Working title: A Promise to return.
Present day 11th November
Scene 1
Open with old man on a railway platform. He looks small and frail but wise, against the big train and dark station.
He places his suitcase and sits. The tag on the suitcase shows the name R.Newman
He sits and smiles as he remembers a happy time in his life, a similar journey he took many years ago when he was a much younger man.
Scene 2
The old man smiles, the camera moves towards his eyes, really close.
As he blinks - we transition back into the past, the year is 1939
(shot in black and white, older style train).
The man is in his early 20’s. He is talking with a beautiful young woman, Marie, who is the love of his life. They are on the train and he is leaving for the war. The conversation is about love and their future. She makes him promise that he will return, and explains that she is pregnant.
Scene 3
We now cut back to now. (Overlap sound of present day with the old conversation)
A man is now seated, engrossed a book and a woman enters the carriage. She is sad and upset. There has been a death in the family. She arranges her belongings on the table and sits quietly. Amongst her possessions are an invitation and some old letters.
The old man watches her, she looks like/reminds him of his Marie, and he can see she is upset. As the old man gets up to leave, he pauses, smiles and then kisses her hand. As he leaves the carriage he gently knocks the woman’s book on the floor.
The man seated opposite hears the book fall on the floor. They both bend to pick up the book and that’s the first time he sees her. The woman says thanks, asks if he saw that and the man says he was too involved with his book to notice. The couple have books with the same author. This is enough to get them talking, it’s a start of a new relationship.
Scene 4
The train pulls in for the station. We see the old man with suitcase in hand, exit the train, into the arms of his Marie. As they embrace we see the old couple fade back to their younger selves and slowly fade away.
As the camera turns we see the young couple from the train, walking towards the newly built war memorial for Remembrance Day, near the bottom of the list is the woman’s grandfather’s name R.Newman who died in war 1944
Dedication:
Dedicated to the ones we love.
Soundtrack
Marie by Randy Newman
Visual clues
Old man and young man & woman are wearing poppies. He’s also has an invitation.
In woman’s possessions visible on the table is invitation to unveiling of the new memorial, she misses the ceremony due to attending her grandmothers funeral.
She also has the letters her grandfather sent whilst away in the war. The reference to rivers, rainbow and flowers is from the ‘Marie’ song
Have a purse/ID just visible with surname Newman visible if you look closely.
Modeling notes
The war memorial will be modeled from one that is in my village.
Use same base model of girl for the females in the story, modified but close enough to see resemblance (as actors in film, Bicentennial man)
Premise: Love is a force that lingers, can be transferred. The old man passes on the love for his grandaughter
The old man died in the war and is making the journey he promised to be with his wife.
Influences:
Titanic, Amelie , before sunset/sunrise, sixth sense, Bicentennial man.
The Website could be redesigned old fashioned world war 2 poster styled . New logo mixture of 1940’s/1990’s train tickets.
