dubiouslog

Yeah, I know I should have posted this some days ago, but then some other stuff came up and meh. Anyway.

So, about this big beast. I’ve been fiddling with this project since some months now; the script you’re going to see is already a beta version on its own, and I don’t plan to change it if not for some details.
Please note that I’m not going to finish this anywhere in the near future; my idea was to set the ideas first and keep the actual work for later, when I’ll be having animation class, so that I will be able to present the finished piece as a final exam. One thing I know for sure is that I’d like to draw everything by hand with only a pencil, having each frame be slighly different from the next so that the lineart will look flickering and will set the appropriate tone for the song.

And while we’re at it, some notes about the song. Monochromatic Stains by Dark Tranquillity is about a man trying to cope with the pressure of being blamed for murder. Regardless of whether he was the actual murderer or not, in the end he goes insane and takes the blame on him. I chose this song because it was short enough for a first work (only 3′38”), is very story-driven, has an interesting theme and is Ellemme’s very favorite song. :)
The lyrics suggest the man killed someone while unconscious, because he mentions about not remembering and in the end he says that he won’t claim his innocence but he wasn’t there. He also says “for the untrained eye a secret, I bled away the last of you” which helps this point, but that may as well referring to what the prosecutor said of him and he may be ironizing. Either way, my script spawns from the idea he’s really the murderer, just to settle this down.

For your convenience, the script is backupped by song lyrics and timing in which the events happen. In case you don’t already have this song, just search it on Youtube and listen while reading the script, it will make everything easier to understand.

Instrumental intro
Close-up of a person sitting in the corner of a dark room while giving a stare of extreme terror to someone else, shown as a shadow raising a knife. The knife is lowered (0′07” - 0′10”) and rips apart the screen; is it not shown if it hit the target. From 0′10” to 0′20” a man is seen running in the middle of nowhere; first he’s seen from behind, then the camera turns around him and we see him from the front, then the camera moves under him and in a puddle of water in front of him. Seeing the puddle, the man stops.

“There is this face in the still water I can’t remember ever wearing”
The man looks at the puddle first with a puzzled look, then with fear and takes a step in the puddle (0′27”), creating ripples in the water. The puddle is then seen from above.

“Like fingerprints on your heart reading out the last lines of code, to the untrained eye a secret, I bled away the last of you.”
The ripples in the puddle take form of a shivering fingerprint, then the fingerprint becomes more similar to a LED light (0′34”). The light becomes like an artificial round eye, then it goes off (0′40”) and a knife is thrown towards the camera.

“Sought trust in shapes of combined results that trickle from a less than solid case, fought off attacks of resurfaced lust, burned the gracing grounds.”
Cut to the man from before, now seen in the same dark room as before sitting at a table, covering his face. The table wood seems to show changing pictures of people. The room moves around the man and slowly crushes him (0′54”).

“Now what will give in first, the body or the lash? Monochromatic stains”
The man is seen in the left side of the screen, in the background. The camera moves towards him, showing that he’s having convulsions (1′00”), then he falls on the floor and crawls to the left side of the screen.

“Now who will cave in first, the leader or the fake? Monochromatic stains”
The left side of the screen takes form of a mirror (1′08”) and the man gets up and looks at his reflection, which shows a man completely dressed in black with face hidden by a hood (1′12”). The reflection smirks and pushes the man back (1′15”), falling into an abyss which opens as soon as the man hits the ground. The man is then seen falling on his back in the bottom of the abyss (1′19”). The reflection gets out of the mirror and follows him in the abyss.

“This pile of ashes of a soul…Informant pokes abound these sickly little fingers, get away from me!”
The camera shows the man from above. He twitches his face in pain (1′27”), then about a dozen imp-like alter egos of his reflection start surrounding him. The man quickly gets up and scares them away (1′36”). The “get away from me” is in synching :B

“Tread not the path of least restraint, each piece of evidence a lie, a lie… the body, the face, all items in place… I don’t remember a thing.”
The man is seen trying to escape from the abyss, but he’s clearly unable to get to the top. When seen in a close-up (1′43”) his posture is identical to the one of the person from the intro, except with a different face. The camera moves behind him and we see the shadow was its reflection’s (1′49”).

“Now what will give in first, the body or the lash? Monochromatic stains”
The man curls up in the corner and its alter ego grabs his face and raises him in the air with a smirk (1′56”), then throws him on the floor (2′00”).

“Now who will cave in first, the leader or the fake? Monochromatic… stains”
The man tries to escape but finds the door locked (2′05”). The camera moves around him until we can see him by profile and he and his alter ego are seen standing one in front of the other (2′09”). By 2′14”, the whole background has completely disappeared and the two engage in a fight. In the end, the man manages to remove the hood from his alter ego’s face (2′55”) and he’s horrified to discover that he’s perfectly identical to him, except he’s blind.

“A sacrifice made to the loss of mind…Folly, a man’s demise!”
Cut to a close-up of the main character sitting in the corner of the dark room, holding his face in his hands. When he lowers his hands (2′59”) we discover he’s blind as well.

“Track now the stains that allow my fall, sickening the sight of it all…Never shall I claim my innocence, I just wasn’t there.”
He gets up and ties himself to the wall, which now has chains like in a jail cell. First he’s seen with his head lowered, but as the camera zooms up on him (3′06”) he raises his head and looks straight at the camera (3′10”).

“Now what will give in first, the body or the lash? Monochromatic stains”
Cut to the feet of his alter ego walking. The camera is raised and when his face his shown (3′20”) his eyes change from blind to normal (3′24”).

“Now who will cave in first, the leader or the fake? Monochromatic… stains.”
His alter ego enters the dark room, which now is definitely a jail cell. He gets to the main character hanged to the chains (3′28”), raises a knife…as the knife strikes, the scene cuts to a blood stain being splattered on the floor. (3′35”).

You may have noticed quite a bit of lack of consistency when it comes to places, but that’s normal, the whole scene is supposed to have a distorted feel, so. Please tell me what you think of this and how I could improve it; I’ve stressed to no end that this is my very first advanced project, so I’m completely open to any suggestion. By any means tell me what you think of this anyway.

Thank you for reading this far, this was some huge post. Wordpress says it’s 1373 words long. :O You have some patience.