition for the feeling I aspire to create with my art. I aspire to put people in a dream state, where they are opened up to wonder: our next definition…
Wonder
Many theologians and thinkers have referenced the common universal feeling of longing and dissatisfaction with life, certain “deep human emotions which point to a dimension of our existence beyond time and space.” C.S. Lewis terms this sense “joy”, and said it is “an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction… anyone who has experienced it will want it again.” It’s this feeling of hope, that there’s more, and of something deep on the inside of us being awakened and stirred. We’ve all experienced it throughout the moments of our life, like the way the light falls through the window on a summer evening, the feeling you get listening to your favorite song with the windows down, or the warmth of a long and genuine conversation. It’s this wonder that is actually so inseparable from Reverie, and that I desire to elicit in the stories I tell. Which leads to our next definition: story.
Story
I know you’re probably thinking that this is getting long and is a lot for just a website, but this isn’t just a website, it’s a world, so stick with me a bit longer and you won’t be disappointed. Story is possibly the most foundational lens and definition necessary for ensuring your effective, immersive, and inquisitive experience with this world. I look at story through the lens of the story model, invented by Aristotle. Again, this is foundational to your understanding, and shows up in more and less obvious ways throughout this world. The Story model in its simplest form is composed of three acts (beginning, middle, and end), with two plot points connecting the acts (what some call the hook and climax).
In total there are five sections to the prototypical story, and I call these story modules. Every story can be broken down into these five (sometimes three) modules. Films are the perfect example; since a film is a one and a half hour long compilation of moving images, then one could break down the whole story into three or five still images. So rather than the high extreme of thousands of images put together, or the low extreme of one photo, a story can be effectively told by three or five photos. Since humans learn best with examples, let’s apply this methodology to the example of the cinematic and narrative classic - Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. By pulling out still images that represent each story module, we can better understand the story model.
Act 1
Let’s begin with Act 1, which I call death. Act 1 is the status quo, life as we currently know it, normal, day to day existence. In Star Wars, we see two main subplots in the story line in the form of good and evil - Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Act 1 for Darth Vader and the galaxy is that he/evil rules, and is continuing to take over against good. Act 1 for Luke is average, daily life living at his Aunt and Uncle’s farm, eating and discussing the plans for next season’s crops.
Plot Point 1
Plot point 1, which I call lose, is the hook; it’s the wrench thrown in the reality of Act 1 that gives the character’s the opportunity to lose their old life, and lose their life to a larger story. For Luke, this is the moment where he receives the transmission from Princess Leia informing him of the greater adventure at hand, and plot point 1 is finalized by his aunt and uncle being killed, making it clear to him that he should join the adventure Princess Leia’s transmission was talking about.
Act 2
This leads to Act 2, which I call love, and makes up the largest portion of the story. It is composed of mini conflicts and mini climaxes that create continual conflict and pull the audience deeper into the story. Depending on how complex the story, and in this case, how deeply we study Star Wars, you can extract 1 or even 10+ mini conflicts and climaxes in an Act 2. For simplicity sake, we can see in Act 2 the first mini climax where Luke finds Princess Leia who was being held hostage in the death star. This emotional climax and victory is quickly thrown into tension a few minutes later by a mini conflict, where Luke and Leia find themselves trapped in a trash compactor, threatening imminent death. They are heroically saved - mini climax - and escape the Death Star.
Act 2 continued
The story and emotions are then brought back down through another mini conflict, as the bad guys track them and come to destroy their ship. This leads to the next mini climax of Han Solo shooting and destroying the trackers. The story continues into Luke making his attempt to destroy the death star, but being fatefully tracked in the missile sights of Darth Vader.
Plot Point 2
These mini conflicts and climaxes all progress to plot point 2, the climax, which I call find. It the highest point of emotional involvement in the film. So, after missing his first shot, Luke lines up his second, and the entire film climaxes as he nails the shot, destroys the death star, and sends Darth Vader spiraling into space!
Act 3
This climax then leads to Act 3, which I call life. Act 3 is the better reality of the world juxtaposed to that in Act 1, because of the journey taken in Act 2. In the better reality of Star Wars Episode 4, Luke is now a decorated and championed warrior, as compared to the ordinary farmer in Act 1. Furthermore, Darth Vader is spinning through the universe in his ship, and the death star is destroyed, compared to Darth Vader tyrannically overtaking the galaxy and building up the destructive death star. So evil is defeated for a time, and the character’s and the world are in a better reality.
For this reason, the simplest definition of story I can come up with is “moving from one reality to another through a given action.” This story model proves an incredibly valuable tool in understanding and interpreting art and life, and as stated, is overtly and covertly informing nearly everything I do in this website/world. Look for it, and you will be pleasantly surprised in the multitude of ways it can be found.
Final Advice
In your inquisitive search, it will be beneficial to look for it (the story model) in the photos. As seen, photos are extremely powerful for teaching and world immersion, and they have been used as such in this world. Each photo has been chosen with meaning, and specifically the BTS (behind the scenes) photos in each of the “stories” are deeply connected to the words describing them. Study those deeply, and let them do with you what they may. Also, as you may have noticed already, each section of each page is intended to fill up the entire screen, so move slowly, and let them fully immerse you. That’s about the best advice I could give you for experiencing this world. The additional definitions below may also help clarify a few of the linguistic subtleties and specificities of the reverie world:
Codiscovery Template: A template where each input results in a unique micro-output of the meta-output. Example = bitmoji
Photographic: An artistic medium that combines photography (images) with graphic design (words and symbols) to create you guessed it… a “photographic”.
Bespoke: A fancy word for custom-made.
