GHOST SONATA
SAMPLE SCRIPT...(From the comic series)
After prologue which introduces the birth of Adele.
PAGE NINE
Scene One
Show a picture of the house (in the current incarnation) but it is obvious that someone is
drawing it as we can see maybe a pen (if you want, you can change it to a painting if you
can make the drawing look like a painting). This will be a very large panel, taking up
about ½ the page and the image of the house fills the entire panel! Have it close to be
completed but its not quite done so we can see it is a work of progress.
Scene two
Pull back a bit and we can see Isaac Arkenholtz sitting on a stool near the park area and
facing the house as he is painting (or drawing it). Pull back just enough so we get a
glimpse of him (from behind?) and now we can see he is working on a canvas. Do not show
the house at this stage.
Caption (Isaac’s): They say all lives are just
stories….stories of existence, stories of pain and of course, stories of deceit. I
see a lot of stories, peek into a lot of lives. I do see a lot of pain and a lot of
deceit.
Caption: It’s funny. It’s always in despair and anguish
that passionate re-evaluations of life are contemplated. Maybe those who have a life of
pleasure see no need to look back and reflect.
Scene three
Pull back more, maybe swing the shot so we can see him better as he is diligently working
on the painting.
Caption: Me, I don’t have a choice. Stories unfold before me
whether I want them to or not. But they’re not always sad, at least I have that much
to look forward to.
PAGE TEN
Scene one
Spin a bit more so we start getting a head on shot of Isaac at the canvas. We still have
not seen the house that he is painting.
Caption: I look at people and I can see…well, not exactly
see…I see…more.
Scene two
Now straight on of Isaac who is still intent on his picture.
Caption: More than they want me to see, more than they want to
reveal. Perhaps, even more than they realize.
Scene three
Isaac leans back to appraise his work. We are unsure if he is satisfied with it.
Caption: I can control it much better than I used to be able to.
Before, I could be minding my own business and wham! It would wash over me like a tidal
wave…pulling me down with the weight of despair, drowning me in sadness.
Scene four
A ball comes down by his foot and disrupts his thoughts and he is drawn to it.
Caption: It was always misery and grief that reached out the
strongest. The peaceful and contented maintained some kind of harmony that floated gently
under the surface.
Scene five
Isaac tosses the ball back to some kids who are playing with the ball.
Caption: Seldom did I tap into the minds of children. Unless, of
course, they were undergoing some kind of traumatic experience. But life itself, presented
itself to them as a giant playground, just waiting to be explored.
Scene six
Show Isaac looking at the children playing.
Caption: The world was black and white, no grays. Good or evil,
pleasure or pain. It was a world of immediate gratification, of immortality, of
now…not later.
PAGE ELEVEN
Scene one
Isaac looks out towards the park so he is looking away from the house which we still have
not seen.
Caption: It’s a simpler life. It has wants but not passion.
Love but not desire. I think most are satisfied with it until they taste the fruit of
adulthood and all that comes with it, good or bad.
Scene two
A broader view of the park. It is mostly just an area for people to relax in. Trees and
shrubs, a few pathways, and lots of grassy areas. Someone to get away from the hustle and
bustle of a city life.
Caption: Sometimes I feel like a demonic monster, snaking my
thoughts like fibrous tentacles and tapping into the innermost recesses of people’s
minds.
Caption: But I gave up a long time ago, any thoughts of guilt.
Scene three
Show a close up of the young kid playing with the ball in a small panel.
Caption: Some may say its a gift…
Scene four
Another small panel of a woman sitting on a bench, reading.
Caption: Some say its a curse.
Scene five
Show a man (about 35-40) sitting on a bench and watching (we’ll see what later)
Caption: But having been born with it and living with it all of my
life,
Scene six
Show two young girls (about 16) sitting on the grass, whispering secrets to each other.
Caption: It just is.
Scene seven
A wide shot, maybe overhead, so we can see all of this in the park.
Caption: I mean, there’s no way I could know any different,
right?
PAGE TWELVE
Scene one
mid to close up of Isaac. He should be showing signs of his age (54). He is also dying of
cancer which will be revealed so he should look somewhat wasted. Remember that he has
almost transparent eyes.
Caption: A Sunday child. That’s what I am. Its one of those
ambiguous old wives tales, steeped deep in the intricacies of fables spun for centuries.
Scene two
Come closer to his face.
Caption: it’s not that I can read minds or
anything…nothing as beneficial as that.
Scene three
Closer, concentrate on his eyes.
Caption: It’s more like…like seeing people for what they
really are. I can see beyond the facades, the false fronts, the walls that people so
elaborately build.
Scene four
Pull into a close up of one of his eyes.
Caption: Sometimes, it’s like a long running movie that plays
out in front of me and other times, it is just a momentary flash.
Scene five
Eye, extreme close up…almost as if we’re inside the pupil itself. Show a hazy
picture of the man on the bench (from previous page)
Caption: I can almost hear people’s thoughts sometimes.
Sometimes not.
Scene six
Now show (on Isaac’s eye), the man on the bench.
Caption: The easiest way for me to explain it is that I’m like
a radio receiver and its up to people to decide if they want to transmit or not. Not very
scientific, I know.
PAGE THIRTEEN
Scene one
Show the man on the bench.
Caption: Take this man here. Fred? Yes, that’s it, Frederick
Baisman.
Scene two
Show a closer shot of Fred. It may not be apparent yet but he is staring at the two 16
year old girls.
Caption: He has just been slammed with the notion of age. Not that
he’s old and feeble yet. But he has noticed a difference.
Scene three
Show the two girls, who are totally oblivious to Fred.
Caption: He has been watching the two girls who are mired in the
latter stages of adolescence. Hormones have replaced years of instruction so carefully
laid down by parents who have been there and want to deny their offspring the same
excitement.
Scene four
Closer shot of the two girls.
Caption: He has received the shunning of middle age. The girls had
glanced at him, evaluated him, and deemed him of no interest. Another adult. He is no more
than that to them.
Scene five
Pull back so we can see both the girls and Fred watching.
Caption: He has realized that he is no longer to be a recipient of a
second look from young bodies embroiled in mating rituals. He is considered past that.
Scene six
Go back to Fred.
Caption: It is with sadness that he examines them. He realizes that
he is unlikely to touch such young flesh again, untainted flesh searching for the passion
of innocence.
PAGE FOURTEEN
Flashback page. Make the borders different or give it a hazy
look. Maybe the whole page should be black and the images are coming out of the black in
little vignettes as opposed to bordered pages.
Scene one
Show Fred naked, but only from the waist up and he is embraced with one of the young girls
who we can see the naked back of (we don’t want to show anything here)
Caption: The love for his wife is still there. So much so, that even
in the recesses of his fantasy….
Scene two
Show the young girl’s face but it will be of a different person (Fred’s wife).
Caption:…she returns. It is oddly comforting to him.
Scene three
Show Fred looking at his wife. Now she is older (around 35).
Caption: He sees her as she truly is. A body that has born three
children. A face that has captured the wrinkles that time has thrown at her. The recasting
that comes from the battle against gravity.
Scene four
Now Fred’s wife, young…around 18.
Caption: But he can still see her as she was before. Before the
years, before the children.
Scene five
Fred’s wife, back at 35.
Caption: And he accepts her for how she is. The aging is now a part
of her very being. It is something that they both share.
Scene six
Fred and his wife in an embrace.
Caption: And in the dark when their passion joins together, he is
doing more than making love to a memory, he is cocooning himself into security.
PAGE FIFTEEN
Scene one
Fred stands up. He should appear happier than before. It was as if he had come to a
realization.
Caption: All of this has played out in seconds….at a mere
glance.
Scene two
Switch to the woman on the bench reading.
Caption: With her, I get very little. She is absorbed in a novel.
She is reading but not paying too much attention to the words as they flash by her eyes.
Scene three
Closer shot of woman
Caption: I get glimpses of bleach, of white walls, of death.
Scene four
A wavy border or something (to make it a flashback scene) and we can see the woman in a
nursing home talking with an old lady in a wheelchair who is pretty much a vegetable.
Caption: She volunteers at a Nursing home.
Scene five
Show woman (still in a wavy border) feeding the old woman who lets it spittle out of her
mouth…totally non-responsive.
Caption: But she feels guilt for she knows the work she does is for
the wrong reasons.
Scene six
Show woman looking up as if something had struck a nerve with her.
Caption: For she attends the elderly, not to help them, but to help
herself. It gives her a ticket of "goodness" that she hopes she can cash in
somewhere down the road of life.
PAGE SIXTEEN
Scene one
Isaac turns back to his painting.
Caption: Most of the time, I close my mind. I don’t let other
people’s lives in.
Scene two
Isaac picks up his pen/brush and works on the painting.
Caption: Actually, it’s pretty boring usually.
Scene three
Show Isaac’s pen/brush on the canvas so we can only see his work as opposed to him.
Caption: I can tell the difference between the random thoughts that
flutter like butterflies on the edge of a flower….
Caption: and the major ones that come charging out like a gas
explosion.
Scene four
Continue to show his work on the canvas.
Caption: The big ones…those are events that can change
people’s live.
Scene five
Pull back so we can see a part of Isaac as well.
Caption: Those are the defining moments in a life.
Scene six
Now we see almost all of him.
Caption: Funny thing is, most people never realize their defining
moment in life until it is well past.
PAGE SEVENTEEN
Scene one
Closer up of Isaac.
Caption: Looking back, and you can see exactly when your life was
changed, irrevocably changed. The defining moment.
Caption: With some people, the realization comes at the time of
death.
Scene two
Closer shot of Isaac.
Caption: Like with me.
Scene three
Isaac looks at his hand. Do as a straight on shot so we can see his face.
Caption: I don’t look any different. I don’t really feel
any different. Except for the pain, of course.
Scene four
Closer shot of Isaac’s face.
Caption: But there’s a war going on inside of me. I’ve
been invaded.
Caption: And I’m losing the battle.
Scene five
Isaac closes his eyes and looks up, almost as if he is trying to smell a breeze.
Caption: Every day stands a good chance of being my last.
Scene six
Isaac keeps his head tilted.
Caption: All I have to do is give in…wave the white flag.
Caption: And then it’s over.
PAGE EIGHTEEN
This page is sort of a flashback but actually not. You’ll get
the drift when you look through the scenes but I just wanted it to look different than the
standard pages.
Scene one
Large panel. Show like a Knight slicing through amophorous blobs which could be either
cancer or viruses (so keep them indistinguishable).
Caption: I tried to picture my defense system, the white blood
cells, to become my Knights in shining armor. To cut and slash that which is consuming me.
Caption: I read about this strategy in some books. Part of the
holistic approach to medicine.
Scene two
Show the knight fighting off the "invaders" who are starting to attach
themselves to the Knight.
Caption: Somehow, you can influence your immune system with positive
imagery. I have no idea if it could really work or not.
Scene three
Show the Knight engulfed with the invaders who are consuming him. The Knight should only
have his arm and maybe his head, in agony, showing. The rest has been consumed.
Caption: Because I keep picturing my soldiers losing. I am sure that
is not a good sign.
PAGE NINETEEN
A full page, broken into panels, whatever. Basically, I want it to
show a barren landscape. Almost like a futuristic desert. You can incorporate some of the
invaders if you want. I’ll place captions afterwards.
Caption: No, what I see inside is what I think exists.
Caption: It is a landscape plunging towards the final void of
nothingness. After all, to join eternity, something has to become nothing first.
Caption: I feel the emptiness spreading throughout my body like
water filling a balloon.
Caption: And I sit…waiting to burst from too much nothingness.
PAGE TWENTY
Scene one
Back to the picture and his pen/brush. Don’t put the whole house in there.
Caption: This was my defining moment.
Scene two
Show him adding some lines/strokes
Caption: The realization of that has always been with me.
Scene three
Pull away from the canvas so we get a better shot.
Caption: It was exactly one half life ago. Today’s my birthday
and it was my birthday then too. It was at the apex of my half-life.
Scene four
Show a hand pointing at a part of the picture. It is a young girl’s hand.
Caption: She was there too.
Scene five
Show the flowergirl standing next to his canvas and it is she who is pointing at the
picture. She is exactly the same as the series.
Caption: She looks out of place now.
Caption: But no matter, because I am the only one who can see her.
PAGE TWENTY ONE
Scene one
Show Isaac looking at her and she shakes her head no.
Isaac: What do you mean, no? That’s it exactly.
Scene two
The girl shakes her head no again.
Isaac: It was my drama, I should know.
Scene three
The flowergirl motions her hand with a half circle.
Isaac: Was it?
Scene four
Show her watching as he doodles on the canvas.
Isaac: Yeah, I think you’re right.
Scene five
Isaac adds some finishing touches on it.
Isaac: So, what do you think?
Scene six
Girl smiles and nods her head.
