Thank you! "Story" and "Storytelling" are thrown around so much as buzzwords that it seems like people interpret them rigidly and focus only on the concrete details of plot and screenwriting dogma.

I've always questioned why scripts shouldn't take more poetic license if they are supposed to translate to films with a distinct tone. Figurative language is what guides us to creating images that evoke the mood of the world, the characters' headspace, or the overall themes you're exploring.

I just came across this post that has some creative ideas

http://nofilmschool.com/2017/03/4-dirt-cheap-diy-lens-filters-will-let-y...

The 50mm Minolta MD Rokkor feels dreamy to me, but I don't know if it'd get what you're going for all by itself. Have you looked into any filters? If not, check out the various Tiffen Pro-Mist filters http://www.tiffen.com/promist.htm

1/2 or 1/4 filters will be more subtle than the early-90's-Lifetime-movie-dream-sequence look of the 3 or 4.