Pictures - Parts I & II

Okay, guys, here's the thing.  I needed a lot of the scenes from the first 500 words I had chosen this week.  So, I've copy and pasted Deanmcsmith's work into here and continued on with my work; separating our works with different coloured inks... hope it runs on well enough.

The film is on original Kodak Panchromatic, which I guess makes it no older than 1928. It was archived in the foreign films section of the library, though there is no distinguishing documentation to support it. The film can is the original Kodak, though the serial numbers are missing. There looks to be about an hours worth of film, though at this point I can’t say for sure. It’s never been projected though, there don’t appear to be any marks on the material at all.

Sammi left the tablets voice recorder running while she set up the projector. Her mind was still on the stacks and the small mountain of films she needed to get through if she was to have any hope of earning a bonus in time for Christmas. The job had been a dream come true for her when she had gotten it, it would have been for any film studies graduate, but the gloss had soon worn thin. If the last three weeks and 300 films were anything to go by, then the majority of the libraries uncatalogued films would be either bad student projects or donated home movies.

The film begins with a black background, the title added at the time. It’s in German, Der Wag, I have no idea what that means. Next comes a name, Lotte Kiebar, followed by Filmregissuer. If I had to guess I’d say that makes her the director. More black background then it fades, replaced by shots taken at the entry to a forest. The lighting is superb, it’s early in the morning, the shadows giving the game away. I can see pines and a few firs, there’s a lot of snow on the ground and down one side of the trees. Camera pans down and I can see a single set of bootprints. The camera follows them down what looks like a track, the snow less thick on the ground. There’s little camera shake, the shot is slow but steady, unlike anything else I’ve seen from the period. A bird flies into the branches of a tree and snow falls down in large clumps, the cameraman jumping back to avoid it. We get a quick glimpse of the sun,

Sammi paused the film, more than a little confused. The sun was just going down in the last camera shot, despite less than 15 minutes of the film having elapsed. Rewinding the film didn’t help; there was nothing to suggest that it had been edited. It was the original take. Pushing the doubts to one side, Sammi set the film going again.

which appears to be setting. The camera is following the tracks once again, into a large clearing, a mound in the middle of it, Looking to be about 7 feet high, the mound is turfed over, the snow missing in patches. Night has almost completely fallen now.

There was a knock at the lab door, heavy handed. Sammi jumped, then went to stop the film, laughing softly at her reaction. Her hand was poised, ready to flick pause when

She realised she was the only one here.  Sammi hadn’t heard anyone approach – as she normally did in this place – and so the heavy-handed knock at the door couldn’t have happened… could it?

Reluctantly she rose from her seat and walked to the door in the semi-darkness after turning off the film completely and then switching on a table lamp.  There was a large, hinged peep-hole for those who had to be identified which had been built into this place and she quickly unlocked it and pulled it open!

Just as she suspected:  there wasn’t anyone standing there.  But if she had heard the knocking then, who the hell was it?  Sammi shook her head… she didn’t want to know.  She closed the peep hole and locked again, turned back to her work and found there was dirt on the floor.

“Bloody grots…” she muttered picking up a broom from the shelves and sweeping it up.  But the more she swept, the more there seemed to be, as she shuffled closer to the screen and found herself standing on a forest path.

It was freezing.

It was sunrise.

A bird flew to a branch.  The snow fell off it in clump and she jumped, moving slowly…

Why did this feel so familiar?

Turning back to where she came from, she found the forest path winding away from her into the mist and a person in her face manning the camera, “Action.  Walk now.”

She hesitantly walked along the path where there were now two boot tracks... instead of one… they approached a large mound which really did look around 7ft tall!  She turned to the camera person, “How did I get here?”

She smiled, “You watched the film, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Heard somebody knocking?”

“Yes.”

“Turned your back to the screen, yes?”

Sammi sighed, “Yes.”

“You are the next to be added on.”

“What?”

She moved the camera toward the mound, grinning, “To be added on.”

“Sammi! Time’s up!” Richard opened the door to the archival room and found it empty.  His girlfriend’s bag and notes were on the table with a film running on a screen.  As he watched, it he saw somebody who looked like his girlfriend turn from a 7ft mound and say ‘yes’… then the camera turned to the mound. 

Suddenly, the camera turned to him! Richard saw the inside of the archival room on the screen, “I see you.” A woman’s voice came across the tape recorder, “And everything I see in life, how everything ends up… is all about the pictures I take.”

He glanced over her shoulder at where Sammi was standing looking as Richard watched his girlfriend slowly turn into a tree from the forest, “Hey!” he stepped into the room, letting go of the door handle.

The door slammed shut.

Richard found himself on a forest path covered in snow.

A bird flew to a branch on a tree.

A clump of snow fell, making him jump.

He turned and found a camera lady behind him, “Action.  Now, walk.”