Loig Allix Thivend film scenarios / synopses; Film Incoherence présente...

Film synopses by Loig Allix Thivend under w.o.r.l.d. 2004 copyright. Cf. also the main Scenario Factory for more recent stories. Compilé avril 2003, voir en bas.

"25-7" or "110%" : for a longer version, please go there. Start -Black screen : "Are we on the air yet ? Are we on the air ?". An ecstatic square jawed presenter announces some trivial scoop : the victory of a football team abroad. Back to the studio : (...) The team in question happens to owned by the director of the major papers and TV channels in this country, who also got elected Prime Minister. The setting : a sunny land. (...) Lightweight popstars (boys bands, ... pseudo-controversial "Lolita" starlets...) But meanwhile... social unrest grows outside the artificial world of TV studios. A demonstration against the governement degenerates (...) Style. The reality outside : filmed reportage style, with camera on shoulder, (...) In contrast, scenes inside the TV / recording studios are edited, staccato style (...)

"Species 3" Full version here. Film starts at the end of the previous instalment. (...) Shots of unmarked black helicopters carrying biological vials and medical containers to an underground lab (...) Meanwhile, alien scientist Dr. Laura Baker gets assassinated (...) Back in the lab, a couple of "Eves" are hatching. (...) Back to one-track minded killing machines "Eve 2 and 3" : (...) that happen to be not the government's. Who on Earth are they then : why they want to introduce alien rampage upon this planet; all of a sudden, "Eve" is the last line of defense for the world, caught in an interplanetary conflict ! (...).

Comments : boxes within boxes. Topics : birth, reproduction, genetic and social history; quest for identity; need to overcome mistrust and misunderstanding. Stakes, scopes, and numbers getting higher and higher.

"The Sexual Balance". To see a revised version, click here.

The protagonist (...), on a train, goes into a tunnel : screen goes pitch black (...) he gets fished out of water, out of a sea (...) they take him to their village... ruled by women. Hero pleads amnesia (...). Mario realises that this alternative society is undistinguishable from his/ours ... except it's women who have assumed power, their intellect the ruler. Men are only good to use for their physical strength, and are stepped in petty jealousy as to who has the biggest arms, who has the biggest car (paid by their wives), and so on. All commercials / shop for men deal with such trivial matters, whereas women rule the governement (...)

"The Butterfly's Heartbeat Over Sahara And The Nikkon Index" For a developed version, see this page.

Inspired by the Coens' "Barber". Setting : a small town / community , to define. (Must be a town strangers go through). One man, a born loser, ("Merlin") discovers that his wife "Laura" is having an affair with the town's rich businessman, "Murdock" (...), he comes up with an idea : anonymously blackmail his wife's lover, after watching the Coen Bros.' "The Man Who...".(...) But the boss, Murdock, unexpectedly turns to him for help, and offers him the same amount of money ...to kill the blackmailer (...), considers the offer : either way, he wins the money. (...) Next round : someone creates another fictitious shady character (...) Meanwhile, Merlin himself gets a coded message from the new blackmailer (...)

Comments. Structurally : I like the idea of the chacters copying each other, every time bringing a new personal twist that, in fact, plays into the hand of the other party and brings about their downfall (the more they try to be clever, the more they reveal themselves to their opponent).

"Black if white". -under development (cf. most remarks about "The Sexual Balance", which also apply here)

Another inversion, in which blacks are the majority and whites are slaves / oppressed. (...) use of media imagery (cf. Public Enemy's video for -was it- "Welcome To The Terrordome" or "Fight The Power"). Concept / structure. A slight displacement in a familiar environment creates the biggest impact : take a familiar situation, and twist it a little bit. And so this synopsis may be taken as an adaptable blueprint for other social paradigms / reversals...

If Looks Could Kill Developed version...

Photo shoot with gorgeous girls, shots of fashion / girly magazines to cheerful pop music. A group of models are being taken for a video/photo-shoot, in a paradise Third World island resort. (...) A group of impoverished natives live on the other side of the island, in a ratty fishing community. (...) Brief glimpse of her murder, as filmed by a video-camera. (...) The rest of the candidates pretend nothing happened, (...) Obsessed and disgusted by the beauty imperative (...). About beauty : the more beautiful, the more exposed. The least noticeable, the most protected. Beauty is the most potent, most unfair leveller in society. (...) Placing the audience in an uncomfortable position, turning the table.

"The Long Goodbye" (undeveloped)

The Rankine, a Rockwell postcard family in the USA (50s). One day, the son Billy (about 10), and his brother Bud (8), discover a tramp sleeping rough, as they come back from school. They wake him up roughly, and chase him away. They laugh, as kids do, as the terrified man wakes in a panic and runs instinctively away. A few days later, they see the homeless-looking man again; he looks less dirty this time, but is walking on their property. Outraged, they pelt him with stones and drive him away, even though he protests and tries to tell them something ("Children, wait, I've come to..."). They tell their parents at dinner, who congratulate them on chasing away an undesirable vagrant. Crucially, they omit to mention the man's protestations.

The next day, they arrive from school to discover the same man talking to their mother, outside the gate; but, too far away, they can't hear what the grown-ups discuss; they hide to spy. To their amazement, she lets him carry his shopping inside after a while, and gives him a tip, which he refuses proudly. They ambush the man as he departs, but their mother intervenes, and sharply pulls them back as they throw stones at the man; she tells them off and sends them to their room. Their father has gone away all day, and comes back the next day ...with the man in tow. Feeling furious and humiliated, they are called up to come and welcome the man, this time slightly better dressed but still looking out of his depth. Their father behaves very cordially towards his guest, whom he offers tea to. Then the kids are told that they can't stay for cakes. But the man actually intervenes in the kids' favour, when the parents tell them off for having been horrible to him, and winks at them, as if to forgive them ("Oh, it was nothing, just a simple misunderstanding, boys will be boys..."). He tells them that, on a manner of speaking, they are all related. To Billy's horror, his younger brother seems to fall for the man's tales. "Mr. Marr" is well-travelled, weather-beaten, and well-read, with lots of funny anecdotes which do the job. He doesn't seem to bear any grudge towards Billy and Bud. The parents invite Mr. Marr and his family for Sunday lunch, the next week.

When the Marr family arrive, Billy can't help himself and plays a little prank on Mr. Marr's son. Once more, Mr. Marr prevents his dad from chastising him and, in return, cheekily throws a snowball at Billy. Soon the skirmish degenerates into a full snowball battle between the two brothers and the two male Marrs. The Rankine parents stand well back, laughing and counting the points. Once the fun has stopped, suspicious Billy is still outraged by his parents' acceptance of the apparently socially inferior man. He tries to confide in his father, but he gets cut off with a curt "That's enough now, Billy; there is a time for playing about and there is a time for growing up ! Now be respectful and polite towards our guests. You don't know anything about what they are enduring. Is that understood ?!" He has to behave and watches, sullenly, as his parents -and now his brother- enjoy the company of the Marrs. The son is a reserved kid, who hardly speaks. Mr. Marr, ever attentive, notices Billy's thinly veiled disapproval, and suggests that, "tell you what", maybe they should stage mock battles, if he really needs to express his pent-up emotions. They do so the next day in the forest, (playing football or something), until Billy actually gets bored of it and, on his own, decides to call an end to the hostilities. He asks for the man's explanations. Mr. Marr reveals that his family are on the run for some political reason, and that his parents are kind enough to help for the time being, but that he mustn't worry -it's perfectly normal to resent newcomers who disturb the status quo-, they won't stay around for much longer. He just needed to get in touch with Mr. Rankine for some reason; his work is now done. Last image : the Marrs leave the country, flying off a cliff by air balloon (scene shown from their own point of view).

Story based on a dream : the final image of a man jumping off a windowsill (subjective camera), with a parachute. Variants : a little boy justifiably resentful of a stranger wooing his recently widowed mother. He teases and bullies the poorly dresssed / fat man subrepticiously. Children have a very heightened sense of injustice. Gradual realisation that there is more to appearances in the grown-ups world : stuff going on, incomprehensible to children (echo of "Au Revoir Les Enfants" ?). Topic : could be yet another Jew vs. nazis story; or for a change intellectuals vs. communists in the Eastern block / McCarthyists in 50s America. Casting : Tony Sahoub. -March 2003-