THE SHADOW PIPER [ANIMATION] (FIRST DRAFT)

Written by Casey Chelchinskey And Paul Domanski

QUOTE: Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. ~Albert Einstein FADE IN: EXT. MISTY HILLTOP - MORNING A silhouetted Piper sits alone beneath a wispy, weatherbeaten tree atop a stark hill. The sky is a pale haze of grey but the Piper's TUNE is a merry one. It carries resoundingly over the windswept moors, all the way to a STATELY MANOR in the distance. FADE TO: EXT. STATELY MANOR - MORNING We look upon a newlywed couple, EDMOND and VICTORIA HARRINGTON, as they stand hand-in-hand before their new home. It towers above them almost dauntingly, the finely wrought details of its faade giving it an air of wealth and grandeur. FADE TO: INT. MANOR WORKSHOP - AFTERNOON The manors workshop is a sprawling room with large, frosted glass windows and numerous TICKING clocks lining the walls. Edmond sits at a small desk in the centre of the room, carefully adjusting the cogs of his newest timepiece. His wife stands in front of him, watching him work admiringly. She leans forward and kisses him before leaving. Through the large windows and over the moor we see the outline of the Piper and hear his gentle TUNE whispering on the wind. FADE TO:

2.

INT. MANOR BALLROOM - EVENING The large bay-window of the ballroom is sidled by flowing red and silver drapery that perfectly compliments the crystalline chandelier sparkling overhead. Victoria and Edmond waltz to the melody of the Pipers NOCTURNE. He retrieves something from his jacket pocket and presents it to Victoria. His gift is a small HEART-SHAPED CLOCK that pulsates with a red glow. FADE TO: INT. NURSERY - SUMMER DAY A luminescent mobile adorned with little glass clocks spins above a simple wooden cot to the delight of the baby inside. Victoria and Edmond stand before the cot, laughing joyously with their newly-born child. The faint cadence of the Piper's tune fades to silence. FADE TO: INT. NURSERY - WINTER EVENING Through the window of the nursery we see snowflakes falling gently on the stark moor. The Piper is still atop his hill but his song is one of melancholy now. Victoria and Edmond stand with a DOCTOR in front of the cot as the baby inside coughs meekly. The doctor speaks in hushed tones and picks up his bag before placing his hand on Edmonds shoulder and leaving the room. Edmonds head drops. FADE TO:

3.

INT. MANOR WORKSHOP - NIGHT The Pipers tune seems louder now; its sombre melody like a deep, strained sigh. The desperate COUGHING of the baby echoes in from next-door. Head bowed, Edmond works on his clocks without a hint of his former vigor and energy. TRACK RIGHT TO: INT. NURSERY - NIGHT Victoria is sewing some BOOTIES for the baby whose coughs suddenly STOP. She stands up and rushes over to the cot, dropping the halffinished booties to the ground. FADE TO: EXT. GRAVE ON THE MOORS - DUSK The Piper's melancholic refrain echoes down from the hill as Edmond and Victoria bury their child. The small white cross marking their childs grave stands alone in the short-grass against a backdrop of stormy black clouds. FADE TO: INT. BALLROOM - NIGHT The HEART-SHAPED CLOCK glows weakly from its position atop the piano. The drapery and chandelier have lost their former sparkle. Rain THRASHES against the window-panes. Edmond and Victoria quarrel ferociously where once they danced. Victoria storms over to the piano, plucks up the clock and hurls it with force at Edmond as the Pipers cacophony comes to a frenetic crescendo. It narrowly misses him and crashes to the floor where its pulsating red glow fades to nothing. FADE TO:

4.

INT. MANOR WORKSHOP - NIGHT The Pipers distant silhouette can be seen on the hill through the window, his cold and monotonous DIRGE hanging thick in the air. Edmond walks from clock to clock, bringing their TICKING gears to a halt. TRACK RIGHT TO: INT. NURSERY - NIGHT Victoria numbly completes the booties for a child who no longer breathes.

FADE TO: INT. ENTRANCE HALL - MORNING The entrance hall is vast with symmetrical staircases winding up to the second floor and a large glass door leading out onto the moors between them. Victoria stands at the door, bags at her feet. She lowers her head sadly and leaves as Edmond watches numbly from the bottom of the left staircase. He turns and walks up the stairs as the Pipers monody trickles down from the hill. FADE TO: INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Cold silence hangs in the air of Edmonds bedroom. As he sits up in bed, weeping anguished tears, the sound of TAPPING against the window grabs his attention. He stands up and begins to walk towards the window when it BLOWS open suddenly as if forced by a powerful gust of wind. Instead of wind however, a swarm of musical notes carrying a frenetic lament gush through the window and descend upon Edmond. The musical notes engulf the screen, filling it black. Edmond runs desperately through the mass of musical notes.

5.

A white door appears in the black space ahead of him and he leaps inside and SLAMS it just in time. CUT TO: INT. WORKSHOP - NIGHT The musical notes are nowhere to be seen as Edmond stands in his workshop with his hands pressed against the door. Convinced that the notes have gone, he turns and walks up to the window, looking out towards the Piper. FADE TO: EXT. THE MOORS - NIGHT Night falls and with it comes a brutal storm carrying rain that SLASHES the sky and lightning that CRACKS it. Edmond runs towards the hill, a hooded raincoat sheltering him and a red-glowing lantern lighting his path. The pipers requiem rises and falls tempestuously, the notes accompanying it breathing down Edmonds neck. Edmond struggles up the hill, rain thrashing at his face and rough shrubbery scratching his legs. Eventually, he summits and makes a dash for the Piper who VANISHES instantly in a cloud of fog, leaving his pipe hovering in mid-air. It drops into Edmonds outstretched hands and he glances around in confusion before collapsing in exhaustion. FADE TO WHITE: EXT. THE MOORS - MORNING Dawn breaks white to a sky like snow. Edmond lies where he fell on the hilltop. He stirs, slowly getting up, still holding the pipe. He examines it, looks around and begins the long walk home. FADE TO:

6.

INT. MANOR WORKSHOP - AFTERNOON From black comes the faint TICKING of a clock. Edmond sits in his workshop, the flute to his lips, playing his own JOYFUL TUNE. The clocks, alive now, TICK like metronomes in time with Edmonds music. The Piper appears briefly on the hill before fading away once and for all. FADE TO BLACK.