Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Gopher Golf: Third and Final Draft of Script

This is the final draft of the "Gopher Golf" screenplay before production is due to start in the New Year.
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Sound of doorbell. Title card against a blue sky. A newspaper flies through the air and straight through the Golfer’s letterbox.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

A newspaper falls through the letterbox on a front door. A man walks over and picks it up. This man is the GOLFER, a tall man wearing a green golf shirt, hat, shoes and trousers. The man sees a large headline on the newspaper and gasps - it reads "$10,000,000 prize offered at Golfing Championship". The Golfer clearly becomes excited and nods decisively.

EXT. GARDEN – DAY

The Golfer carefully places the golf ball on a tee in his back garden. The garden is very large with flat, green, freshly-cut grass, a pond and a single tree at the end and fencing all around the garden obscuring the view outside. At the end of his garden, the Golfer has very badly dug a hole for the golf ball to land into which is clearly too large.

We see shots of these in the order as they are described above. Shot of the Golfer looking at where the golf-hole is.

The Golfer swings carefully then hits the golf ball. The ball misses the hole and lands near the tree.

The Golfer GROANS LOUDLY.

Match-on-action shots of each of these.

We cut to the Golfer trying again. This time he hits the golf ball into the pond.

The Golfer then hits the ball again. It's clear in his aim that he is frustrated and not putting much effort into it. The ball lands in the tree. The Golfer gives a fed-up look and SIGHS LOUDLY.

Quickly-cut montage of all of the Golfer’s attempts to hit the ball successfully.

Next the Golfer hits the ball over the fence and we hear the ball hitting an old lady, who falls over with her bags of groceries.

Only hear the sound effects; possibly hear a car alarm.

The golfer growls angrily. The Golfer then calms down and looks at the golf hole again. He sighs then proceeds to try one more time. This time he aims much more carefully with greater precision. He hits the ball and it finally goes into the golf hole. The Golfer cheers and shouts excitedly, then looks at his newspaper again feeling much happier. 

EXT. PLAYING FIELD - DAY

The big day has arrived. Another GOLFER has just taken a shot but the ball lands too far from the hole. The other golfer cries loudly in anger and hurries off. Our Golfer simply laughs as he starts taking his place in preparation for his perfect shot. A large crowd is seen behind him sitting in stadium seating. 

The other golfer has different clothing to our golfer. We see the other golfer hitting the ball from a far distance from where our golfer is.

The whole time the Commentator is heard talking, the Golfer is looking very nervous as he prepares his perfect shot. He keeps moving hesitantly as if he is unsure at what moment to hit the ball.

A series of close-up and extreme close-up shots follow of the Golfer, the golf ball, the golf club and the target.

The Golfer finally hits the ball. There is complete silence.

The ball hits the ground after a prolonged silence. It moves its way around the golf hole. Everyone is watching. Finally the golf ball lands in the hole. The crowd cheers and the Golfer cheers loudest of all.

Suddenly, the sounds of cheering start to fade. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss plays.

Sound effects go quiet; the music is the only thing we hear now. The lighting also darkens.

The Golfer looks in disbelief as the golf ball emerges out of the golf hole again, moving very, very slowly. The Golfer gasps in horror as he sees the golf ball is riding on a GOPHER.

The Gopher brings the ball back up to the surface again in a shot referencing the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Gopher’s face is first revealed on the first “dun-dun’ cue. Shorten the 2001 music for the film’s shorter running time.

The Golfer slams his golf club to the ground in a similar way to how the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey slam bones to the ground. He is clearly angry and frustrated. It is very clear now that the Golfer has lost the tournament.

Clouds appear behind the Golfer; before he lost the game the sky was pure blue.

The Gopher throws the golf ball off his head, which hits and smashes the camera.

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