I listed all the scenes and the parts of the script that I think are most pertinent to creating the film. I rearranged a couple of scenes and have done away with the 'Amsterdam' element, instead aiming to make a more focused, moody and emotive piece.
I didn't think the Amsterdam angle added anything to the film and am concentrating on the relationship between the two travellers, the cannibal and the victim.
During in class discussions about the brief Chris reiterated that the script is a guide and doesn't have to be adhered to 100%. I am really pleased about this because as I visualise it my own mind I think that the script is too 'bitty' and dilutes the potential for a feeling of threat and tension that the sinister comments and narration deserves. There are some brilliant lines in the script that I feel would have more power if they are isolated and focused on as a conversation between two people travelling together.
I am also going to do the first rough cut as a chronological narrative, electing not to open with the scene of the cannibal walking away, because I think that gives away the ending from the start. The film that I would like to create will leave the viewer unsure as to whether the victim lives or dies until the very last scene.
In my preferred telling of the story, the film opens at the train station with set up scenes showing the busy station concourse and the victim walking down the escalators and along the platform and getting on the train. This is important in my storyboard as it will be referred to later when the cannibal says to the victim "You think it was by accident that you came into my compartment?'. Showing the victim getting on the train early on links to this quote. The next scene will be the train departing the station setting off on a journey. This will be followed by the shots of the tracks and train leaving the city. This will be accompanied by the "What do you see when you look back" speech, which sets quite a melancholic tone to the piece.
nb, I need to make sure that we stick to strict continuity with regards to the footage of external trains, tracks, countryside and city scapes as the daylight brightness portrayed will need to change with the notion of an ongoing, uninterrupted journey going through the night:
Departing station / tracks / city (day, bright) - country (dusk) - city (night) - final scene (approaching dawn)
The nighttime railway crossing warning lights will be used at the point where the quote "Between three and four everybody falls asleep" is used later in the journey. This emphasises the 'warning' aspect of the speech and adds gravitas to the scene. This, as with earlier cut aways will be used to show the passing of time and the progression of the journey (giving length to the time period that we, the viewer, are expected to believe that this is happening over, thereby accounting for the train departing in daylight and the final scene being very early morning).
This will also add to the mystique of why the victim chooses to stay in the compartment with a cannibal: a fascination? Does he want to die? Does he want to see if he will die? Why doesn't he just move compartments?! It will also add the 'what happened?' element in the end which will make viewers want to watch through to the final scene to find out. By making a conscious effort to show the length of journey it will also account for the sleepiness of the victim and make sense of the times quoted.
The relationship between the travellers is key to the film. From the first time we see inside the carriage the looks and glances and thoughts will build the relationship. It starts as a general passing interest in a fellow traveller that you are going to share a long journey with: trying to sum them up. Then the clues about the cannibal come out, and instead of moving, the victim remains in the compartment and begins to show more interest in the cannibal. A strange thing to do given that this fellow traveller poses a threat. Therefore, in editing the footage I think there has to be a lot of interest shown by the victim, not necessarily verbal, but I don't want to rush the looks that they give each other. I would rather concentrate on the 'summing each other up' aspect and the pertinent thoughts that we can hear.
I also like the idea of having other travellers / characters around but after each character is seen it reverts back to the two travellers alone in the compartment. This adds another dimension to the question we are asking ourselves as viewers as to how much danger is the victim actually in. On the one hand there are other people on the train. On the other hand, they are alone for most of the journey, and as any Agatha Christie reader will avow, murder in the compartment of a train is very easy to do!
This is the storyboard of how I think the film should be presented:
To prepare for the editing I have created a production pack which includes my notes and storyboards, along with a schedule and the log sheets.
All the scenes on the storyboard are compiled using the footage that we have reviewed and cropped and labelled in Final Cut Pro and cross referenced with the log sheets, and the audio and sound files are referred to in the storyboards for the narration and ambient sounds, and volume of ambient sounds to be used (certain scenes will have a quieter background noise to focus on the words being said and the use of differing volume will help in the build up of tension (and therefore viewer interest) in the film.
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