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This is interesting, and sorta answers your question, Zack::
In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent "dry fog" was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The fog reddened and dimmed the sunlight, such that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Neither wind nor rainfall dispersed the "fog". It has been characterized as a "stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil".[7]
Year without a Summer: Read on, it's very interesting - food shortages, riots, the whole gamut.
Is the fog worldwide, or is it contained to America, for example? That could present interesting scenarios as people flee the states to Mexico, but are turned away, arrested, sent back to the U.S. Too political?
I thought worldwide -- but at the same time, the point is kinda that nobody has the means to find out? It's probably but maybe not worldwide, and rumours of "clear" spaces abound?
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Does the financial system collapse? Do certain items become valuable to use in bartering? For example, is a bottle of water more valuable than a gold brick?
I don't think so -- I think this is one of the really interesting things about this concept, that everyone is waiting for the fog to potentially lift at any moment. Those in need would trade gold for water, but I think those with a bit of a setup are probably still stockpiling typical things of value.
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Basic hygiene. Is that out the window? Do toilets and showers function?
This raises an interesting question: can we harvest this mysterious fog for water? Does it act like a normal fog in that way? Or is this maybe one of the solutions that is tried, but it makes people sick, suggesting that something is different about this fog?
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Like space... maybe a cliche, but we could have astronaut characters who can see all.
Love this for a one-off sequence midway through. Stranded astronauts who can see everything but have been left to die.
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So someone can go into the fog and disappear.. But we don't know if they've fallen down a storn drain, been murdered by a crook, been eaten by a pack of starving dogs or whatever... But people will start to believe there are things there, even if maybe there aren't.
It seems like eventually there's a divide: rooted communities that refuse to travel further through the fog than necessary, and have varying levels of suspicion about the fog and anything in it; and others, who constantly travel, seeking a solution or money or better weapons or trade or whatever.
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...but it means not having the central characters involved in the global effort to solve the mystery.
I think this is the way to go. It's a show about how we react to the unknown, first and foremost.
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Most forms of commercial transport shrug off fog as an inconvenience.
The way I'm imagining the fog -- just there and impenetrable one morning -- kinda precludes this. Planes and ships could move, and will in emergencies, but for the most part, who's there to operate them? No one can drive or really get anywhere in a city. No one's going to work. No one's at any other jobs to coordinate things. I think the normal flow of work/commerce breaks down very quickly and essentially becomes unrecoverable, including transport.
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Frozen birds dropped dead in the streets of Montreal
Agreed with Zack that this has to go in there -- either as a sequence, or through a character reciting their memory, depending on where in the timeline the story ends up starting.
Heretic, people wouldn’t simply give up on getting to work. I can easily get to work with five feet of visibility (to pick a range out of the hat), though if the Fog was in subway tunnels the trains would run slower. Those outside major cities would have a harder time, but they’re not the major ports and airports. (Edit: Mayor DiBlasio would LOVE to have an excuse to ban privately-owned cars from NYC.)
What five feet of visibility does is make loading and unloading cargo an accident-prone adventure. Collisions in port won’t happen very often because the harbormaster will slow entries down to a crawl, but the pace will probably slow down enough to have serious consequences.
Things basically get more expensive before any widespread outages and occur.
- Fog or mist? Needs to be fog as mist usually provides greater visibility to 1.5 miles.
- Are we going with 'normal' fog but just global coverage and it doesn't go away? Or is there something unnatural to it like phosphorescence, static or tingling when you travel through it? I'd vote for something unnatural or mysterious. No creatures in the fog though, just bad people and behavior.
- If the fog has unnatural attributes, it could first present itself as a novelty with children playing in it as it swirls around their ankles and 'crackles'. As it rises, the fear factor kicks in and it starts messing with GPS, communications, CELL PHONES (OMG), but compasses still work but only for direction since you have no visual bearings.
- Topography comes into play now: The masses 'head for the hills! Mountains are now islands in the sky. Chaos escalates as islands shrink and people fear going back into the fog.
- Religion needs to play a big part in this. New religions formed around self-proclaimed zealots. Revert back to mass accusations and claims of witchcraft. Burn her! Unless she weighs more than a duck. Or a small stone.
- I still lean towards individual shorts that can be linked by a common thread.
The well is dry for now... I'll give it a couple hours....
- Fog or mist? Needs to be fog as mist usually provides greater visibility to 1.5 miles.
- Are we going with 'normal' fog but just global coverage and it doesn't go away? Or is there something unnatural to it like phosphorescence, static or tingling when you travel through it? I'd vote for something unnatural or mysterious. No creatures in the fog though, just bad people and behavior.
- If the fog has unnatural attributes, it could first present itself as a novelty with children playing in it as it swirls around their ankles and 'crackles'. As it rises, the fear factor kicks in and it starts messing with GPS, communications, CELL PHONES (OMG), but compasses still work but only for direction since you have no visual bearings.
- Topography comes into play now: The masses 'head for the hills! Mountains are now islands in the sky. Chaos escalates as islands shrink and people fear going back into the fog.
- Religion needs to play a big part in this. New religions formed around self-proclaimed zealots. Revert back to mass accusations and claims of witchcraft. Burn her! Unless she weighs more than a duck. Or a small stone.
- I still lean towards individual shorts that can be linked by a common thread.
The well is dry for now... I'll give it a couple hours....
It'll probably just be standard (if unusual) fog. I like the images of the phosphorescence though. I think if we were making a film it would be a good shout, but I reckon when it's just audio just a thick fog is creepy enough.
Yeah, there's some religious beats missing...I'll find a way to stick that in.
This is interesting, and sorta answers your question, Zack::
In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent "dry fog" was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The fog reddened and dimmed the sunlight, such that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Neither wind nor rainfall dispersed the "fog". It has been characterized as a "stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil".[7]
Year without a Summer: Read on, it's very interesting - food shortages, riots, the whole gamut.
All descriptions will have to be cleverly woven into dialogue. You want phosphorescence, then it can be done. The magic of radio is that we can have whatever we like.... blow the budget!
I am with LC about centering the first season around a smaller group of characters and build out from there. Here are some of my ideas:
Information about the heavy fog could come in piecemeal initially from various characters or radio reports as a curiosity and as soon as the characters suspect something is amiss and the fog is of concern, the power goes out so no internet and no TV. If the fog can destroy crops and knock birds out of the sky in a matter of days, imagine what it can do to a power grid.
Our central characters could be located in the countryside so they know each other. They gather and provide bits of information. Volunteers venture into the fog to seek resources in Manchester but some do not return. The remaining characters split on how to proceed and tensions rise. Maybe another small group shows up seeking help. They may be desperate. No sign of any authority yet.
The fog is thick and cold. Some who have ventured out and returned claim the ground was frozen beneath their feet only yards away from their refuge. Others claim they hear voices or see shadows in the fog. No one is sure about the cause but most pray it will pass.
I feel the season one ending could be a doorway into the larger world. Maybe a helicopter crashes on top of the group and that brings the authorities. They are whisked away to Manchester for season two.
I imagine season one taking place over a two to three week period. Not sure how the rest of you feel. Once we lock down the story, we should chart the story beats and find where the cliffhangers will be, like the episode one cliffhanger can be when the group loses power or contact with outside world. This way we can determine if the story warrants ten episodes.
We could do the podcast as a call-in radio show with each episode being another week or so into the fogs presence. The 'DJs' are the central characters that ties each episode together as the common thread. Each episode could have a guest (e.g. scientist, clergy, celebrity, etc.) and callers could ask questions, comment or give recounts of their experience with the fog. Desperation mounts each week as does the guest status.
SS writers could collaborate or write as individual assignments?
I really like the idea of the radio station. I had an idea surrounding that as well, which I'll expand upon later. I dunt know if we'll do the whole show in that format, but I reckon that should be a part of each episode.
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