Three days ago, I started a series on my filmmaking experience, starting in the year 2002.
Here's the intro with some background info and here you can read My First Short Film - How to Not Make a Movie - Part 1
The guy on the picture isn't me but could have been, if I had a fuller beard and longer hair.
If you wanna skip the intro or have already read it, I mentioned the following:
Yesterday, I called my mom, to ask if she could look up this 'screenplay' for me. I know there's a shoebox with all kind of movie ideas and screenplays that I've written - or that were written for me - since the early 2000s. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to locate it with the instructions that I gave her.
But I guess that isn't really a big deal. It was in Dutch anyway. But, it might have made you laugh - or if you are an aspiring filmmaker - you might have gotten some hope, as this is how I started out.
The good news is that my mom, who can't live with the thought of not finding something, started to search again. She rocks at finding lost things and is extremely experienced in that area as my dad loses all his stuff all the time. So today she actually found the shoebox I was referring to:
I just realized that I started a filmmaking series before, a month or two ago, but my travels kind of interrupted this. I have been traveling for almost 6 weeks now. Anyhow, if you want to read about a short film I made with my classmates in University, you can find it here:
My Filmmaking Life - The Early 2000s
My Filmmaking Life - The Early 2000s - Part 2
CUT BACK TO the Screenplay My Mom Found
As I mentioned in my earlier writing, her not finding it would kind of spare me some shame. I am joking here, but what I'm trying to point out is that it wasn't really a screenplay. I had no experience at all writing screenplays. I hadn't even followed any filmmaking class (that would have to wait another year) or read any books about screenwriting.
So let's take a closer look at what I managed to write down here:
Let me translate what you see there:
Screenplay: Revised version
"An Unforgettable Christmas"
[Voice-over]
You wake up in the early morning from the annoying noise of an alarm clock [Close Up Alarm Clock]
You are feeling very cold. In fact, you are stone cold. Preferably, you would stay in bed the whole day. Unfortunately, this isn't possible, otherwise you wouldn't have set your alarm. It's a huge effort, but you manage to get yourself to sit up, turn your alarm off and climb out of bed. You rub your tired eyes and look at the calendar [shot of calendar]
It is the 25th of December...
... The First Day of Christmas
Yo get a warm feeling. [close up on face, a smile appears] After all, it's one of the nicest days of the year. The cold feeling you had, seems to disappear, like snow melting in the sun. Talking about snow...
It's Christmas!
One of those days, when it seems like the birds sound prettier than ever, the land is covered with a blanket of bright white snow, the water has changed to a glinstering layer of ice. A day when all people are happy. In short, one of those days when the world shows itself from its prettiest side.
(Before jw (my brother, jan willem) opens the curtains, we see flashes of ugly imagery: rain, smoking car exhausts, factories and so on)
You are happy again and you open the curtains full of hope...
What you witness then, is beyond description. You have lived through quite a lot of Christmas mornings and still.... A Christmas morning like this is unforgettable
[What you see, can be described as follows]
It's raining outside. [ Shots of a wet street] The sky is grey and cloudy. [shot of the air] The snow is nowhere to be seen and there is certainly no ice [shot of water]
It is awkwardly silent, except for the sound of the rain on the windows. And if the silence is penetrated, it's because of the sound of cawing crows [sound and or shot of a crow] or other birds, with a far from beautiful voice. The streets are quiet too, besides some individuals defying the rain. [Shot of Boudewijn (the dentist's son with whom I made this film), Jip (our neighbor's son) or me?]
You are extremely disappointed [close up of face, smile has gone], but the day has only just begun. It can only improve [JW looks a little happier]. You put on your slippers [shot from underneath the bed] and your bath robe and walk down the stairs. When, after having descended the stairs, you open the door of the living room, there's a grim atmosphere. It looks like the rest of the family has just had a fight. You mumble something along the lines of "Merry Christmas" and take a hopeful look at the Christmas tree, standing in the corner of the living room.
[shot of christmas tree, needleless with three xmas balls?]
Even the Christmas tree can't return the happy feeling you had before.
Christmas breakfast starts. Your family members stare at the space in front of them with angry/ sad faces. The curtains have been closed [they will be opened if it rains] because the weather doesn't .... END OF PAGE 1
TO BE CONTINUED