FYS: Scripted Opening
Nov. 30th, 2013 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalI know I need to get today's drabble out, but I got inspired by nifty animatic produced by a friend of Wazzy, based on a scene she'd sketched out with her characters. So here's a look back at the very first For Your Safety story, showing what happened just before the story's actual start.
SCENE ONE
Establishing Shot: A panoramic view of a small town in a heavily wooded valley in late winter, pine trees everywhere, melting snow, gray early morning skies. We TRACK IN to see the main street are empty, quiet. Visible are a low, three story office building, a strip mall, a small hospital with a helipaad, and a community center with a pool seperating downtown from some neighboring houses. The only sign of something wrong are a couple of cars sitting askew on the street or partly on the sidewalks. No people are visible. Everything is silent except for quiet birdsongs.
FOCUS ON a hospital rooftop, a rescue helicopter sitting quietly on its landing pad.
CLOSE UP to the front windscreen of the copter. Two identical FOXMORPH PILOTS sit in the cockpit, staring forward, unblinking, unmoving. Visible in the cabin behind them are an identical pair of FOXMORPH PARAMEDICS, also absolutely still.
CUT TO: The community center. An OTTERMORPH lifeguard sits on a raised chair overlooking a pool choked with algae.
CUT TO: The main street again. Several CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES followed by a large MOVING VAN rumble down the street. The construction vehicles stop in front an office building, across from a small strip mall. The moving van turns down a side street. From the lead construction vehicle a half dozen identical BEARMORPHS climb out, wearing hard hats and orange safety vests. As a couple of them turn away, we see blinking control panels on the backs of their heads, marking them as anthropomorphic robots.
The bearmorphs take out poles and yellow tape. CLOSE UP on two stakes, as the tape is secured between them with the words FOR YOUR SAFETY centered in the audience's POV.
The MOVING VAN comes to a halt in front of a small house along an idyllic suburban street. Again, no humans are visible. The back of the van opens up, and several non-humanoid ROBOTS crawl or roll out, heading towards the front of the house, followed by a FEMALE BUNNYMORPH, about the size of a twelve year old child. We see that several windows are broken, and the front door is hanging half off its hinges.
The bunnymorph leads the robots into the front hallway. Several move up the stairs, the rest follow her as she moves into the KITCHEN. They began opening cabinets and loading the contents into plastic crates. The bunnymorph pauses in front of the fridge, pulling down a child's picture crayon picture and examining it.
POV BUNNYMORPH: We see a camera's eye view of the picture. Two adult women are drawn, along with a young boy and the bunnymorph, helpfully labeled MOMMY JUNE, MOMMY LISA, ME, and FLOPSY. Overlaying the picture is a green HUD, flashing over the picture and labeling it PERSONAL. HIGH IMPORTANCE. PRESERVE.
CUT TO: The living room. Flopsy is putting the drawing carefully in a plastic bag, as the other robots begin carrying out a couch. Partially obscured on the wall is a message written in black marker, ala Left 4 Dead.
LISA! RUNNING OUT OF FOOD. TAKING JAKE TO GRANDPA'S! STAY HIDDEN. DONT TRUST FLOPSY!
SCENE THREE
The MAIN STREET again. A SHADOWED FIGURE is crouched behind a tree, watching as the bearmorphs begin tearing down the office building from the vantage of a hill overlooking the STRIP MALL. It pulls out a pair of binoculars from a rucksack beside it, and focuses on a SIGN erected in front of the building, featuring a smiling, cartoon version of a BEARMORPH making a thumbs up gesture, and reading:
DECONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS.
WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.
FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY
PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.
The figure lowers the binoculars, and we see it's the LAST HUMAN, a skinny, frightened looking man with a rough beard, and wearing ragged and dirty fatigues. His face looks uncertain, glancing towards the STRIP MALL, then at his feet. CLOSE UP on his boots, which are worn to flinders, his toes sticking out of flopping soles.
He comes to a decision, and begins to move, sliding down the hill, moving from tree to tree, careful to keep under cover. The noise of the deconstruction grows louder, as he comes to the back of the strip mall, in front of a plain metal door marked with a sign "Sam's Shoes." The man pulls out a small crowbar from his rucksack, using it to break open the door.
He crawls into the store on his hands and knees, careful to keep below the view of the front display window and the glass door out front. He reaches over to a rack of hiking boots, eagerly pulling down a box and starting to unlace the worn pair on his feet.
CUT TO: The main street. A POLICE CAR turns slowly onto the street, driving along.
CUT TO: Close up to the front of the police car. We see two morph COPS. The driver is a uniformed officer, a German SHEPARDMORPH. Beside him is a DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND in a suit and rumpled trench coat.
(NOTE: Any resemblance between the bloodhound and McGruff the Crime Dog would not be entirely coincidental.
The police car moves along slowly, both cops scanning for trouble. CLOSEUP on the Detective Bloodhound's face as he spots something.
POV DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND: Looking at the front of Sam's Shoes. A pop-up window appears in his vision, expanding into a close up of the display window. It ZOOMS INTO the interior of the store, and we see the reflection of one of the MAN's legs, in the mirror attached to a customer stool.
CUT TO the interior of the police car as the detective bloodhound grasps the uniformed officer's arm in warning, and the car comes to a sudden stop.
CUT TO the interior of the store, the MAN'S face registering alarm as he hears the brief squeal tires.
CUT TO: Detective Bloodhound and Shepard emerge from the police car, the latter unholstering a tazer as the bloodhound waves him to hang back.
POV DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND: He catches a glimpse of the Man's face in the mirror, as the latter shifts position. Across his field of view, the HUD flashes HUMAN LOCATED.
CUT TO: FLOPSY kneeling on the floor, transferring toys into a shipping crate, suddenly snapping to attention.
CUT TO: The FOXMORPH PILOTS springing to life, flipping switches, the engine turbines beginning to spin up.
CUT TO: The BEARMORPHS turning in unison to stare across the street at the shoe store, their work seemingly forgotten.
CUT TO: The DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND (from here referred to as “DB”) slowly opening the front door of the shoe store.
DB (speaking soothingly): Sir? It's all right now. We're so glad we found you.
CUT TO: The MAN cowering behind a counter, eyes wide with fear, digging desperately in his rucksack for something.
CUT TO: Back to DB, holding up his hands, showing he's unarmed.
DB: It's all right now. You're safe now, you're perfectly safe. Just tell me where you are so we can help you.
The Man rises up from behind the counter, a grenade in his hand.
MAN (laughing once, madly): Safe?
DB (stops): Now sir, you need to be careful with that. We don't want you to be hurt.
He takes a step forward. The Man pulls the pin from the grenade. DB stops again.
POV DB: Looking directly at the Man's face, the HUD flashing HUMAN ARMED AND DANGER TO SELF.
FAST CUTS: The Bearmorphs turn as one and start heading across the street towards the confrontation. The helicopter rises up into the air. Flopsy emerges from the house at a dead run, a half-dozen other morph from other houses that were being moved joining her.
DB: Sir, please don't do anything foolish. Just put the pin back in and we'll take care of you.
Man: Stay back!
The SHEPARD enters the shop, his tazer raised.
SHEPARD: Put the weapon down!
The Man panics, throwing the grenade at the two morphs. DB snatches it out of the air and rolls to the ground, cradling it with his body.
DB: Sir, get down!
The grenade explodes, obliterating DB and sending the Shepard flying through the front window.
CUT TO: The Man running barefoot out the back entrance of the store, bleeding from several grenade and morph fragments.
CUT TO: The Shepard rising back to his feet, half his face torn off Terminator style to reveal chrome steel skin under his fur outer layer. He runs back into the burning store, leaping over the remains of partner as he follows his quarry.
CUT TO: The man pounding back up the hill into the woods. Behind him we see the panorama of the town, as seemingly a hundred morphs emerge from almost every building, all of them running in his direction like a wave of mechanical zombies.
CUT TO: The rescue helicopter hovering briefly over the pool, the Ottermorph lifeguard leaping from its chair into the chopper's cabin.
CUT TO: Where the original For Your Safety began, the Man fleeing for his life, a hundred morphs at his heels, led by the damaged Shepard and Flopsy.
MORPHS: Sir! Wait! Please stop!
The Man keeps running, up the hill, towards a cliff. He leaps from it, landing hard into the water of a rolling river just before the Shepard and Flopsy can grab him. They fall into the river as well, unable to stop in time.
FLOPSY: Sir, be careful!
She and the Shepard suddenly start shorting out and freeze, sinking under the river's surface.
Meanwhile the Man swims for his life, choking as the river flows through a steep sided cut, picking up speed as the chopper hovers overhead, following but unable to get close enough in the confined space.
PILOT: Sir! Swim for the banks! There are rapids ahead.
The Man's eyes widen as he sees whitewater flowing over sharp rocks. We see his body from an underwater shot, as it's slammed repeatedly into the rocks. As the river and the cut widen out, he starts sinking. The the Ottermorph dives from the helicopter into the water, wrapping its arms around him and hauling him to the surface.
Ottermorph: We've got you, sir. You're safe now. You're safe.
It hauls him to a gravel bank beside, the helicopter landing beside them. The two PARAMEDICS hop out and rush over, easing the Man onto a stretcher.
Paramedic: We've got you, sir. Everything is all right. You're going to be all right.
The Man begins to weep.
SCENE ONE
Establishing Shot: A panoramic view of a small town in a heavily wooded valley in late winter, pine trees everywhere, melting snow, gray early morning skies. We TRACK IN to see the main street are empty, quiet. Visible are a low, three story office building, a strip mall, a small hospital with a helipaad, and a community center with a pool seperating downtown from some neighboring houses. The only sign of something wrong are a couple of cars sitting askew on the street or partly on the sidewalks. No people are visible. Everything is silent except for quiet birdsongs.
FOCUS ON a hospital rooftop, a rescue helicopter sitting quietly on its landing pad.
CLOSE UP to the front windscreen of the copter. Two identical FOXMORPH PILOTS sit in the cockpit, staring forward, unblinking, unmoving. Visible in the cabin behind them are an identical pair of FOXMORPH PARAMEDICS, also absolutely still.
CUT TO: The community center. An OTTERMORPH lifeguard sits on a raised chair overlooking a pool choked with algae.
CUT TO: The main street again. Several CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES followed by a large MOVING VAN rumble down the street. The construction vehicles stop in front an office building, across from a small strip mall. The moving van turns down a side street. From the lead construction vehicle a half dozen identical BEARMORPHS climb out, wearing hard hats and orange safety vests. As a couple of them turn away, we see blinking control panels on the backs of their heads, marking them as anthropomorphic robots.
The bearmorphs take out poles and yellow tape. CLOSE UP on two stakes, as the tape is secured between them with the words FOR YOUR SAFETY centered in the audience's POV.
The MOVING VAN comes to a halt in front of a small house along an idyllic suburban street. Again, no humans are visible. The back of the van opens up, and several non-humanoid ROBOTS crawl or roll out, heading towards the front of the house, followed by a FEMALE BUNNYMORPH, about the size of a twelve year old child. We see that several windows are broken, and the front door is hanging half off its hinges.
The bunnymorph leads the robots into the front hallway. Several move up the stairs, the rest follow her as she moves into the KITCHEN. They began opening cabinets and loading the contents into plastic crates. The bunnymorph pauses in front of the fridge, pulling down a child's picture crayon picture and examining it.
POV BUNNYMORPH: We see a camera's eye view of the picture. Two adult women are drawn, along with a young boy and the bunnymorph, helpfully labeled MOMMY JUNE, MOMMY LISA, ME, and FLOPSY. Overlaying the picture is a green HUD, flashing over the picture and labeling it PERSONAL. HIGH IMPORTANCE. PRESERVE.
CUT TO: The living room. Flopsy is putting the drawing carefully in a plastic bag, as the other robots begin carrying out a couch. Partially obscured on the wall is a message written in black marker, ala Left 4 Dead.
LISA! RUNNING OUT OF FOOD. TAKING JAKE TO GRANDPA'S! STAY HIDDEN. DONT TRUST FLOPSY!
SCENE THREE
The MAIN STREET again. A SHADOWED FIGURE is crouched behind a tree, watching as the bearmorphs begin tearing down the office building from the vantage of a hill overlooking the STRIP MALL. It pulls out a pair of binoculars from a rucksack beside it, and focuses on a SIGN erected in front of the building, featuring a smiling, cartoon version of a BEARMORPH making a thumbs up gesture, and reading:
DECONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS.
WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.
FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY
PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.
The figure lowers the binoculars, and we see it's the LAST HUMAN, a skinny, frightened looking man with a rough beard, and wearing ragged and dirty fatigues. His face looks uncertain, glancing towards the STRIP MALL, then at his feet. CLOSE UP on his boots, which are worn to flinders, his toes sticking out of flopping soles.
He comes to a decision, and begins to move, sliding down the hill, moving from tree to tree, careful to keep under cover. The noise of the deconstruction grows louder, as he comes to the back of the strip mall, in front of a plain metal door marked with a sign "Sam's Shoes." The man pulls out a small crowbar from his rucksack, using it to break open the door.
He crawls into the store on his hands and knees, careful to keep below the view of the front display window and the glass door out front. He reaches over to a rack of hiking boots, eagerly pulling down a box and starting to unlace the worn pair on his feet.
CUT TO: The main street. A POLICE CAR turns slowly onto the street, driving along.
CUT TO: Close up to the front of the police car. We see two morph COPS. The driver is a uniformed officer, a German SHEPARDMORPH. Beside him is a DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND in a suit and rumpled trench coat.
(NOTE: Any resemblance between the bloodhound and McGruff the Crime Dog would not be entirely coincidental.
The police car moves along slowly, both cops scanning for trouble. CLOSEUP on the Detective Bloodhound's face as he spots something.
POV DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND: Looking at the front of Sam's Shoes. A pop-up window appears in his vision, expanding into a close up of the display window. It ZOOMS INTO the interior of the store, and we see the reflection of one of the MAN's legs, in the mirror attached to a customer stool.
CUT TO the interior of the police car as the detective bloodhound grasps the uniformed officer's arm in warning, and the car comes to a sudden stop.
CUT TO the interior of the store, the MAN'S face registering alarm as he hears the brief squeal tires.
CUT TO: Detective Bloodhound and Shepard emerge from the police car, the latter unholstering a tazer as the bloodhound waves him to hang back.
POV DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND: He catches a glimpse of the Man's face in the mirror, as the latter shifts position. Across his field of view, the HUD flashes HUMAN LOCATED.
CUT TO: FLOPSY kneeling on the floor, transferring toys into a shipping crate, suddenly snapping to attention.
CUT TO: The FOXMORPH PILOTS springing to life, flipping switches, the engine turbines beginning to spin up.
CUT TO: The BEARMORPHS turning in unison to stare across the street at the shoe store, their work seemingly forgotten.
CUT TO: The DETECTIVE BLOODHOUND (from here referred to as “DB”) slowly opening the front door of the shoe store.
DB (speaking soothingly): Sir? It's all right now. We're so glad we found you.
CUT TO: The MAN cowering behind a counter, eyes wide with fear, digging desperately in his rucksack for something.
CUT TO: Back to DB, holding up his hands, showing he's unarmed.
DB: It's all right now. You're safe now, you're perfectly safe. Just tell me where you are so we can help you.
The Man rises up from behind the counter, a grenade in his hand.
MAN (laughing once, madly): Safe?
DB (stops): Now sir, you need to be careful with that. We don't want you to be hurt.
He takes a step forward. The Man pulls the pin from the grenade. DB stops again.
POV DB: Looking directly at the Man's face, the HUD flashing HUMAN ARMED AND DANGER TO SELF.
FAST CUTS: The Bearmorphs turn as one and start heading across the street towards the confrontation. The helicopter rises up into the air. Flopsy emerges from the house at a dead run, a half-dozen other morph from other houses that were being moved joining her.
DB: Sir, please don't do anything foolish. Just put the pin back in and we'll take care of you.
Man: Stay back!
The SHEPARD enters the shop, his tazer raised.
SHEPARD: Put the weapon down!
The Man panics, throwing the grenade at the two morphs. DB snatches it out of the air and rolls to the ground, cradling it with his body.
DB: Sir, get down!
The grenade explodes, obliterating DB and sending the Shepard flying through the front window.
CUT TO: The Man running barefoot out the back entrance of the store, bleeding from several grenade and morph fragments.
CUT TO: The Shepard rising back to his feet, half his face torn off Terminator style to reveal chrome steel skin under his fur outer layer. He runs back into the burning store, leaping over the remains of partner as he follows his quarry.
CUT TO: The man pounding back up the hill into the woods. Behind him we see the panorama of the town, as seemingly a hundred morphs emerge from almost every building, all of them running in his direction like a wave of mechanical zombies.
CUT TO: The rescue helicopter hovering briefly over the pool, the Ottermorph lifeguard leaping from its chair into the chopper's cabin.
CUT TO: Where the original For Your Safety began, the Man fleeing for his life, a hundred morphs at his heels, led by the damaged Shepard and Flopsy.
MORPHS: Sir! Wait! Please stop!
The Man keeps running, up the hill, towards a cliff. He leaps from it, landing hard into the water of a rolling river just before the Shepard and Flopsy can grab him. They fall into the river as well, unable to stop in time.
FLOPSY: Sir, be careful!
She and the Shepard suddenly start shorting out and freeze, sinking under the river's surface.
Meanwhile the Man swims for his life, choking as the river flows through a steep sided cut, picking up speed as the chopper hovers overhead, following but unable to get close enough in the confined space.
PILOT: Sir! Swim for the banks! There are rapids ahead.
The Man's eyes widen as he sees whitewater flowing over sharp rocks. We see his body from an underwater shot, as it's slammed repeatedly into the rocks. As the river and the cut widen out, he starts sinking. The the Ottermorph dives from the helicopter into the water, wrapping its arms around him and hauling him to the surface.
Ottermorph: We've got you, sir. You're safe now. You're safe.
It hauls him to a gravel bank beside, the helicopter landing beside them. The two PARAMEDICS hop out and rush over, easing the Man onto a stretcher.
Paramedic: We've got you, sir. Everything is all right. You're going to be all right.
The Man begins to weep.
