Theme: Man's supposed superiority/leads to/ the realization of the true hierarchy of nature
Premise: The story takes place in the late 1960s. After a mysterious beast kills several people in a small Alaskan town a large bounty is put up to attract professional hunters to the area. The story opens on two hunters in a bar on the outskirts of town discussing their various hunting escapades, one has minimal equipment and a deep respect for the creatures he has killed in the past while the other relies on heavy technology and a greedy thirst for monetary gain. When a woman runs into the bar bleeding and screaming and collapses in a heap the chase begins and both hunters set off into the forest. When the beast is finally tracked down a battle ensues between the three individuals. The greed driven hunter is ripped limb from limb after trying to approach the beast while it is snared in a trap. The other hunter lifts his gun and kills the beast but instead of collecting the reward and allowing the body of the animal to be exploited by scientists and townspeople he cremates it with explosives so that there is no trace left.
Program: The story takes place mostly in the fringe between human society and the natural world of the forest. The rules of nature are in full swing. The hunters must strictly abide to the kill or be killed mentality and are completely at the mercy of the weather and also the beast that they are tracking. It is only their weapons and technology that separate them from the animals that inhabit the forest but it is not these things that make them more dangerous.
Treatment: The story opens with Hunter #1 quietly entering the bar while Hunter #2 regales the bar crowd with stories of his hunting escapades. After a while hunter #2 recognizes his competition and creeps his way towards his rival to find more information about him. They discuss topics such as technology and the second hunter misquotes the bible several times concerning man's dominion over animals as being a grant from god to hunt and kill what he pleases. Even though they both are different they strike up an unlikely alliance due to their shared goal.
(inciting incident) A woman is heard screaming from outside the bar. Everyone rushes outside to find a woman bleeding to death with a bloody trail leading back into the forest adjacent to the bar. This sparks the chase of the beast by the two hunters who are now in an unlikely partnership. They trek through the forest helping each other overcome various obstacles in the terrain. Their actions directly relate to the idea that humanity is a societal species and needs to travel in packs in order to succeed and that individual humans are inherently weak. As night begins falling the two must set up shelter and protect themselves from the harsh weather. #2 sets up traps around the perimeter while #1 builds a fire.
In the early morning hours a blood curdling scream can be heard and both hunters rush out with their weapons to investigate. They discover the beast has been caught in a trap and is desperately grabbing for freedom. #2 approaches the beast and begins to patronize him. #1 repeatedly tells him to be careful and to have respect for the injured creature but he continues to probe and provoke the beast. As he gets closer the beast lunges out and rips him limb from limb. #1 fires his weapon and kills the beast but the clearing is already splattered with the blood of the other hunter. He buries the remains of the second hunter in the Christian tradition and cremates the body of the beast so that it will not be strung up in the town or desecrated by scientists and begins his walk back to the town.
Composites: Hunter #1 is a British man in his late 40s who was born and raised on a private land reserve in the jungles of India. He believes in reincarnation and has somewhat strong beliefs along the lines of Hinduism that he learned from the servants at his childhood home. He lives for the thrill of the hunt and regards it as a sacred practice that must be duly respected.
Hunter #2 is of Texan origin and prizes material wealth and status symbols above all. He loves carnage and his most prized possessions are the trophy heads of animals he has killed hanging in his game room. He has no religious convictions although he was raised a Protestant Christian. He has more faith in technology and believes in the superiority of humanity.
5 comments:
i enjoyed the two different kinds of hunters each with its own method and perception toward hunting!
But i started getting confused with categorizing and distinguishing the characteristics between the two characters without specific traits or name.
This story is awesome. From the start I already had a feeling for the stark, restless atmosphere and a relate ability to both the hunters. Your theme, premise and program were clear and concise, and in result was everything I needed to feel not only the tension between the two hunters, the beast, the townspeople, the woman, etc. Plus, the part about technology vs. nature was simply yet effectively put. That's awesome. As for the treatment, like the simplicity and conciseness of the parts before it, it was able to reveal a lot of meaning through just the obstacles that the hunters had to work with in their journey to the eventual meeting with the beast and the climax of the death of Hunter 2 and the death of the beast was just stunning. Great work.
I think the minimalism of the characters is really working in your favor, particularly in the fact that they remain nameless throughout the narrative.
For some reason this story reminds me of Twister, in that it is a story in which two types of hunters, on more traditional and moral, the other more technologically advanced and impetuous, both seek to capture an elusive beast (or tornado.)
I think it would be in your favor to highlight the prospect of the large bounty throughout the film, and make it apparent that hunter 2 is in it for the money, while waiting to reveal hunter 1's motivations until the last possible moment.
Hey Akash, your work is very interesting and fun (grabbed my attention from the start), yet simple. It sort of reminded me the movie True Grit with all the hunters and the setting I pictured in my head. I think you could develop these characters even further, although they are great the way they are. It's interesting how you say that the second hunter has no religious preference, but was raised Protestant-Christian. Just by chance or are you anti-Christian?...
The mood that is set seems like it. Maybe I am wrong.
Very intriguing story. I like the themes of nature vs technology and the different ideologies Christian vs. Hinduism but I find them to conflicting. If one hunter is suppose to represent technology and one hunter is suppose to represent nature, I find it kinda conflicting that the nature hunter uses a gun (technology) to kill the beast. Perhaps, you could have him kill a beast without using technology. The conflicting theologies is by far my favorite part of the script. However, I can't see it as realistic for a Christian hunter prodding and torturing a beast. Another suggestion is maybe have the hunter saying a prayer or murmuring some kind of passage to the beast before finishing it off. Kinda like Samuel L Jackson does in Pulp Fiction before executing those guys. Nevertheless Great story can't wait to see the script
Post a Comment