A Sudden Change in Outlook--"6"--David Press

PAGE ONE.

1.1: We’re going to open on a crowded sidewalk in a city that doesn’t really matter, but it’s surrounded with various sorts of people of all sorts of race, dress, etc. This city’s sidewalk could be in Saratoga Springs or Los Angeles—it doesn’t matter. But in this case I’d like to highlight a few people: there is a CLUTZ, a punk rockfish BOYFRIEND AND GIRLFRIEND, two FRAT BOYS, and a LAWYER—in a suit, talking on his phone.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.2: THE BOYFRIEND & GIRLFRIEND walk arm in arm. TWO FRAT BOYS pass them going in the other direction. The shot should be wide enough that we can see the FRAT BOY closest to the GIRLFRIEND, passes something into her purse.

1. BOYFRIEND:        That fucking jerk.

2. GIRLFRIEND:       Let it go honey.

1.3: They see THE CLUTZ dancing in the street, waving his iPod around. He’s on the street side of the sidewalk. In front of them, about to walk into the Clutz is THE LAWYER—on his phone.

3. CLUTZ [singing]: Midnight in the ciiiitttty!

3B.CLUTZ:            Keep calm, Stanley. She’s just a work colleague.

4. BOYFRIEND:        HA! Look at this dude.

1.4: THE LAWYER, on his cell-phone, collides with the CLUTZ.

5. LAWYER:           Watch it, jackass!

1.5: THE CLUTZ’s IPOD flies into the air.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.6: The iPOD smashes against the wall next to the BOYFRIEND.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.7: He picks it up and shows the dashed pieces to his girlfriend.

6. GIRL:             Who’d’ve thought that there were so many pieces?

1.8: It electrocutes them. Their faces light up with blue electricity pulsing through their veins.  

7. GIRLFRIEND:       AHHHHH!

1.9: The boyfriend and girlfriend explode in a giant orb of blue light, taking the LAWYER, the CLUTZ, and the FRAT BOYS with them.

SFX: FRACK! 

--END--

Sudden Change of Outlook (a tale of Redemption Road) - Ray Wonsowski

Setup: if you're a long-timer at Thoughtballoons, you might remember that one of my earliest ideas was of a reformed Electro, (Max Dillon) raising a baby daughter and working as a supervillain skiptracer. You can find previous entries here, here, and here...This night, while trying to round up his next bounty, he stumbles upon a shipping container owned by Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin...

Layout:
1111
2233
4555
4666

Panel 1- doors are swung wide on the shipping container, we are looking inside. There are about a dozen or so boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 11, dressed in Sunday clothehandss. The children and their clothes are a bit smudged with grime, but not too much, after all, this is Fisk's "merchandise" being exported. They are all, however, terrified, some crying,  others defiantly angry, but all scared. In the background is a stained bucket they've been using as a toilet. 

NO COPY.

Panel 2- Medium two-shot. Foreground, MAX, dressed in a leather jacket and a green turtleneck, his face reading shock at the sight. Background,  FISK behind him, ever the poised businessman,  hands in his pockets.

FISK: Really, Max, this shouldn't be surprising. 

FISK: Considering all the enterprises under my purview...

Panel 3- same as panel 2, but MAX is failing to hold back his rage,  tears starting to well in his eyes.

MAX: They're kids, Wilson. 

FISK: They're a commodity. One cannot afford to be thinking of them as children. 

Panel 4- close-up, MAX's sparking fist.

MAX: Actually, I'm thinking of my daughter, you sonuvabitch...

Panel 5- MAX turns, furiously unloading a full charge into FISK's face.

MAX: She saved ME!!!

Panel 6- Close-up two-shot, MAX, teeth bared, holding FISK's barely conscious head in his sparking hands, his face smoldering from the burns, skin already blistering.

FISK: ...wub...

MAX: And now I'm returning the favor....

A Sudden Change in Outlook – All Fall Down – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: A magnificent fortress of villainy, parked behind a magnificent, seemingly unbreakable wall. A military commander stands in a tower, flanked by soldiers.

TEXT (1): A familiar story -

TEXT (2): A powerful force of evil thinks itself invincible.

Panel 2: Outside the villainous wall, a clearly heroic army marches forward, led by a warrior who practically bleeds and aura of holiness or goodness.

TEXT: And then comes along an opponent that thinks otherwise.

Panel 3: The lead warrior lifts his sword into the air, blade pointed downward.

Panel 4: The lead warrior stabs his sword into the ground in an epic fashion.

SFX: BOOM!

Panel 5: The villainous wall falls apart.

SFX: THOOM!

Panel 6: The villainous military commander watches in shock as the wall continues to fall apart.

TEXT: And then suddenly the force of evil stops feeling quite so powerful.

(END PAGE)

A Sudden Change in Outlook - Title Fight - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Establishing shot of a big, top-card boxing match.  We're talking huge arena, large crowd, flashbulbs going off - all that jazz.  Two boxers, one in red trunks and one in blue, stand facing each other in the ring.  We're far out, but it's still clear that Blue is a much bigger fighter.

CAPTION (RED): Everyone knew it was going to be a bloodbath.

2 - The fighters are touching gloves, but we're focused on Red.  As before, he's noticeably smaller and he looks pretty miserable.

CAPTION (RED): Even me.

3 - We're into the fight.  Blue takes a big haymaker swing; Red barely manages to get out of the way.

CAPTION (RED): But when the fight started.

4 - Blue takes another massive swing.  Red dodges again, manging to evade with more grace this time around.

CAPTION (RED): I couldn't help wondering.

5 - Red lunges forward and lands a punch right in Blue's face.

NO COPY

6 - On Blue, his nose bleeding.  Going cross-eyed to look at it, he looks somewhat ridiculous.  But he also look furious.

NO COPY

7 - On Red.  He wears a look of determination on his face, his gloves up to protect himself / attack again.  I imagine this panel long and thin, crossing the bottom of the page - a cinematic pose.

CAPTION (RED): What if?

Why A Sudden Change in Outlook? - Nicholas O'Gorman

Greetings everyone,

So my choice for the week was prompted by an experience I had a couple of weeks ago. When raking my brain searching for the topic, it continually popped up as a possibility, and one that, given the general internal nature of the topic, would be an interesting exercise in storytelling.

I have been known to be unabashedly opinionated on a great many things; many may describe this as a detriment. Others may call me passionate. Either way, a lot of the opinions I hold have been cemented and I view them as fairly monolithic and unchanging. Not merely inflexible in the sense that I am stuck in my ways, but unchanging as they had been exhaustively prodded, picked at and tempered through research, discussion and reflection.

A couple of months ago, one of the monoliths plummeted to earth, and shattered. It was so sudden I couldn’t tell you where the disaster started, if there were cracks on the outside or a weakness at its base: I can only say that in one instant the monolith was standing among dozens of it’s brethren, and the next, it was not. At either side of this phenomena, I remain physically unchanged, but the difference between the me post and prior to the temporal instant may as well be different people, or species. I had had a sudden change in outlook.
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