The First Reel
SCENE 1: THE FOREST
ACTION: The camera pans through a forest. The leaves are dark green, the dense undergrowth is full and dazzling sunlight breaks through the canopy in bolts. The mossy floor is dappled. As we approach a clearing we see figures converging with us on the clearing. Teddy bears, of all shapes and sizes, mostly bearing baskets, are coming together.
FX: A scratchy gramophone plays ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’, sung in a formal, English voice.
V/O: IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY YOU’RE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE….
ACTION: An idyllic scene as the bears lay out checked cloths and open their hampers. As we get closer to this tranquil and dreamlike image we get a clearer and more disturbing picture. Within most of the hampers, something glistens, redly, wetly. As the teddy bears begin their picnic their fur becomes matted and sticky.
V/O: IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY YOU’D BETTER GO IN DISGUISE…..
ACTION: The feast becomes more animated. Bears fight over prime bits of meat, we see occasional parts we think we recognise, fleetingly, before blood covered paws snatch them. The song is barely audible over the chewing and growling and as the sun sets the teddy bears are silhouetted in combat and debauched gluttony, devouring the awful meats.
SCENE 2: THE FOREST, MORNING
The bears wake from their sleep and go to a nearby stream to bathe and wash the blood from their fur. The stream runs crimson. We follow the water down-stream to where it is still clear and we hear the sound of human voices, as well as crystal bird-song. Our heroes, a pair of thieves, a mercenary and an old man are striking camp. The feet of one of the thieves, JON, is dangling in the water as the first smoky tendril of blood wraps around it. He doesn’t see it, but shivers, pulls his cloak around him and pulls his feet out of the water.
JON: I HATE THE FOREST, LET’S GET OUT OF HERE.
ACTION: The camera pans through a forest. The leaves are dark green, the dense undergrowth is full and dazzling sunlight breaks through the canopy in bolts. The mossy floor is dappled. As we approach a clearing we see figures converging with us on the clearing. Teddy bears, of all shapes and sizes, mostly bearing baskets, are coming together.
FX: A scratchy gramophone plays ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’, sung in a formal, English voice.
V/O: IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY YOU’RE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE….
ACTION: An idyllic scene as the bears lay out checked cloths and open their hampers. As we get closer to this tranquil and dreamlike image we get a clearer and more disturbing picture. Within most of the hampers, something glistens, redly, wetly. As the teddy bears begin their picnic their fur becomes matted and sticky.
V/O: IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY YOU’D BETTER GO IN DISGUISE…..
ACTION: The feast becomes more animated. Bears fight over prime bits of meat, we see occasional parts we think we recognise, fleetingly, before blood covered paws snatch them. The song is barely audible over the chewing and growling and as the sun sets the teddy bears are silhouetted in combat and debauched gluttony, devouring the awful meats.
SCENE 2: THE FOREST, MORNING
The bears wake from their sleep and go to a nearby stream to bathe and wash the blood from their fur. The stream runs crimson. We follow the water down-stream to where it is still clear and we hear the sound of human voices, as well as crystal bird-song. Our heroes, a pair of thieves, a mercenary and an old man are striking camp. The feet of one of the thieves, JON, is dangling in the water as the first smoky tendril of blood wraps around it. He doesn’t see it, but shivers, pulls his cloak around him and pulls his feet out of the water.
JON: I HATE THE FOREST, LET’S GET OUT OF HERE.