My Fantastic Four script

This is a script I wrote of the Fantastic Four based on just the
trailer before the movie came out in the Summer of 2005. Just my way of
practicing writing in general, specifically screen writing.

"Fantastic Four"

Screenplay by

Folarin Osibodu

(Four astronauts become superheroes after being
contaminated
while in
outer space -- Dr. Reed Richard gets elastic limbs,
Ben Grimm turns to rock,
Sue Storm becomes invisible and Johnny Storm becomes
the Human Torch)

A beautiful and well designed, little
futuristic space craft fly’s past the
camera
in space. The 5 astronauts have been
sent to do some repairs in a space station.

They get to the beautifully designed station.
Everyone gets in. It lowers them like
the whole room is an elevator while the
underneath opens like a material sheath.

Suddenly disaster happens. One of the
astronauts is working on a radiation
device on the outside. A wrong switch
is pushed which triggers a huge cloud
of cosmic storm. 

JOHNNY STORM

Ben, get out of there!

BEN GRIMM

What?

JOHNNY STORM

I said get out there. There’s a problem, the radiation tank is leaking.
I think it’s about to explode. Get out of there now!

BEN GRIMM

Oh my God!

JOHNNY STORM

He’s not gonna make it!

Ben jumps out towards the main deck, floating in space with his space suit
still connected to the oxygen tank in that zone. It is too late. Everyone is
wiped with the radiation in the cosmic storm.

The radiation effects are like the effects from Final Fantasy when a person’s
soul is being taken away from him/her. Except in this case, it looks like a
huge flame sweeping through each of the astronauts taking out their
“bio-physical soul”. 

Everyone blacks out. They all pass out on the floor. After about 5 minutes,
they wake up, feeling ok and then since the device is now destroyed, they
head back to earth. 

Headquarters demands that they take a physical at NASA Care (the hospital).  

BEN DISCOVERS

That night, while Ben Grimm sleeps, he is wrinkling on his bed. His face
begins to hurt badly. His legs and arms hurt like crazy! It feels like
muscle pull multiplied by 100. Very quickly, his whole body hurts too.
Then his body begins to turn to rock, one big square of block after another.
After a few blocks form all this while screaming, he wakes up. The camera is his POV. 

He breaths a heavy sigh of relief and decides to go and get a drink.
He feels quite fatter than before. 

Ben Grimm

(Feeling very heavy) Men, Sue was right. I really should lose some of this weight.

He opens a door and his shadow is cast on the wall as “The Thing”.
The camera only shows his shadow.

Because Ben was the only one that was directly hit by the cosmic storm,
his change into an orange-colored rocky exterior is irreversible.

(Write scene for when Johnny Storm 1st discovered his power)

DINER SCENE WITH SUE STORM AND DR. REED RICHARD

SUE STORM

Look at me.

DR. REED RICHARD

I can’t.

Reed really can not see her even though she is sitting directly opposite him.

SUE STORM

What? What do you mean?

DR. REED RICHARD

Where are your hands?

Sue accidentally knocks over a bottle on the table. This makes Dr. Reed “stretch”
out his hand to catch it before it hits the ground.

HOSPITAL SCENE WITH JOHNNY STORM

JOHNNY STORM

Hi, I’m here to see the doctor, I have a high fever.

RECEPTIONIST

The doctor will be right with you. You can wait in that room right there.

JOHNNY STORM

Thank you.

A beautiful middle aged female doctor walks in.

Camera classically focuses on her feet while she enters the room. In slow motion,
moving up her legs until it gets to her face. Camera then cuts in to Johnny
ogling at her.

DOCTOR

I assume you are Johnny storm?

JOHNNY STORM

You assume correctly doctor.

DOCTOR

Okay, let’s see what the problem is Johnny. I’m just going to find out your
temperature.

JOHNNY STORM

You can find out anything you want from my body doctor.

DOCTOR

(Smiles sarcastically)

She pulls out a thermometer.

DOCTOR

Say ahh.

JOHNNY STORM

Ahh

She puts it in his mouth while she checks the computer screen for his temperature.
The reading scrolls up to 209oF.

DOCTOR

Oh, you’re hot!

JOHNNY STORM

Why thank you! So are you.

130 years of Movies in America: The Impact

This is a paper I wrote for an American History class while in college:

130 years of Movies in America:
The Impact

0754

HIST 2020

March 18, 2006

Movies have always played a very important role in our lives since its development in the 1880s. I call it development because somebody did not invent a movie or a ‘movie machine’ in just one day; movie making has been an ongoing research field which began in the 17th century. Since this paper will be written within the timeline between 1877 and the present, I will begin there.

Movie History

In 1877, the Praxinoscope was invented by French inventor Emile Reynaud. The praxinoscope was a projector-like device with a mirrored drum that created the illusion of movement with picture strips¹. This was the first movie machine that could project a series of images onto a screen. In 1879, Thomas Edison made the first exhibition of his efficient incandescent light bulb in public which was later used for film projectors². In 1882, Parisian innovator and physiologist Etienne-Julus Marey was studying, experimenting and recording animals in motion with the aid of photography³. She constructed a photographic gun, also known as a camera that could take 12 photographs/frames per second⁴. This method was called chronophotography. She also claimed to be the inventor of cinema.

In 1894, Thomas Edison introduced the public to the first practical motion picture camera and the kinetoscope. The Kinetoscope was a device that gave the illusion of movement by moving an endless loop of film continuously over a light source with a rapid shutter⁵. A researcher at the Edison laboratories called William Kennedy Laurie Dickson invented the modern movie projector.

Cinema is born

In the late 1800’s and the early 1900s, Thomas Edison’s company was one of the major pioneering movie production companies on the East Coast of the United States. He simply called the company the Edison Company.

Edison Company: Edison began producing films for the kinetoscope in 1891⁶.

American Mutoscope Company: was founded in 1895 in New York by Edison’s researcher William K. L. Dickson, Herman Caster, Harry Marvin & Elias Koopman⁷.

In 1902, filmmaker Georges Melies, who was a former magician introduced innovative visual effects in what can be called the first real science fiction (Sci-Fi) film called, “Le Voyage Dans La Lune” ⁸.

A famous shot from Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon)

A movie that made a very huge milestone in early film making history was, “The Great Train Robbery.” It was the first true western film made in 1903. This movie was photographed/ shot and directed by Edison’s leading director, Edwin S. Porter. “The Great Train Robbery” utilized many innovative techniques such as parallel editing, double exposure, composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting⁹. It was just twelve minutes long but was one of the longest movies ever made up to that time. In the last shot of the movie, a gun was fired in the direction of the camera. This style of ‘shooting’ created a profound effect on the audience because it gave an illusion that they were actually about to be shot dead. Economically, “The Great Train Robbery” established the notion that film and movies could actually be a commercially viable medium.

This leads me to the various parts of peoples lives that movies has been an impact in. The categories are: Social/ Entertainment, Economics and Politics.

Entertainment

In the 1900s movies became a popular attraction in several arcades, wax museums, music halls, traveling fairs, and vaudeville houses.

Nickelodeons

In the early 1900s, people no longer saw motion pictures as just great innovative experiments. People became fond of movies and demanded more of it. They needed and wanted to be entertained by these movies. Various lecture halls and storefronts were then converted into the first real movie theaters called Nickelodeons. The name was derived from the fact that the admission charge was a nickel (five cents). The first nickelodeon in Pittsburgh, PA in June 1905 opened showing “The Great Train Robbery”. Teenagers and young adults went with their dates to the movies. This quickly became an avenue for dating and another medium of expressing romance. Before long, more romantic movies (also known as chick flicks) were made. The demand for more films greatly increased the number of films made. This brought profit to the movie producers.

Economics

Businessmen soon became very interested in the burgeoning movie industry. Some of them were investors, exhibitors and distributors in these new nickelodeons. A few of them were:

• Adolph Zuler
• Marcus Loew
• William Fox (20^th Century Fox)
• Louis B. Mayer (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)
• Sam Goldwyn (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)
• The Warner brothers (Warner Brothers/ WB) ¹⁰

These businessmen realized that in order to generate more profit, they had to expand the demographics that movies targeted – the middle-class, women and children were now additional targets.

In the 20th century, many filmmakers, both directors and producers had become very wealthy, some even billionaires. Wealthy filmmakers/producers include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer.

George Lucas who is very well known for creating (writing and directing) the Star Wars movies is also known for pioneering the ever expanding field of visual and computer generated effects in movies. With his company called ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), he became very wealthy very quickly. George Lucas at 61 is worth $3.5 billion¹¹.

Steven Spielberg, who is a close friend of Lucas’, has made a large number of movies spanning many genres. He is a visionary when it comes to story telling from any perspective. Steven Spielberg who just released War of the Worlds (sci-fi) and Munich (political thriller), owned a company called DreamWorks SKG. It was recently acquired by Paramount in February 2006¹¹. Steven Spielberg who is 59 is worth $2.8 billion dollars¹².

The last filmmaker/ producer that I will mention is Jerry Bruckheimer. He has been involved with so many blockbuster hits such as Beverly Hills Cop, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. He is also involved with producing the hit T.V. show CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. All movies, musicals and T.V. shows that he has been involved with have grossed $11 billion to date¹³.

Hollywood

Filmmakers were lured by the incentives from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce joined with plenty of sunshine (natural lighting reduced the cost of indoor artificial lighting.) Hollywood became a major movie production area. It was set in Los Angeles, California. The Hollywood sign originally read “Hollywoodland” in the 1920s but it was changed to “Hollywood” in 1949¹⁴. The sign is located near the top of Mount Lee¹⁵.

Politics

In 1912, 15 film companies were in full operation in Hollywood. Large scale studios and production companies were now the norm¹⁶. Because of this, nickelodeons were being put out of business and were being replaced by bigger theaters.

In 1913, an anti-trust suit, initiated by William Fox was heard by the U.S. government. The law suit was filed on behalf of the independent film companies such as Universal, Paramount and Fox against the Motion Picture Patents Company. In 1915, the MPPC was declared an illegal monopoly. Damages of over $20 million was ordered and was to be paid by the trust¹⁷. In 1918, the MPCC was dissolved¹⁸.

In the 21^st century, movies became a medium of voicing out political related events such as terrorism. The popular director Michael Moore made documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). Bowling for Columbine presented America’s love for firearms and the pathology of violence in the U.S. Statistics show that the United States has the highest gun-murder rate in the world¹⁹.

Fahrenheit 9/11 was an expose that reflected on the events that transpired in America since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The movie focused on the personal relationship of George W. Bush and the family of infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden. It also touched on the role that oil must have played in the attacks on U.S. soil²⁰.

Conclusion

Movies have always fascinated the general audience all around the world. People want to be entertained, they want to laugh, cry, and feel even closer to those they love. “The movies” is a means of escape for people from their normal and sometimes rigorous lifestyle. Movies have been a mode of expression of filmmakers to tell their stories or the stories of others that have been shut out from mainstream media. We have seen ground breaking visual effects that have left audiences in awe like Pearl Harbor; we have seen movies that caught the attention of so many critics and practically the whole world like The Passion of the Christ. What next will the movies leave us to think about? What new technology will film making develop? Remember movies have only been around for about 130 years…what next?

Bibliography

Dirks, Tim. “Film History by Decade: 100 years of movies,” Film Site, 1996 (19 March 2006)

“Film,” Wikipedia, (19 March 2006).

“Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,” Wikipedia, (19 March 2006).

“The Great Train Robbery (1903 film),” Wikipedia, (19 March 2006).

300

300.

What can be said about 300 that has not already been said, blogged about, broadcast in mainstream media i.e. t.v. news and radio as well as the independent medium of podcasting. Let's not forget myspace, facebook, youtube and wikipedia.

On my facebook profile right now, I posted a comment after seeing 3oo on its opening friday night:

"Take Sin City, Gladiator and The Lord of the Rings. Combine them but strip out the boring speeches, set the background against a beautiful art painting, bulk up the actors and hype up the fight choreography to the maximum. When you do that, you get 300."

Then my status became, "Folarin is trying to recover from the 300 effect." So rarely does a movie stir me up like 300 did. The first and most heightened impression that I got from a movie was The Matrix (1999).

I am not referring to the story because Frank Miller, the original writer of 300 - the graphic novel that 300 - the movie was based on, is not completely historically accurate. Of course that is not what both Miller and Zack Snyder (director) was going for. Oh btw, don't call 300 a comic book in front of Frank Miller. I am focusing on the film making process.

When the Matrix came out, it blew everyone away, because what it did had never been done before. 1st, the story, 2nd the fight choreography, 3rd the visual effects, special effects and virtual backgrounds, let's not forget the cinematography. The Matrix set a new standard in film making all over the world.

300 has done something quite close. That is what everybody is talking about! That is why 300 has now set the record for best opening is March, ever! I'm talking over 70 million in just one weekend not to talk about the whole month yet. On a budget of a mild 65 million and a smart use of the internet and the youtube craze for marketing, I can assure you that the producers and the cast are already popping champagne bottles just waiting for the revenue to pour in.

There have been some criticisms however about this movie, not all that I agree with

1. "The blue screen CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) made the movie look kind of flat."

Well, the movie is based on a graphic novel drawn on a flat plane paper. Maybe that was what Zack Snyder was going for.

2. "The use of the slow-mo, speed up effect started by The Matrix was used to much."

I would have to agree with that on some level. It got a little too much. On the upside, it helped us appreciate the skill and level of work that these actors put into the choreography and made us/me see every move in detail. God knows that if I had 300 on dvd without the slow mo, I would hit the slow-mo button during the action sequences.

3. "The characters had no depth, i.e. there wasn't enough time for the audience to buy into the characters and get us emotionally involved."

Again, I would say read the original piece(the novel). Did Miller do this? Lets not blame the filmmakers. However I felt the love that Leonidas had for his queen at the end when Gerard Butler delivered greatly these words, "My queen, my wife, my love.", just before a swarm of arrows rained downed upon him.

Overall, the movie was a great movie and a tremendous success.



Listen to my podcast review on 300. "The Folarin O. show" on iTunes.

Just a second ago a cousin of mine, Kemi, remarked while we were talking, "You are just a non-conformist". I congratulated her for that compliment, as I decided to take it, because that is exactly what I chose to be. Didn't God tell us not to be part of the crowd?

Now to the main issue

Passage - Luke 12: 13 - 34

The Bible is the best written book ever written by man. No doubt. There are some passages that just hit you like, wow. Every sentence, every word, means so much to you, you almost lose it.

Luke 12:21 says, ..."So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Jesus told a parable about a man that laid some crops and goods in the barn intended for years of storage. When he did this, God called him a fool, saying he will take his life.

This is a famous parable that I have always struggled with for many years. To me I thought, hey isnt this guy being smart saving for a 'rainy' day? At least he has a savings account (so to speak) unlike so many people these days.

Then I thought about it some more and maybe God was talking about some of us that take pleasure in earthly possessions. It doesn't mean you should not be rich and have gadgets or expensive items. By all means do, enjoy your life here on earth if you can. Just don't find them indisposable. Be able to give them away when the time calls for it.

I watched a movie yesterday. A rock star was on a date with his new flamboyant girlfriend. He was trying to teach her that "these things" are not real (referring to his motor bike). He proved it to her by starting the ignition and running the bike straight into the lake. Then they both bursted into laughter. To cut the long story short, the girl didn't get the lesson, she ended up a drug addict and died of a drug overdose at 28. It was based on a true life story.

:22, "Then HE said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,what you will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on."

This verse blows my mind. What? We should not worry about, ...what? the first...our life? then what we will eat? our body and our clothes? Why should we not worry? Does this mean we should not care? Does it mean we should not bother to get a job and God will automatically download food and clothes from heaven to earth? Oh and wait, we shouldn't even worry about our life and bodies. Does this mean we shouldn't have plans ahead like the Fool in the parable?
Hmm, questions. Questions that need answers. I gotta tell you I don't have all the answers. However I am getting some of them as time moves along


HE goes on to say that life is more than food, and the body is more that clothing.
Okay, and how is that?

:29, "And do not seek what you should eat or drink, nor have an anxious mind."
We shouldn't seek? What exactly does seek mean. Maybe it meant something a little different back then than it does now. I do get the part about being anxious. I think God is saying, "Trust ME", "Don't worry, just do what I tell you to do, and I'll provide all these things for you easily."

:30 , "But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."
My point exactly. I didn't even see this yet before I typed the last paragraph.

:32, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
...
:34, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"
This one meant something to me. The two important words here are treasure and heart. What do you treasure? What do you hold closely to your heart? Notice how these two questions seem like the same question and go hand in hand?
Pick the relevant things of this world and treasure them. Things that God holds important. Things that can enable you to grow personally, and things that you can do to help others.