Friday, April 23, 2010

Beat List

To kick it off, the Beat List. (Revised 4/28)

1)There is a house in a serene field, the mailbox proclaims, “Time Traveler Extraordinaire”
2) CRACK of lighting, and the time machine appears, steaming, it’s directly in front of the camera, covering the scene.
3) The door opens, and a man walks out, looking pleased with himself despite having claw-marks on his coat and the like. There is a pause as he straightens his ascot and hat, then turns to pat the trusty machine.
4) There is a scratching noise from above.
5)
He turns and looks up, then freaks out.
6)
We zoom out to a full shot, involving house and machine. There is a dinosaur on the machine, looking distressed.
7)
After running in a quick circle, the time traveler runs into his house. There are rummaging noises.
8)
The dinosaur -who has been looking depressed- starts a long, howling note, but before it can go on for too long, the door slams open and the man runs out with a broom.
9)
He begins to poke the dinosaur with it. The reptile merely grips the machine harder, flinching and making unhappy noises.
10)
The man flaps his hands at it, shouting angrily- and then it hits him; he smacks his palm to his forehead and darts into the machine.
11)
We see him pulling levers and dials; his hands fly over the contraptions fluidly and frantically. He is turning a dial until it says “85 MILLION B.C.” On the edge of the frame, we see a fuel gauge that is pointing very nearly at EMPTY. Frantic, he doesn’t notice.
12)
Cut back outside, the dinosaur is no longer on top of the machine, but sniffing at it hesitantly from the side.
13)
After it disappears with another CRACK!; the dinosaur is examining the scorch marks left by the time machine.
14)
Cut, and CRACK the machine has appeared in a Jurassic looking area.
15)
The time traveler runs out, brandishing his broom and looks up.
16)
The dinosaur is not there. There is a pause as he tries to figure it out, and decide what to do.
17)
Thinking nothing of it, he walks calmly back into his machine.
18)
A cut back to the dinosaur, who is now gnawing complacently on the house.
19)
Another cut back to the man and the inner contraptions of the time machine. Turning the dial yields unpleasant cranking noises and a powering down noise.
20)
The fuel gauge, proclaiming EMPTY is in full focus. The man’s jaw drops.
21)
He runs outside, frustrated, and kicks the machine.
22)
There is a pause, and it disappears.
23)
In the empty space of sky left behind, an enormous comet is seen in the distance.

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