FMF episode IV – submissions closed

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Paolo Rotondo

Our guest for episode IV is writer, director and actor Paolo Rotondo (Orphans & Kingdoms).

Episode IV – script scene

Please read the following scene and the brief provided by Paolo Rotondo:

INT. FARM. CASSINO. ITALY 1944. DAWN

The dim half-light of dawn seeps through cracks in an ancient stable door. A proud ROOSTER prances in the dust at the threshold.

A noise suddenly startles the ROOSTER. He crows nervously, flaps his wings and scampers into the safety of the shadows.

Two enormous army boots come to a halt at the stable doors. They old wood creeks as the doors open, revealing: ANARU (an enormous Maori soldier). His blood-shot eyes fixed on the ROOSTER. His uniform is bloodstained and filthy from battle. He carries a rifle slung over his back, the 28th MAORI BATTALION EMBLEM on his right shoulder.

ANARU carefully props his rifle against the stable door. The ROOSTER clucks betraying his hiding place.

Unaware to ANARU in one of the stalls a stack of hay shifts. SALVATORE (a disheveled civilian) is also watching the ROOSTER. He raises his eyes to the heavens crossing himself with gratitude. Both men unaware of each other as their eyes follow the ROOSTER’S movements.

ANARU lunges at the ROOSTER.

The bird easily avoids capture scampering away.

ANARU lands hard in the dirt.

Clucking mockingly the ROOSTER bolts out through the stable doors.

Terrified, SALVATORE glares at the large intruder.

Before ANARU can raise his exhausted body from the ground SALVATORE seizes the opportunity. He vaults out of the haystack with his RIFLE aimed squarely at ANARU’S head.

ANARU looks up, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a rifle.

SALVATORE
Mani in alto! Prigionero!
Hands up! You are my prisoner!

ANARU scans the man in civilian clothes standing over him.

ANARU
Par-ti-giano?
Partisan?

SALVATORE shakes his head.

SALVATORE
No! Non sono un Partigiano!
No! I’m not a Partisan!

ANARU
Fascist?!

SALVATORE spits into the dirt.

SALVATORE
No, non sono Fascista!…ero fascista… ma adesso, no!
No, I’m not a Fascist!…I was a Fascist…but not now!

Confused ANARU shakes his head.

ANARU
Kei tehea taha koe?
Whose side are you on?!

SALVATORE
Che cosa?
What?

ANARU
He aha?
What?

Frustrated.

SALVATORE
Non ho capito!
I don’t understand.

ANARU
Kaore au i mohio!
I don’t understand!

SALVATORE
Che cosa??
What??

ANARU
Kei tehea taha koe e whawhai ana?!
Whose side are you fighting on?!

Frustration grows on SALVATORE’s face. He barks angrily at ANARU.

SALVATORE
Ma che cazzo stai dicendo!
What the fuck are you saying!

The tone of the entire film is set in this simple scene.

A balance between true suspense with jeopardy and an ironic comedic absurdity can be established here by the music.

The scene and its action will be played with all the seriousness, sense of danger and peril as an action film, yet it should be the music that hints at the comic absurdity of the situation.

The rooster, the enormous Maori warrior and the Italian deserter could each have a sense of their own theme.

The period of the film is 1944, obviously a WW2 film, however the traditional musical tropes from this period are not appealing to me.

I am looking for something that approaches the grandioseness of a Spaghetti Western. Where humour absurdity and violence are intermingled.

Please try and break up the scene into the different sections to create up suspense and build toward the attack.

We can imagine this as the very first scene of a film where the Film’s main theme Music begins to play immediately after this initial scene ends.

Duration: MAX 2 minutes.

A few recommendations

We kindly ask you to submit music you specifically create for this episode. Anything that we deem to be out of context will not be considered.

The submission form also serves as a legally binding license assignment document. Therefore we kindly ask to only submit music you own in its entirety. However we only ask for a non-exclusive license, meaning you will still be able to use the music on other projects.

The file format must be MP3 and the file-size must be under 5MB. In case you come up with a larger file-size please re-compress it using a lower bitrate.

Deadline

Please submit your track by Friday July 26 at 11:59PM (BST).

Submit your music here

Please use the form below to submit your music:

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Good luck

We will only play a few submissions during the show and we will assess tracks in the order they are submitted. Thus we advice submitting your track as soon as possible. Good luck!