Horror Flick

UPDATE: the google calendar will not be used on this project.

UPDATE: I just uploaded the new clip of the laboratory setup I sill be using in the film. Look for it at the bottom of this post.

Note before reading the script:

I was on a very tight schedule when I started working on this film. Once I finished the first draft of the script I had to move immediately from development into pre-production. What you are about to read is still the first draft. I will most likely leave it like it is with some parts being more detailed than others. It will leave just about the right amount of room for the spontaneous energy of improvisation and all the great ideas that can spring into existence at the spur of the moment. Filming this project is going to be a lot of fun!

The video clips bellow the script are test footage for special effects. The actual footage for the movie will be cleaner and somewhat more realistic.

If you are interested in being a part of this project let me know ASAP. Mostly I need actors, but I certainly wouldn't sneeze at an offer for help behind the camera as well. In fact, it's not actually out of the question that I would pay eternal homage to any person (and all of their descendants) if he/she could take the position of Assistant Director.

UPDATE: The google calendar will not be used on this project.

My email is mdg4321@gmail.com

- opening scene

Fourth street location Twilight

Establishing shot: Pan long shot area, flash shots from steady cam M running. closer M rounds corner

M is running scared. Big group of vamps chasing him. >>a few close-ups of vamp fangs<<

M is firing auto pistol without much success on vamps. M rounds far corner and tosses grenade back around. vamps loose ground. Close-up of consternated growling vampire.

>Last of opening credits and title of film

M's House Location

on the front porch to establish location

>>Close- up<<

M pants and tries to pull himself together. Looks intently at glowing potion in his hand. Door opens, D comes out worried but excited

>D: "Father! You made it... you're bleeding. OMG are you all right?!!?"

FLASHBACK ONE

>>Black & White of birthday party M giving his daughter the pendant with close-up and pull back first on pendant then on the interchange (make sure to establish party is further back in time, D says 'daddy' instead of 'father' and other such).<<

Shattuck Ave location

M furtively enters lab through elevator or side door

Lab location

M mixes hard won glowing potion with his other ingredients (phenolthalein etc). Just after he injects, M puts in a cell call to the "Revered", his best confidant and ally against the vamps. While he is waiting for the cell to connect, we get...

FLASHBACK TWO

Same Location as Flashback One

wife

child 1

child 2

Dead, bloody family members are strewn across the floor. Head Vampire is lording (in a visible walk) over the carnage. Chest where daughter is hiding should be prominent but not focused on.

cut to angle of HV not showing his feet.

Lesser vampire enters from behind HV

we hear a cell phone ringing faintly

Lab Location

M holding phone to ear, phone rings and is answered

>Friend: "Hello?"

>M: "F!"

>F: "M!"

>M: "I did it!" >>holds up vial or syringe triumphantly<<

>Friend: "M! Where have you been?!!? I have it! I found the whip of saint (Fra Girolamo Savonrola, Ceasare Borgia, –– girolamo borgia)!"

The word 'whip' is emphasized with an importance like reverence

>>close-up of face and pull back fast on the word "have" to show F with whip in hand and a pistol and maybe rifle on table Do the actual take at full pull out and put pull out in at edit<<

>M: "The whip?"

>F: "The serum?"

>M: (dreamily) "The serum... Yes, the serum. It's going to work this time... I know it, my body will heal. (pause) They can't kill me."

>>medium shot, m looking at serum in hand, marveling, lifts it turning his body as he speaks. Speaking more to the vial than his friend<<

>F: "But now you can kill them... they will die..."

The word 'die' is stretched out >>voice over, camera still on M<<

>M: (still dreamily) "I just need a way to kill those fuckin' scum." >>medium close-up slow zoom in slightly as M muses and his attention focusses back to the phone & his friend<<

>F: "The whip, man, the whip... just listen to me... I have it... It's here, now. I have the whip, you can kill them......... forever."

>>tight of F<<

>M: "I need to kill him." >>tight close-up on M<<

>F: "Then listen to me." very insistent >>as voice over<<

FLASHBACK THREE

-lording over the bodies

>LV: "Did you get him?"

HV looks left, right, floats backwards to LV, speaks to him but does not deign to look at him.

>HV: "No, this is just his family."

>LV: "How did you get in?"

>HV: "His wife invited me... she didn't suspect a thing."

>>HV leaves followed by his minion. Lid of chest lifts, D cautiously peaks out<<

>D: "Daddy?"

cut back to phone conversation

>F: "Listen to me! To make it kill, these words MUST be spoken with the whip in hand, and passed hand to hand, or it will deactivate." >>Medium close-up sitting at table<<

>M: "I know, I know, I know... I know, you tell me every time"

>>medium close-up, almost full body as M shakes hypodermic impatiently in his hand<<

>F: > "Science is not enough. You MUST understand this once and for all. They will always come back... HE will always come back unless you use the whip. We don't have time. They were here once already tonight. Now quick, repeat these words... klatu verata nicto" >>as F speaks the words the whip lashes out and slices something in half (a pumpkin?)<<

>M: "Yeah, yeah. Klatu verata nicata... yeah, yeah, ok, nicto, nicata, whatever. They can get in without your permission, right? So, just be cool, stay put, I'll be there. And, (pauses and speaks patronizingly but compassionately) don't go outside... even with that whip, ok?

They're multiplying fast. There's too many to handle now without the serum."

M hangs up phone and Looks at bloody bandage.

FLASHBACK 4

(old?) Lab Location

M and HV are at work. HV is overseeing as M is combining the clear liquids. they do not change color.

>M: "Nothing... again. I don't know why it won't react."

>HV: "Have you tried phenolthalein?"

>M: "No. The only source is in vampire territory."

Friend's House Location

Establishing shot from outside. M walks up to door. Inside F is going from window to window clutching whip and pistol, muttering things like " I know you're out there, let's see you satanic little shits try and get in here now, you etc."

cut to shot of M removing bandage and healed wound, raising his hand to bang on door.

cut to shot inside of F reacting to loud banging by running to the door and firing pistol through door. Short pause. Loud thump of body hitting floor. F waits a second, cocks his head, perks ears...

>F: "Got you! You **, and now I'm going to finish you off."

>>F hefts the whip and reaches for the door.<<

cut to shot from outside of F opening the door and his reaction to having killed M.

>F (wailing): "Oh god, oh god! What did I do?"

>> camera pans down to whip in hand. F shoots himself, whip drops<<

cut to shot of M's head and torso. Whip is resting on his chest near vial/hypo of glowing serum. slow zoom in to face. eyes flash open.

OR MAYBE

F has fallen forward, his hand is resting on top of M's hand, the whip in between. The whip retains it's power, no need to activate again.

cut to scene on late night street. m is stumbling home, so much a zombie he can barely walk. >>use reverse stumbling, then go to froward motion stumbling as he heals a bit<<>

more scenes as he continues home. he is healing slowly, becoming more dexterous, but not coherent.

he enters his house, (>D [hopefully excited, happy]: "Daddy?) and cut to

~~~ INTERMISSION ~~~

and cut to

Dawn, and M is on living room floor (or at the table?), eating his daughter. His expression is still vapid. He still has sunken zombie eyes.

cut to M waking up (on floor, bed, couch?). Bullet hole(s) healed, sunken zombie eyes are gone, but he is still bloody from having eaten. D's pendant is dangling from his mouth. Bewildered by his bloody mess D picks up a pistol/knife/ handy weapon and starts looking around for a cause, calling to D, asking things like "what happened to me? are you alright? where are you?"

cut to shot from behind at hip level to show pendant dangling from his hand and of D's half eaten body on the floor/table. Pow stab whatever, he kills himself.

cut to zombie M tied up on floor >>reverse composite to show healing<<

cut to M waking up healed. goes out on front porch

HV on front porch dangling/hefting whip... welcome to my world

>>maniacal laughter, and fade to black<<

Possible music tracks for the horror film

Zombie eyes open & mayhem with the magic whip scene

Eerie suspense

Opening credits & chase scene

Lab test

Letters To Rm Glaeser: Further Evidence of Feline Intelligence – Comprehending Words and Meanings

Tabigail must have overheard when mom said it was ok to use your bed.

She can tell when no one is in the house and it's me who walks in the door. That, I can wrap my head around. She doesn't do this when you guys are in town, you know. I have no doubt she sits on your bed when the house is empty for an hour or two, even if I don't actually catch her at it. And it is well established that if Tiki and I are the only other occupants here, she is less than likely to receive a scolding that is the genuine article. So I have little problem grasping the notion that she is intelligent and wilily enough to work out two sets of rules: 1) When no one else is around, but you are in town she can expect to hear me say, "Shoo! Out, out, out!", and will not sit on the bed in the first place... if I am in the house; 2) When you are out of town, she can expect something along the lines of, "Oh my! You cheeky little rascal... aren't you just a little cutie pie?", and so, makes a mooshie face, spreads her whiskers, and purrs, when I walk in the house and "catch" her doing something she, clearly, knows she otherwise ought not to do.

None of this taxes my credulity. But how can she possibly know, for a fact, that you guys have left town when you have only been gone for a few hours? Unless she teleported to the passenger terminal and verified your departure, I reckon she must have overheard mom say it was ok to use you guys bed, while out of town, and understood it to mean she should shoulder some of the responsibility for carrying out that honor.

Did you have a nice flight?

About me and Green Smoke

I am entering a re-edit of my short film, Green Smoke, in a local film festival. In order to have it considered for submission I have to accompany it with a half page synopsis of the film and a half page synopsis of the film maker (me). What follows are the final drafts of the synopses... final unless someone points out to me things that I should not have said, or not at least in that manner. I am also including a trailer for the movie in this post, but I have no idea where on the post it will appear.

                                                      GREEN SMOKE

My movie is a comedy. A satire/parody of advertising that preys on people's concerns about environmental issues by using words like "green", "zero emissions", "eco-", "bio-", "clean energy", et cetera, as catchy phrases, forming appealing claims; assertions unescorted by the initial concept that environmentally motivated practices should be... environmentally sound. 

The film begins simply enough with snapshots evoking negative images of human impact, establishing the need for a solution to our pollution. And Thomas Ed from Green Con. is here to tell us all about an exciting new way to cure our plight. But will an effortless wave from his magic wand of green science actually address the underlining causes or merely supply us with a fresh emblem to rally around and assuage our apprehensions. Doubts may arise, but no one can question the honor and near patriotic loyalty of Joe, the hands-on employee, who despite his own uncertainties struggles inexorably through the physical adversities (and a surreal dream sequence) of the green smoke to fulfill his part and yield up the much awaited green power, clean electricity. 

A few vital tidbits about this film. It gets a bit gory towards the end. And although I intentionally did the gory effects in an over-the-top manner to fit with the general sense of comedy in the film, it could very well scare kids. Also, this film contains both visual and audio clips that I did not create myself. If this submission is accepted and chosen for the event (and I'd be tickled pink if it was!) it would probably be best not to use it for promotional purposes. I simply wanted to make the film for the event and show it to friends and family. This is a no-budget film. 

                                

Mark Glaeser...

Well, let's see. I'm a 45 year old male currently unemployed, with no college degree,  and have a lot of time on my hands. Formerly I spent a lot of time in restaurants. I started washing dishes at fifteen, and worked my way up in the kitchen to the position of chef (or at least a tolerably close facsimile, there, of the person who has their name attached to everything that goes on in the restaurant). About ten years ago health issues caused me to seek a different profession. And, with what was probably the last attempt in my life to find a career through a formal education, by dint of having no knack at all for attaining degrees, even the most minor and inconsequential of ones available at a JC, I fell into gardening/landscaping with my brother-in-law. Health issues arose again, some old, some new, and that line of work had to be abandoned too.

I've been interested in video and film for quite a long time however. Yet, I always considered my interest to be a fancy and not something I would ever consider taking the time to pursue, even as a hobby. I did once shoot a very short video/film (about eight years ago) but lacking the means to capture and edit the footage, I left it on tape till recently. I like to fiddle around with stop motion animation and have put together a short involving clay characters, however I consider that one to be more or less and exercise, or experiment, in the mechanics of animation and story telling rather than a finished piece. "Green Smoke" is pretty much my second film. Yes, and it too is more or less an exercise, or experiment, but it looks at least, slightly, finished. 

I have not yet found another line of work that meets either my abilities or needs, but in the meantime I have begun fiddling around with a camera and computer, developing an interesting, if not gainful, pastime. 

My stuff so far has tended to have sinister undertones mixed with subtle and/or overt layers of humor. In writing this, I was about to eschew the term dark comedy (by claiming outright that my film/video was not dark comedy) due to the truth that I don't like labels to begin with, and didn't have a clear definition of that one. But after finding a page on wikipedia titled Black Comedy, I have to admit that most of my works/experiments to date fit pretty snugly under that term. Ack! What can I say? Damn the torpedos... full steam ahead?

Letters to Fred: Uncommon Sleeping Injury

hey fred

i hope this semester is going good and you are as busy as you need to be but not more so than you want. 

i am doing fine basically. last week however i incurred an odd injury while sleeping. when i woke up on monday morning my jaw didn't work right. turns out i sprained it in the night. it is however possible that i have temporomandibular joint disorder, which would be something wrong with my jaw joint and can be rather nasty since that joint is the most complex one in the whole body. 

how did this happen, might ask? my best guess is a combination of things. Sleep apnea which leads me to sleep on my side with my jaw open, a habit of supporting my neck in this position  by resting my chin on my hand, wrist, or arm, a cat who has become a horrible bed hog and who has recently developed the habit of using my head as an back rest all night long (in order to protect potentially innocent felines here i won't mention the name tiki at this point, but i've been sleeping in this position for the last 20 years and it's never happened before), and last but not least, medications that make me sleep so very deeply at night that discomfort apparently has to reach the level of real pain in order to wake me. 

at rest i am in no pain, it only hurts when i try to close my jaw. it hurts so much then that i can not close it all the way. I am on a total liquid diet, i have been ordered not to use my jaw, not even to talk, yawn, or paradoxically to laugh (that's a hard one at the moment!). 

ahhhh! the wretched furry cuddle critters jinx us from time to time. 

fortunately it does not happen often. the last major injury i sustained that involved a cat was about eighteen years ago when i stumbled and broke my big toe while trying to avoid stepping on mothra who was doing her best to rub my legs, and feet, and herd me in the opposite direction from where i wanted to go. 

Letters to Linus: Toys and Health

Linus sent you a message.

--------------------
(no subject)

Hey Mark,

My Tonka Caterpillar D-9 just arrived in the mail and I'm making a ceramic village scene for it to plow through, mounted on plywood which I'm planning to epoxy to the sidewalk in front of **unspecified location**, perhaps with a swath of raw meat behind it.  Not very subtle, not entirely legal, but a little "humor" and disruption keeps the rage and hatred at bay.

If not this one perhaps we can collaborate on something else at some point.  I was responding to the health insurance thing the other day and had a power outage in the middle of it.  I've used the county public health office programs for the girl's insurance recently because the school district doesn't pay for their coverage anymore.  Maybe they have something for adults if you check with them.

Where are you by phone these days?  Let's talk soon.

Linus






Ooooh!

I wanna play, I wanna play!

Sweet dreams around the corner here has multiple bins if small cheap toys, perhaps they have some of those, old style, pink plastic babies to sprinkle in the wake.

And yes, I agree, humor can be a wonderful anger management technique. In fact, I've heard theories claiming that the human laughter response evolved as an alternate means to handle aggression, anger, and other such things in situations that really didn't require lethal force but would have rapidly escalated into it. And, even though humans didn't evolve the ability to stun another being with electricity , like an electric eel does, I think we could look at humor as the human equivalent of a stun gun.... oh wait, we already have stun guns. Scratch that. Humor is nothing more than a transparent display of psychological malady or disease: the retching or vomit of a disturbed soul.

How a soul gets disturbed is, of course, the fruit of another conversation. For if we are to be entirely scientific about this, we must first acknowledge that the two areas are, as a matter of factuality, entirely separate things, like fire and the house the fire burns down ;-)

Seriously though, I would love to be a part of this in any way. If you are doing it this month, I am free most of the time except for a few appointments here and there and the occasional conference with my divorce lawyer that I am sure will spring up. I started smoking in dec soon after I got the summons though, so I need to set a time to quit, most likely the first week or two of february. And given my success in quitting last year, I know from experience that I will not feel like going out of the house, or doing much of anything for a month or two after that.

Oh, before I forget, can I post this email of yours with my response on my blog?

I'm here most evenings and weekends (days too). The only standing appointment I have is monday nights, so just about any time is good to call.

Thanks for the suggestion of county public health. I'll look it up

talk soon,
mark