Panel One.
Extreme close-up on Matty’s finger, hovering over the shutter release button on his camera. His hand is shaking. He’s scared to press that button.
Voice (O/P): You come here looking for a picture, boy?
Panel Two.
Another close-up, though not as extreme. This time it's Arturo Knowles (new character), the leader of a prominent gang in the DMZ. We can see more of his face than we saw of Matty in the last panel. A gold tooth showing where his lips crack into a grin. A thinly trimmed moustache just below his nose. His smiling eyes, sliced in two by the top border of the panel. He's in his late 20s, but that makes him an old man in his business.
Arturo: A pretty picture to make you famous?
Panel Three.
Pull out from panel one to reveal more of Matty’s face, with the camera held up to his eye so he can focus on the picture he’s about to take. His hand is still shaking. Beads of sweat on his forehead.
Arturo (O/P): I'll give you a picture.
Panel Four.
Pull out from panel two to show more of Arturo. Head and shoulders. He’s grinning. His right arm is up, held towards us, though his hand reaches out of the panel.
Arturo: Come on, boy...
Panel Five.
Full shot now, across the bottom of the page. On a flat rooftop in the DMZ – the damaged New York Skyline is our backdrop – Matty stands to one side of the panel, camera held up, frozen, unable to take his photo. On the other side, Arturo holds a gun on him. Arturo is wearing gang colours and holding his gun sideways on. He’s grinning, taunting, dangerous.
Arturo: Shoot.
Damn, this has possibly been the best week of thoughtballoons ever. It has been a blast reading each and every one of these scripts.
ReplyDeleteI just really wish I knew who Arturo was, why Matty is there, and why this warped Mexican stand off is happening - but without that knowledge, I know you chose the most beautiful page to play.
Good page that builds tension quite nicely to a great last panel/caption.
ReplyDeleteThis HAS been a good week.