"The Kiss"
Director's Notes for Monica Espinoza:
LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO
(Film style: Somber, bleak, black and white tones)
(Music: melancholy)
The camera is positioned to look straight onto an approaching man, alone, in his late 20s, walking up and down a hilly street in San Francisco, his face unshaven, somber, his dress slightly unkempt - in dark tones with a long black leather jacket.
The man walks past the camera and the camera follows him on the side until an empty outdoor skating rink can be seen. The man stops, his back to the camera, as he gazes at the empty rink.
The camera goes toward the ice skating rink, past the man, and onto the rink. The dark somber colors transition into a more cheerful snowy day with some sunlight and punctuated by the laughter of children in the background and the arms of a man are outstretched from the camera's point of view. A beautiful blonde girl graps the hands of the man and looks into the camera (as the man's face), laughing with joy and teasing the man. They swing and spin around, laughing.
(SHOT changes to the view from behind the lone vigilante, once again the scene black and white as the laughter and shouts of childrens slowly dissipate into silence).
The man walks again, this time the camera follows him on the other side, until an empty restaurant is seen, the chairs turned up on the table. The shot changes to see the man's saddened face looking wistfully into the North Beach restaurant. He walks up to the window, and cups his hands around his face to see through the glare. The shot cuts to the inside, now in subdued colors of candlelight, the man and his beautiful lovely girl friend are sharing a romantic candlelight dinner, sharing words of endearment. The sihoullette of the same man can be seen outside, but they are oblivious to him (as it is just his memory). The shot turns again to the outside over the shoulder of the man looking into the window watching the two lovers talk at the candlelit table. As he walks away, the room darkens.
As he walks further he comes across a chain link fence. He puts his hands on the fence and gazes onto the school yard to see him coming out of the door and accidentally knocking over some books being carried by a young blonde teacher. The camera shot changes to a close up in color, as the two shy teachers meet for the first time, embarrased by their cluminess at the same time the viewer can see that they fell in love at first sight.
Shot switches to the man tearing himself away from the fence, his walk faster and more determined. He keeps on walking, his face grimacing in even more pain, trying to hold back his tears of bitterness until he reaches an alley with the hazy outline of gang members and cars waiting toward the back of the alley.
The scene turns to night and the camera reverse follows the path back to the restaurant where the man tells the woman that he loves her...that he loved her the first moment he laid eyes on her, and that he wants to be with her forever. As he makes this request, he takes his right hand and pulls out. . .
The shot switches back to the alley, who starts to take his right hand of his jacket with a quick, slight impression of a silvery gun
The shot switches back to the lover pulling out the silver ring and putting it on the finger on the love-struck girl as he asks her to marry him.
Minutes later, they walk hand in hand, among the glow of street lights, walking toward the alley.
The man insists on taking her home in his car, but she protests saying her apartment is only a few blocks away and they have an early school session the next day, and teases him that he has the whole weekend to be with her the following night. As they walk closer to the alley, he stops her. It starts to rain and he opens their umbrella and they share a deep kiss...the kiss that summarizes all the other kisses they had together. As the camera pans around them during the first revolution he puts down the umbrella and the rain stops suddenly as the other images flow past the viewer.
This shot is the key shot of the film: we will have the two actors in a rotating green screen that encircles the two so that when they make this kiss, the camera pans around them 360 degrees; each time it pans around it reveals a beautiful scene from some other kiss they shared: taking all the key picturesque points of San Francisco - e.g. view of marina / golden gate bridge, sonoma valley, etc. . . until the last revolution returns to the first scene at the alley (as he pulls up the umbrella again and rain falls).
"I better go..." she pecks him on the cheek quickly and rushes off. They say "good night"...he starts walking in the other direction, hesitates as if something foreboding is going to happen and then starts to run toward the path she took: "Wait!....." Suddenly he hears a series of gun shots, and her screams and he rushes to find her crumbled body as gangsta cars rush out of the alley...he gets a quick glimpse of the faces and a license plate as they wickedly laugh in derision and then he turns back and cradles his fiance in the middle of the alley road. The rain pours fiercely and the camera shot is from overhead as he looks up into the sky, wailing as the rain cries over the two tragic figures.
At this point a series of shots cycle through fairly quickly to show the vigalente in day walking toward quickly with gun in hand toward the cars in the alley, and then quick clips of various memories of him and his fiance and some words they share, of the line up of the criminals and his identification of them, of the judges office where the scales on the statue of justice are tilted one side with some change (with the shadowy outline of a judge taking a bribe from a goon), each memory willing the vigilantes eyes with tears and more anger and visible outrage and he starts firing his gun, shooting the window panes of the car (ok, maybe our budget w0n't allow that part).
The gang starts firing back and somehow the surprise of impact flings his glasses off and they shatter, so he can't see. Now the camera shows his viewpoint as hazy and panicky, blurred gunshots and figures firing at him to incite the viewer to panic with him and feel the hopelessness of his cause. He falls to the ground searching for his glasses, his hand reaches out; the camera pans to them, showing them shattered. As he is on his side, injured, the shot slows down to him on the side of his bed looking at a curtain with warm light coming through....the gentle hands of a female opens them and the face of his fiance, bathed in the backlight of the sunshines glow looks gently on him and whispers something (Monica, please fill in the blanks).
In total anger he grabs a trash can and runs and tosses it toward the people firing and rushes the car, slamming the driver's partially extended legs with the car door, and then pulling him out to put the trigger of his gun next to the gang leader's face as he reverses the car into the remaining gang members who were firing from outside, slamming the car into them. Silence with just him and the leader, whom he could kill with a single gunshot to the head.
Flashback to him and his girlfriend in the car having a discussion about justice, revenge and love.
(We will have to research some cool quotes to guide the dialogue of the two teachers; basically this flashback helps draw calm in this heated moment of passionate anger and desire for revenge so that ends up doing what she would have wanted, what her grace and beauty would have inspired).
He puts the gun into safety and let's go of the sweating man and walks away as the sirens of the police can be heard to once again cradles his dead fiance in tender protectionate love until the police come.
The last scene is at the cemetary...black and white, raining....clad in a raincoat, the now clean-cut man is carrying a single white rose as he walks toward her grave stone. The rain starts to stop. As he kisses the rose, a few tears of rain drop on it; as they drop on it, the rose turns a hue of red and the scene glows into color as he lays the red rose on her grave site and the sun starts to shine and the rain stop completely as he walks away.
THE END
LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO
(Film style: Somber, bleak, black and white tones)
(Music: melancholy)
The camera is positioned to look straight onto an approaching man, alone, in his late 20s, walking up and down a hilly street in San Francisco, his face unshaven, somber, his dress slightly unkempt - in dark tones with a long black leather jacket.
The man walks past the camera and the camera follows him on the side until an empty outdoor skating rink can be seen. The man stops, his back to the camera, as he gazes at the empty rink.
The camera goes toward the ice skating rink, past the man, and onto the rink. The dark somber colors transition into a more cheerful snowy day with some sunlight and punctuated by the laughter of children in the background and the arms of a man are outstretched from the camera's point of view. A beautiful blonde girl graps the hands of the man and looks into the camera (as the man's face), laughing with joy and teasing the man. They swing and spin around, laughing.
(SHOT changes to the view from behind the lone vigilante, once again the scene black and white as the laughter and shouts of childrens slowly dissipate into silence).
The man walks again, this time the camera follows him on the other side, until an empty restaurant is seen, the chairs turned up on the table. The shot changes to see the man's saddened face looking wistfully into the North Beach restaurant. He walks up to the window, and cups his hands around his face to see through the glare. The shot cuts to the inside, now in subdued colors of candlelight, the man and his beautiful lovely girl friend are sharing a romantic candlelight dinner, sharing words of endearment. The sihoullette of the same man can be seen outside, but they are oblivious to him (as it is just his memory). The shot turns again to the outside over the shoulder of the man looking into the window watching the two lovers talk at the candlelit table. As he walks away, the room darkens.
As he walks further he comes across a chain link fence. He puts his hands on the fence and gazes onto the school yard to see him coming out of the door and accidentally knocking over some books being carried by a young blonde teacher. The camera shot changes to a close up in color, as the two shy teachers meet for the first time, embarrased by their cluminess at the same time the viewer can see that they fell in love at first sight.
Shot switches to the man tearing himself away from the fence, his walk faster and more determined. He keeps on walking, his face grimacing in even more pain, trying to hold back his tears of bitterness until he reaches an alley with the hazy outline of gang members and cars waiting toward the back of the alley.
The scene turns to night and the camera reverse follows the path back to the restaurant where the man tells the woman that he loves her...that he loved her the first moment he laid eyes on her, and that he wants to be with her forever. As he makes this request, he takes his right hand and pulls out. . .
The shot switches back to the alley, who starts to take his right hand of his jacket with a quick, slight impression of a silvery gun
The shot switches back to the lover pulling out the silver ring and putting it on the finger on the love-struck girl as he asks her to marry him.
Minutes later, they walk hand in hand, among the glow of street lights, walking toward the alley.
The man insists on taking her home in his car, but she protests saying her apartment is only a few blocks away and they have an early school session the next day, and teases him that he has the whole weekend to be with her the following night. As they walk closer to the alley, he stops her. It starts to rain and he opens their umbrella and they share a deep kiss...the kiss that summarizes all the other kisses they had together. As the camera pans around them during the first revolution he puts down the umbrella and the rain stops suddenly as the other images flow past the viewer.
This shot is the key shot of the film: we will have the two actors in a rotating green screen that encircles the two so that when they make this kiss, the camera pans around them 360 degrees; each time it pans around it reveals a beautiful scene from some other kiss they shared: taking all the key picturesque points of San Francisco - e.g. view of marina / golden gate bridge, sonoma valley, etc. . . until the last revolution returns to the first scene at the alley (as he pulls up the umbrella again and rain falls).
"I better go..." she pecks him on the cheek quickly and rushes off. They say "good night"...he starts walking in the other direction, hesitates as if something foreboding is going to happen and then starts to run toward the path she took: "Wait!....." Suddenly he hears a series of gun shots, and her screams and he rushes to find her crumbled body as gangsta cars rush out of the alley...he gets a quick glimpse of the faces and a license plate as they wickedly laugh in derision and then he turns back and cradles his fiance in the middle of the alley road. The rain pours fiercely and the camera shot is from overhead as he looks up into the sky, wailing as the rain cries over the two tragic figures.
At this point a series of shots cycle through fairly quickly to show the vigalente in day walking toward quickly with gun in hand toward the cars in the alley, and then quick clips of various memories of him and his fiance and some words they share, of the line up of the criminals and his identification of them, of the judges office where the scales on the statue of justice are tilted one side with some change (with the shadowy outline of a judge taking a bribe from a goon), each memory willing the vigilantes eyes with tears and more anger and visible outrage and he starts firing his gun, shooting the window panes of the car (ok, maybe our budget w0n't allow that part).
The gang starts firing back and somehow the surprise of impact flings his glasses off and they shatter, so he can't see. Now the camera shows his viewpoint as hazy and panicky, blurred gunshots and figures firing at him to incite the viewer to panic with him and feel the hopelessness of his cause. He falls to the ground searching for his glasses, his hand reaches out; the camera pans to them, showing them shattered. As he is on his side, injured, the shot slows down to him on the side of his bed looking at a curtain with warm light coming through....the gentle hands of a female opens them and the face of his fiance, bathed in the backlight of the sunshines glow looks gently on him and whispers something (Monica, please fill in the blanks).
In total anger he grabs a trash can and runs and tosses it toward the people firing and rushes the car, slamming the driver's partially extended legs with the car door, and then pulling him out to put the trigger of his gun next to the gang leader's face as he reverses the car into the remaining gang members who were firing from outside, slamming the car into them. Silence with just him and the leader, whom he could kill with a single gunshot to the head.
Flashback to him and his girlfriend in the car having a discussion about justice, revenge and love.
(We will have to research some cool quotes to guide the dialogue of the two teachers; basically this flashback helps draw calm in this heated moment of passionate anger and desire for revenge so that ends up doing what she would have wanted, what her grace and beauty would have inspired).
He puts the gun into safety and let's go of the sweating man and walks away as the sirens of the police can be heard to once again cradles his dead fiance in tender protectionate love until the police come.
The last scene is at the cemetary...black and white, raining....clad in a raincoat, the now clean-cut man is carrying a single white rose as he walks toward her grave stone. The rain starts to stop. As he kisses the rose, a few tears of rain drop on it; as they drop on it, the rose turns a hue of red and the scene glows into color as he lays the red rose on her grave site and the sun starts to shine and the rain stop completely as he walks away.
THE END
posted by James Kellogg at 8:21 PM
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