The Prospector Script – 1st draft
Opening/Scene1 (I intend for the film to exhibit a documentary/montage type beginning, in the hopes of establish a tone that will continue throughout the rest of the film. The opening visual will be accompanied with appropriate sound FX as well as instruments tuning – banjo, guitar and fiddle.)
- Opening shot – slow fade to wide, longshot of beautiful western landscape – canyon or valley – slow pan with shrubs blowing in foreground
- Cut to another establishing shot of western landscape – flat desert landscape with mountains in background – cow skeleton in foreground
- Cut to close up of cow skull – a fly is on it. From the backside of the skull crawls a lizard, which catches and eats the fly
- Cut to wise shot of a dry prairie – prairie dogs crawl out of a hole
- Cut to close up of prairie dogs as they look around
- Cut to longshot of American frontier (maybe even a sunset with the silhouette of a coyote howling) Fade out.
- Possible cut to quote about the gold rush
Scene 2 (The introduction of the protagonist – the prospector. The initial introduction of the prospector is to be indirect – an attempt to bridge from the montage introduction into the actual film. Bluegrass/folk music begins)
- Fade to close up of shallow water – the tip of a shovel digs in and scoops up some gravel
- Cut to close up of pan – shovel tosses gravel into it then exits frame – pause – two thin hands reach in and pull the pan out of frame
- Cut to worm’s-eye view, distorted underwater shot looking up at the prospector. The pan plunges into the water
- Full, rear shot of prospector bent over, panning. He is dressed in long johns, rolled up at the sleeves. An old, floppy, out of shape hat sits on his balding head. Suspenders hold up old pants, jaggedly cropped just below the knees. He stands mid-calf deep in water.
- Cut to wide shot of the prospector’s makeshift camp. It sits in the bend of an old, dried-out riverbed. Sand swept cliffs shelter the little cove. A worn canvas tent is suspended between a cactus and a rock, while a mule eats from sparse shrubbery. A desert woodpecker pecks at the cactus, and (if possibly visible) a scorpion crawls on the ground. The prospector sits on a large rock on the side of a stream. He faces the camera in the foreground sifting the contents of his pan.
- Over the shoulder of the prospector, focusing on the pan. The frame allows the prospector’s hands to be visible as he swishes the pans contents. A gold nugget appears in the murky water.
- Mid shot of prospector as he holds up the nugget to get a closer look with his one good eye.
- POV of prospector. Sure enough, a decent sized gold nugget is between his finger and thumb. His hand turns for a better look.
- Cut to a more tightly framed mid shot of prospector regarding nugget. Slowly and hesitantly he bites it with the only two teeth his has. He reacts visibly regards the nugget and inhales
- Cut to wide shot of prospector in front of camp as he rolls backward and throws both hands into the air. He hollers: “Wahooooo…!”
- Cut to medium shot of donkey looking up from the shrubbery, munching and indifferently swatting its tail.
- Full shot – Prospector rocks forward into a standing position and begins doing a victory dance in the shallow water.
- Medium shot – the old man stops dancing and looks at the nugget again. As he closes both hands around the nugget he looks heavenward and sighs. As he looks back down, he opens his hands again to look at his newly acquired treasure. He begins to laugh excitedly.
- Shot undecided – he turns and struts contentedly from the stream to his camp.
- Close up of pickaxe. The prospector steps on it with his bare foot. It begins to swing upward.
- Cut to close up of the pickaxe handle hitting the prospector in the crotch.
- Shot of boulder with a scorpion crawling on it. The prospector falls behind it then struggles to pull himself up on it. The scorpion stings him on the nose and he flinches.
- Cut to shot of sky, cliff and cactus (complete with woodpecker) – camera angle tilted slightly. The prospector rears his head back, into the frame, screams and falls backward out of frame. The cactus shakes visibly, needles fly and prospector screams again (off screen). The woodpecker is disturbed and dives off screen towards the prospector. The prospector screams again.
- Medium shot of camp layout minus the prospector. He enters the screen from the right, runs and swats at the woodpecker, which pecks at his head. The prospector exits to the left. Pause. He then repeats the action in the opposite direction.
- Full shot of the donkey’s backside – its head down and eating. Running, the prospector slams into the donkey’s backside then falls down. The donkey rears back and kicks the prospector.
- In a forced perspective the old man flies toward the camera. The camera tilts up slightly. He drops down, out of frame. The camera then tilts down to reveal the prospector face down in the creek. One hand is in the air (from the elbow) clutched in a fist. He raises his head revealing a battered and swollen face then slowly opens the fist. Still pinched between his thumb and finger is the nugget. The prospector begins to laugh weakly. A croaking sound causes him to pause and look to his right (the camera follows). A frog sits on the rock he initially panned from. It croaks, shoots out it tongue and takes the nugget then hops into the water and swims away. The prospector drops his face back into the water and the donkey brays in the background. Fade out.
End Credits
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