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| Cloverfield, dir. by Matt Reeves. |
By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis
This is a four-page story about a group of alien filmmakers shooting a giant monster fight scene in the middle of Manhattan. These aliens like to go for authenticity, so the giant monster fight is real. What will be suggested is that the aliens’ favor practical effects, this being the reason why they decided to drop two very angry giant creatures on New York City. The monsters duke it out, the aliens capture it all on film. Every shot in the script will be a wide-shot, set up in a series of horizontal panels on the comics page. They are all meant to have a very cinematic feel to them. This is cinema vérité at its most epic. It is also at its most alien, so have fun with the script and if there’s anything you think you can do better, let me know and we’ll talk it over. Let’s make this feel fast, chaotic, and brutal.
Page 1 (This page is composed of three horizontal panels)
Panel 1: Shot of a giant alien’s fist punching another monster’s face, hard. We can see part of the monster’s arm in the shot and we get a good look at the other alien. The alien who threw the punch is black and has white lines running throughout its body. The lines are of various shapes and they swirl, making the monster look ancient. Its face is very elongated, the top of its head stretching and splitting into two swirling horns that fall sideways. It has two wide white eyes and its mouth is all crooked, like a badly carved Halloween pumpkin with sharp teeth (we’ll call him Long Face). The monster that is getting punched has a large mouth for a face, twisted up into a grin that looks more like a wound than it does a natural opening. It is red and has splotches of blue dispersed throughout its body. It has a mess of tentacles for legs and there are long sharp bones coming out of its elbows (we’ll call this one Big Mouth). We’re in New York City and Big Mouth is about to crash into the Empire State Building. Both monsters are about 15-storeys high.
D-Lan VO: <And you call yourself a professional. Get closer, goddamn it!>* (there will be an editorial note saying: *Approximate translation of alien language.)
Panel 2: Front-shot of a small group of aliens filming the fight. They are filmmakers from another planet and their looking for authenticity. The film crew is small and it consists of a boom operator (called Ga-ry), two cameramen (one is called J’Son and he has a big camera while the other remains nameless and has a smaller camera), an assistant director, the producer, and the director (called D-Lan). One of the camera operators is arguing with the director while the other continues filming. The director is pointing towards the boom operator with his thumb (the dialogue explains the reason for this). The aliens themselves look very much like filmmakers, dressed casually and looking quite down to Earth in their alien clothes. They have scaly skin and webbed hands. They kind of resemble the Creature of the Black Lagoon in that respect. They have small thin mouths and black eyes. Their heads are somewhat triangle-shaped. They’re equipment looks alien but not overtly so. This is so the reader can easily recognize the equipment while also being clear on the fact these beings are here to film a scene for a movie. We see a small spaceship hovering low in the background. It’s what they came in, their mode of transportation. It’s ramp is still open just in case the film crew needs to get out of there in a hurry. We also see people running away from the monsters behind them.
J’Son: <Look, we’ve already broken every intergalactic law imaginable for coming here without a shooting permit, D-Lan. Oh, and don’t forget about the creatures we smuggled in from another planet so we could shoot our little art film. Again, without a permit. So you’ll forgive me if I’m resistant to the idea of adding broken studio camera to our already long list of felonies.>
D-Lan: <That’s why only one of you, and Ga-ry here, is going out there. We all agreed to do this. The vision is art, and art is danger. This is a one-shot type of situation, J’Son!>
Panel 3: Big wide-shot of the Big Mouth crashing into the Empire State Building as Long Face looks on, still in his fighting stance. We get a good look at both monsters here.
D-Lan VO: <Now, get…>
Page 2
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| Giantkiller, by Dan Brereton |
Alien director VO: <…closer.>
Panel 2: Shot of the Alien cameraman and the boom operator running towards the scene. We see people running scared all around them. We also see part of Long Face in the background.
J’Son: <Can someone explain to me why we didn’t just invade this dump and turn it into a set. It’s not like we haven’t done it before. There’s precedent. Son of Annihilator 3000.>
Panel 3: Shot of J’Son and Ga-ry filming very close behind Long Face. J’Son is kneeling down. The shot can be from below so we can have an idea as to how big these monsters really are.
Ga-ry: <You call that a film? That right there’s the reason I agreed on spending most of our budget on bringing these things here. I am not dressing up like a monster to play in a model city like a child, J’Son, because that’s what we almost went with! Now stop bitching and-->
Panel 4: We see a tentacle coming out from the smoke and grabbing on to Long Face’s neck, pulling it in closer to the smoke.
Page 3
Panel 1: Shot of Big Mouth punching Long Face square in the face as he comes out of the smoke. We see more tentacles grabbing onto Long Face. Long Face is going to fall back and Big Mouth is going to hitch a ride up by latching himself onto his enemy.
Panel 2: Shot of Long Face falling back and pulling Big Mouth out of the debris with him.
Panel 3: Shot from above of J’Son and Ga-ry looking up, Long Face’s shadow completely covering them up. Long Face is about to land right on top of them. We see Ga-ry is starting to run away. J’son is still filming.
Ga-ry: <Holy fuck! J’Son, let’s go! It’s coming straight for us!>
Panel 4: Shot of Ga-ry getting his legs pinned under Long Face as he lands on top of J’Son. We see both monsters still struggling with each other. Long Face is trying to wrestle Big Mouth off of him.
Ga-ry: AAAAHHHHHH!
Panel 5: Back shot of the rest of the film crew watching in horror as their boom operator calls for help.
Ga-ry: <HEEELP MEEEE!!!>
D-Lan: Ok, everyone back to the ship!
Alien producer: <But Ga-ry-->
Page 4
Panel 1: Front-shot of the director screaming at his producer. We see the rest of the crew running back to the ship.
D-Lan: <IS THE BOOM OPERATOR! We’re leaving.>
Panel 2: Shot from inside the ship as the director looks on at the scene. The ship’s ramp isn’t up, so we can see Long Face is beginning to stand up while still wrestling with Big Mouth (who is still attached to him).
D-Lan: <J’Son wasn’t unionized, was he? What a disaster.>
Panel 3: Big shot of the space ship flying away as Long Face (who is now standing up) continues to wrestle with Big Mouth (who is above him with its legs still wrapped around its enemy).
D-Lan: <This could’ve been my masterpiece.>
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