[color=#000000
ost_uid0]Since I've been throwing on-the-spot examples all over the place, it's time for some stuff I really did write in a story. Well, kind of.
This one is the "intro" to a series of short stories that I'm co-writing with a friend from California. It's called "Professionals", and centers around a group of relatively low-powered superheroes in a slightly alternate present-day New York City. Also note that it's written as script, while the rest of the story is prose - it just makes more sense, imho.
Set to Moby - Southside:
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[FADE IN. ZOOM out of an eye onto a man, eventually seeing him completely, sprawled out face up on the concrete ground. It's clear that he's dead. FADE TO BLACK. White text in a somewhat haphazard font FADES IN.]
Professionals
[FADE IN. PAN around the crime scene - the camera has not moved from it's position from the last scene, but now we see that the scene is filled with cops, doing basic CSI work. Among them, two men stand out from the crowd. The first one is slightly bigger, with blonde hair, and simply stares at the body. FREEZE-FRAME on him, entire picture turns B&W. White lines appear from the middle of the picture and eventually enclose the man's face. It PIXELS a bit and turns back into color, while the framing picture FADES to black. White text appears below the remaining picture. This is our INTRO-FRAMING.]
Guy Pearce as "Jack Schaefer"
[CUT to the second man. He's perhaps a bit smaller than JACK and wears a highly unusual attire - namely, a Hawaii shirt. He seems to be looking for something, then suddenly bows down, reaches out with a surgical glove on his hand and picks up a slightly deformed bullet from some curious place - it's clear that he shouldn't have been able to see it. We do an INTRO-FRAMING for him.]
Mark Dacascos as "Azuriel"
[He holds up the bullet, and it's now covered by an overlay of blue rectangles, with heaps of small text at the right side scrolling by. It looks like it's the output of a Bond gadget. The rest of the picture FADES to black as the bullet is kept in this analysis pattern.]
[FADE IN. Fingers appear around the bullet. PAN to see that it's in an evidence ziploc. A slightly older man with a police badge is holding it. INTRO-FRAMING for him.]
Ray Liotta as "Lieutenant Ray Helsing"
[PAN to a nearby telephone. We ride inside the phone cable at incredible speed, then shoot out perhaps a meter into the air. FREEZE. As time resumes, we quickly ROTATE by 180 degress. We see a young woman, smartly dressed, and she's apparently listening to something being spoken in her headset. She nods once. INTRO-FRAMING.]
Stephanie March as "Chrome"
[ZOOM onto the headset. We ZOOM out again from another headset. It's worn by another, older woman dressed in black, and she listens for a second before she grabs a sniper rifle and loads it. We see that she's on some rooftop. INTRO-FRAMING.]
Molly Culver as "Sharon"
[PAN to the ejection port. As she pulls the bolt back, we see a cartridge being loaded. CUT to the muzzle. ZOOM out and we find ourselves staring down the barrel of a Beretta 92F. We see that it's Helsing who's aiming the gun. CUT. We see Helsing lead a suspect out of some house. Yet another woman is waiting for the two, leaning against a police car. INTRO-FRAMING.]
Mira Sorvino as "Karen Ayers"
[PAN upwards to the rooftop. SHARON is packing her rifle and walks away, but a man in similar clothing still stares on. CUT to a viewpoint just over his shoulder as he watches the car drive away. ROTATE so that his face can be seen. INTRO-FRAMING.]
And Kurt Russell as "Mark Aaron Simmons"
[FADE to black. Credits roll.]
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Also note that I picked "virtual" actors as stand-ins. Usually, I wouldn't do that, but since it's written like a TV series, I felt I could get away with it. (Plus, it helps visualise, especially since I can link to the right pictures.)
This is also how I usually treat in-scene music - mention it at the beginning, in a note. I used to do elaborate synching of action to lyrics (Oh, who am I kidding - still do, sometimes), but this is less obstructive, not as in-your-face as my usual approach, and a whole lot easier. Because as I can attest, synching music to the action in your head and then writing it down so people can understand what you mean is just a giant pain in the rear.
This concludes today's issue of "Blatant plugging".
Gatac[/color
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