Painting: The Scream by Edvard Munch
Logline: While heading
back to her dorm from the library on a hazy day, a young woman faces her doom
when she encounters a mysterious stranger.
Treatment:
It
is dusk and the American University quad is stranded. All that fills the wide
shot is billowing trees, lifeless buildings, and haze. Suddenly in a corner of
the frame, two diagonally juxtaposed vignette blurs appear. As the photo’s
clarity is sharpened, it can be deduced that these blobs are people. One is a
girl in a long sleeve shirt and the other a boy, following strangely behind
her. A medium close-up is taken of each subject. The girl has just left the
library due to the darkening sky and brisk walk she has to take to her dorm room
in this chilly weather. Unexpectedly, the sound of a broken branch interrupts
any movement. The girl is aware someone is behind her and starts running, but
the mysterious figure has almost caught up to her. The man calls after her. She
runs to a lighted area in the distance, forcing her asthmatic lungs to propel
her just a bit further. It is too late however; the distance between her and
this man is shortening and the bright light has lead her nowhere. She shrieks
for help in this lighted zone, knowing she has met her doom. *
*If
the photograph can be inserted within the middle of the silent film, extend film to include an
ending where the young woman realizes the man is one of her good friends and
her fright was false.
