Timed-Writing Three
Directions: If you were to create a filmed advertisement (a “trailer"
for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, which scene would you select? Why? Discuss ways in which you might film the scene.
If I was to create a filmed advertisement for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, I would select several tracks and combined them as my advertisement.
Firstly, I would give a view of the pipe from a far distance. The pipe lies on an open field. Around it dust is flying and a pile of dirt with flies around is in the nearside. Then the camera goes near and goes into the pipe, in which it shows the environment Ajit Babu lived. In it I will give a poor but tidy scene, some clothes hang on the top of the pipe, some carpet extended on the floor as their bed, and a candleholder with a candle on it. This scene will appear with gentle music. I choose this scene because I want to begin my advertisement with a tender atmosphere. Also the pipe is their last ‘home’ outside the resident area. It can show how tough their life was.
Secondly, I would give a group of scenes which could show the disordered of the society. One is in a market, Hindus and Muslims kills one another. Another is near a firing tram, a lot of guys loot nearby shops, break street lamps and set off crackers. The last is that Babu is running with fear because that a bag of bones is following him and shouted loudly. The surroundings must be on a footpath with many refugees sleeping beside. A couple of tents will be built along the footpath. After several seconds, the women’s husband, a hill of a man, whirling a tree over his head appears. Then give a close-up on Babu’s face. These scenes will go on with rapid rhythm and they will switch from one to another quickly. I choose these scenes because I want to tell the viewer they lived in a very dangerous area and they could easily be devitalized.
Thirdly, the scene switches to a grass land. Babu and his wife, Swapna, wearing dirty clothes, are walking on it with baskets in their hands. They sometimes see at each other, sometimes look up to the blue sky and then stoop down and pull grasses out, clean out the dirt on the grasses and put them into the basket. The camera goes around the grass land and finally faces opposite Mr. Babu. Then the camera goes forward him and stops at the top half of his face, especially his two numb eyes. At last the title “The Grass-Eaters” came in with a rough font. The background at that time is the basket with grasses in it. I choose this scene to emphasize their hard life and induct the title. And I think as long as the actor is good, this kind of numb gaze will have a shock in the viewers’ mind.