A Dream Sequence
I recently wrote this for my screenwriting class at FAMU (the Prague film school). Let me know anything you want to comment on, especially content-wise. I just want to know what you think it's about, and whether it works or not.
The assignment was to write a dream sequence that expresses a fear or preoccupation of the protagonist.
“The Wedding Night”
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
A man is sitting at his small kitchen table (his is the only chair) eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes as he reads the paper. He is of indistinct age, but around 30 maybe, and he is dressed in a business suit. We see that he is reading an article about trade in China, and there is another article on the page about a runaway dumptruck crashing and spilling trash all over a front yard so that two sunbathers there suffocated and died. It is a sunny day, the window is open, and he looks healthy. There is a woman to his left but facing away from the camera, wearing an apron and doing lots of very sudsy dishes, mostly pots and pans. There is the sound of him crunching his cereal, the water running over the dishes, and birds chirping outside.
The man coughs on a Frosted Flake for a second and spittles it onto his shirt. The sound from the dishes stops at that point. He looks to his left, in the general direction of the woman at the sink, but the camera cuts to his point of view, which is of the bedroom, dark and at night.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
There is artificial moonlight coming in through the window, and a very long candle burning on the nightstand, by the bed, which is the only other furniture in the room. The bed is positioned laterally against the backwall of the scene, and there is a woman (the same as before), covered only in the necessary places by the comforter, lying there in a sexy come-hither pose, leaning on her elbow, like the painting over a western bar. Close-up of her face as she theatrically runs her finger down her nose and flips her bottom lip.
WOMAN IN BED
(whispers) Toddy...
The man, now wearing a wife-beater and boxers, runs a little then walks the rest of the way to the bed, and eyes wide open, jumps in with her. He finds himself alone, however, and as he looks under the huge comforter, he puts one hand down on the bed, and it sinks in. Then his other hand sinks and his feet too, so he is stuck. He wrestles with the bed, but the comforter covers him and begins to suffocate him. He struggles violently, and then sinks totally through the bottom of the bed. As he does so, fade to black.
EXT. BEACH – DAY
Fade in slowly and groggily to a shot of a toddler boy running along the water at a beach. There are other people at the beach, and everyone is wearing 70's style beachwear and haircuts. The boy himself has swim trunks and a brownish-blonde bowl cut, he looks kind of like the guy at the kitchen table. The film is grainy and verite-style and shot from behind the boy, at his level, so it reads as a memory. Normal beach noises.
WOMAN'S VOICE
“Toddy... Toddy...”
The boy runs ahead to his mother, who is tall and young and has big hair, and is walking along the beach in front of him, looking back at him and smiling beatifically. The boy runs and then walks the rest of the way to his mother, and then holds her right hand and looks up at her as they continue to stroll. They walk, and Toddy looks at the beachgoers. Suddenly, there is a beatuiful woman who is sunbathing topless and has very large breasts. Toddy slows down and stares – his mother feels him slow down and looks and then covers his eyes and turns his head. We see the hand go over Toddy's point of view of the woman, and the screen goes black.
INT. BEDROOM – EARLY MORNING
MAN
“No... No... No...”
Scene of bedroom, dimly and realistically lit by early morning light creeping through the partially closed curtains. The bed is similar to the one before, but messier, and the room has more furniture, and is oriented slightly differently. A man wakes up alone, wrestling with his sheets and large comforter, which is over his head.
- This screenplay is (c) Tyler Henry, 2006, All Rights Reserved. -
(sorry, we gotta do that in the screenwriting biz - you know, the one I'm in now...)
The assignment was to write a dream sequence that expresses a fear or preoccupation of the protagonist.
“The Wedding Night”
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
A man is sitting at his small kitchen table (his is the only chair) eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes as he reads the paper. He is of indistinct age, but around 30 maybe, and he is dressed in a business suit. We see that he is reading an article about trade in China, and there is another article on the page about a runaway dumptruck crashing and spilling trash all over a front yard so that two sunbathers there suffocated and died. It is a sunny day, the window is open, and he looks healthy. There is a woman to his left but facing away from the camera, wearing an apron and doing lots of very sudsy dishes, mostly pots and pans. There is the sound of him crunching his cereal, the water running over the dishes, and birds chirping outside.
The man coughs on a Frosted Flake for a second and spittles it onto his shirt. The sound from the dishes stops at that point. He looks to his left, in the general direction of the woman at the sink, but the camera cuts to his point of view, which is of the bedroom, dark and at night.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
There is artificial moonlight coming in through the window, and a very long candle burning on the nightstand, by the bed, which is the only other furniture in the room. The bed is positioned laterally against the backwall of the scene, and there is a woman (the same as before), covered only in the necessary places by the comforter, lying there in a sexy come-hither pose, leaning on her elbow, like the painting over a western bar. Close-up of her face as she theatrically runs her finger down her nose and flips her bottom lip.
WOMAN IN BED
(whispers) Toddy...
The man, now wearing a wife-beater and boxers, runs a little then walks the rest of the way to the bed, and eyes wide open, jumps in with her. He finds himself alone, however, and as he looks under the huge comforter, he puts one hand down on the bed, and it sinks in. Then his other hand sinks and his feet too, so he is stuck. He wrestles with the bed, but the comforter covers him and begins to suffocate him. He struggles violently, and then sinks totally through the bottom of the bed. As he does so, fade to black.
EXT. BEACH – DAY
Fade in slowly and groggily to a shot of a toddler boy running along the water at a beach. There are other people at the beach, and everyone is wearing 70's style beachwear and haircuts. The boy himself has swim trunks and a brownish-blonde bowl cut, he looks kind of like the guy at the kitchen table. The film is grainy and verite-style and shot from behind the boy, at his level, so it reads as a memory. Normal beach noises.
WOMAN'S VOICE
“Toddy... Toddy...”
The boy runs ahead to his mother, who is tall and young and has big hair, and is walking along the beach in front of him, looking back at him and smiling beatifically. The boy runs and then walks the rest of the way to his mother, and then holds her right hand and looks up at her as they continue to stroll. They walk, and Toddy looks at the beachgoers. Suddenly, there is a beatuiful woman who is sunbathing topless and has very large breasts. Toddy slows down and stares – his mother feels him slow down and looks and then covers his eyes and turns his head. We see the hand go over Toddy's point of view of the woman, and the screen goes black.
INT. BEDROOM – EARLY MORNING
MAN
“No... No... No...”
Scene of bedroom, dimly and realistically lit by early morning light creeping through the partially closed curtains. The bed is similar to the one before, but messier, and the room has more furniture, and is oriented slightly differently. A man wakes up alone, wrestling with his sheets and large comforter, which is over his head.
- This screenplay is (c) Tyler Henry, 2006, All Rights Reserved. -
(sorry, we gotta do that in the screenwriting biz - you know, the one I'm in now...)
posted by Sturgeon General at 9:58 AM
2 comments
