Okay, so I did a course in media studies, and one of the pieces of coursework was to come up with an idea for a crime drama, do a two-page spread for it in the style of a tv magazine, and write a couple of scenes.
Now, I'm not really into crime dramas, and I hadn't really decided whether or not I wanted to do Film & Video in university yet, plus I'm a lazy bitch who avoids work like the plague, so I kinda threw something together. The thing is though... Well, I'm never really happy doing things the conventional way, so it wasn't even a case of just coming up with something obvious. I'm lazy, but I also like to put my heart into things, go figure. So, I concocted Little Death, the premise being:
"Two twenty-something forensic scientists, one male, one female, living and working in a strange small town get tangled up in all kinds of weirdness through their work and personal lives. Despite being completely different people, they slowly get drawn together."
See anything familar in there? Well, like I mentioned I drew inspiration from a whole bunch of stuff... In fact, it's a pastiche of the X-files, twin peaks, CSI and a bunch of slacker literature/film (generation X by Douglas Coupland, Clerks by Kevin Smith, yada yada). I threw it all together and did some character development. Trent (named after both Trent Reznor of NIN and the character Trent in Daria), the guy, is pretty much a counter-culture anti-hero, born in this strange little town, with an unhealthy interest in the occult. Elsbeth, who was a much less developed character in my mind, Came from a well-to-do family from New York, and was kinda Trent's opposite; Tidy, organised, responsible. Both were very very smart, but in kinda different ways. Over the course of the series they rub off on each other and kinda get romantically entangled, in an on-again, off-again, psuedo-casual manner (None of this "will they? won't they?" shite from the X-files - I reckon they would of ended up at least drunkenly fucking in the first series, although it probably wouldn't ever get discussed afterwards).
The scenes I threw together featured quite a bit of intertexuality - I'm a big Tarantino fan (of course), and love getting all the little references in The Simpsons, and other such things. The first part of the scene below, for example, is pretty much lifted straight from Clerks.
[INT - Messy Bedroom]
#1-WIDE ANGLE, LONG SHOT
[The Camera is positioned just behind a phone on a desk giving the viewer an overview of the entire room. There is a figure wrapped up in the sheets of the bed (see story board}]
[The phone begins to ring and the figure in the bed begins to groan. He moves about under the sheets before finally kicking them off and getting out of the bed. He moves slowly towards the phone picking it up when he finally reaches it]
#2 - CLOSE UP
shot of hand picking up phone
#3 - CLOSE UP
characters head fills the frame, he talks into the handset
CHARACTER
(groggy) Hello?
Wha? No, I don't work today. [PAUSE]
#4 - Cut to close up of the back of his legs. He scratches one with his foot.]
Get Elsbeth to do it.
#5 - Cut to CU Panning shot of steel, industrial looking book-case: filled with counter-culture books, graphic novels, nic-nacs, Forensics text books and trashy pulp fiction from the 40s
[PAUSE]
Tonsilitus? So…
[PAUSE]
Oh.
Umm..
#6 - CU shot of desk from the direction he is standing. You can see the telephone cord and his hand resting on the desk, his fingers gently tapping the wood.
[PAUSE - HE IS BEGINNING TO WAKE UP, SLOWLY]
Where?
[He writes something down]
Okay… Gimmie 40 minutes.
#7 CU shot of him putting the phone down
#8 MS him standing by the desk, roughly the same angle as the opening shot
Strange expression on his face
He pulls the chair out from the desk and sits down
Puts his head in his hands
And bangs his head against the desk
Wraps his arms around his head
The shot lingers…
He gets up and leaves the room and the frame
[#9 - CUT: TITLE SCREEN, THEME MUSIC - Mudhoney - Touch me I'm sick 2:33]
interspersed with shots of CHARACTER making toast, coffee, cleaning his teeth, getting dressed (he wears grungy, alternative clothing - Layered T-shirts, thrashed jeans, Tennis shoe style trainers. His fingernails have black nail varnish on them, slightly chipped. He has shortish messy brownish hair - No piercings]
#10 - EXT - Theme music still playing. Shot of car bumper - it's his car. There is a bumper sticker that says "Satan is boring" (note: Satan is Boring is a song by Sonic Youth) - SOUND: You can hear him slamming the door - Credits at the bottom of the screen
#11 - INT: CAR - he's driving, rocking out to the music coming out of the radio, which is actually non-diegetic, technically (Still Mudhoney - touch me I'm sick)
#12 - EXT shot of the road, moving
#13 - EXT shot of the side of the road as if seen from just outside the car
#14 - similar to #13
#15 - similar to #13
#16 - EXT He pulls onto the side of the road, onto the mud. There are other cars around - THIS IS THE CRIME SCENE
#17 - INT: CAR - He turns the engine off and opens the door
#18 - EXT: Just outside car - He steps out of the car and slams the door shut, simultaneously the TITLE MUSIC ends
#18 - EXT: Foreground - Cops standing around drinking coffee : Background - TRENT walking towards them from his car
COP:
You took your time.
TRENT:
It's far too early for your witty banter Davidson, What's up…Oooh! Danish!
DAVIDSON:
Get your own, this is mine!
TRENT:
Aww… come on. Didn't your mommy teach you the value of sharing?
AUTHORITIVE COP:
Quit jerking around you two.
TRENT: (sticks his tongue out at Davidson who mutters "Fucking child" quietly under his breath)
So… What's the Sitch?
AUTHORITIVE COP:
The what?
TRENT:
The sit-u… Fuck it, what's the deal?
AUTHORIVE COP:
Some guy on this way to work reported seeing a body at the side of the road. We came to investigate and sure enough, here it is. We need you to take some samples before we can move him.
TRENT:
Says who?
AUTHORITIVE COP:
The chief.
TRENT: (groan)
AUTHORITIVE COP:
(Sarcasm) Hey, you know what he's like with Forensics. He loves you guys!
TRENT:
It's too early for sarcasm as well you know.
DAVIDSON:
Have fun!
[THE COPS GO OFF TO THEIR CARS TO MUNCH DOUGHNUTS OR SOMETHING WHILE TRENT GOES ABOUT TAKING SAMPLES. HE GRUMBLES STUFF UNDER HIS BREATH. HE NOTICES THE FACE OF THE BODY… IT SEEMS FAMILIAR… HE RECOGNISES WHO IT IS…]
Shit…
[HE FINISHES TAKING SAMPLES AND APPROACHES THE COPS]
TRENT:
Okay, done. Can I go now?
AUTHORITVE:
Sure you can go… down to the lab and do a full workout on those samples. This is a top priority!
TRENT:
WHAT??!?.. why? … who? … WHAT? You do know what "Day Off" means, right? They did teach you that in cop-school… right? Or maybe you skipped that lesson to go for coffee and doughnuts…
DAVIDSON:
Hey, if you don't like the hours why don't you find yourself a different job? I hear they're hiring at Burger King.
TRENT:
You'd know… Tubby.
AUTHORATIVE:
HEY! Both of you! Pack that shit in! Davidson go call the station and tell them forensics is on their away. [Aside to TRENT] I hear the work's really piling up… Your still on probation you know.
[TRENT grunts and sighs]
[Storms off to his car while the cops laugh]
TRENT:
Jerk-off cops…
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