I am now setting out on the adventure that is the Final Major Project, the last film I will make as a student! I have written up my idea in a story format as an exercise at uni which I found really helpful and a fun way to get the story out of my head and onto paper.
Beside the sea
A wide stretch
of yellow sand, speckled with grey pebbles clustered like sprinkles on a cake.
Empty but for the shrieking seagulls, crashing waves… and a small hut on giant
wheels with its door locked shut.
The sea laps at
the bottom of the neat steps that lead up to the locked door. Fresh sea breezes
nudge the little shack, but it stays put, silent and still as if it grew on
that very spot. Chalk white with handsome red stripes running down vertically,
as if strawberry ice cream is dripping from the roof, the hut brings a splash
of colour to the watery scene.
(Image from: http://www.farringtonsforge.co.uk/signs_bathing/index.htm)
With a click
that rings out like pebbles colliding under the force of the waves, the door is
unlocked and snaps open. A figure emerges from the gloom of the hut,
tentatively tackling the little steps one by one with her delicately slippered
feet. A stout woman draped in swathes of voluminous fabric that billows in the
breeze like sails on a boat. Atop her head is perched a large bonnet trimmed
with a blue bow and strapped firmly around her chin to save it from blowing out
to sea and to protect the expertly curled hair beneath. The face that peeks out
from the brim is pale, almost blending in with the frilly lace collar round her
neck. She sports a fine navy dress-coat that hugs her waist and flairs out in a
full skirt. Intricate white anchors are embroidered on her lapels and the hem,
so fine and dainty that mice could have stitched them. Her short legs are
hidden beneath capacious bloomers that taper in to her little ankles and best show
off her dainty blue slippers, now disappearing beneath the foamy water.
As Victoria bravely submerges herself into the sea, her
skirts balloon about her so that she momentarily resembles a buoy bobbing on
the waves. Her skirts sink down due to the weights sewn into the hem. Her sight
no longer obscured by her apparel, she can now see a gentleman reclining in a
deckchair right beside her bathing machine. Victoria is startled by his sudden
appearance for he certainly was nowhere to be seen but mere moments ago. The gentleman is suitably dressed in a
black and white striped bathing suit, although, Victoria thinks, rather too
much chest is peeking out and perhaps less leg on display would be preferable.
His face is mostly hidden behind a bushy black moustache and he possesses a
healthy mop of black hair on his head. He smiles and waves and continues to
soak up the rays of warm sunshine. Though surprised at this man’s appearance,
Victoria resumes her bathing, enjoying the cool water.
Another quick
glance in the gentleman’s direction and Victoria is shocked to see a small tent
has been erected a short way away behind her bathing machine and the deckchair.
Incredibly perplexed, she squints at the tent and sees that it is in fact a
Punch and Judy theatre with a small gathering of children at its base, gazing
up enraptured by the puppets. Still confused by the miraculous puppet theatre,
Victoria cannot help but smile at the cheerful show and the sweet children
sitting so nicely. Mr Punch is making the children laugh and the policeman
puppet appears.
(Image from: http://virtualvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/virtual-punch-and-judy-show.html)
Victoria is
suddenly thrown backwards in the water by something monstrous before her in the
shallows. In an eruption of salty droplets a figure emerges, all shiny black
material and flesh and water. It is a woman. Feeling faint with shock, Victoria
regards this woman with growing disgust. This woman is practically naked. An
obscene spectacle. Muscular and tall, this woman is wearing nothing but a tight
little black bathing suit, her arms and legs on display for all to see! The
gentleman on the deckchair has seen her too, but the expression upon his face
is quite different to that on Victoria’s. He seems to be torn between dismay
and wonder at the scantily clad figure before them. The puppet policeman is in
a frenzy. Right on cue, a real policeman races into view and right up to the
lady. Whipping out a measuring tape from his pocket he measures the distance
from the lady’s knee to the edge of her suit then furiously shakes his head.
She is dragged away and out of sight, much to Victoria’s relief.
Just as Victoria
begins to overcome her horror at the flesh that was exposed, three women – or
are they boys? – appear along the beach. Their hair is short and so are their
swimsuits! They are long and lean and elegantly prance in the sand as if they
had the beach to themselves. Victoria wades out of the sea so that she may
better observe the scene, for yet another woman has appeared. This woman has
had quite an effect on the gentleman in the deckchair: his mouth is hanging open
and he is leaning so far forward in his seat that there is a good chance he
will fall face-first into the sand. It is almost too much for Victoria to bear;
the new woman appears to have been poured into her clingy polka-dot bathing
suit with her voluptuous curves. Her hair at least is covered, but in a strange
tight cap, brightly coloured with large flowers flopping about as she struts
towards the sea.
(Image from: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/creative/retro-styled-stock-photos)
Victoria has to
lean upon the wheel of her bathing machine to support herself as she tries to
understand how her private beach has suddenly become filled with unwelcome,
underdressed strangers. The lady in the flowery cap is paddling and chatting to
one of the androgynous women not far away. One had wondered over to look at the
puppet show, whilst the other was admiring the bathing machine. Victoria scowls
under the brim of her bonnet.
Her thoughts are
interrupted by sudden laughter along the beach where a young family are playing
in the sand. A small boy and girl, dressed in noticeably brighter garments than
those around them, are having fun burying their giggling mother in the sand,
carving the golden grains into a beautiful mermaid’s tail. Only the mother’s
head and shoulders are left uncovered and she tosses her long hair about her,
pretending to swim for her children’s delight. Batting away the androgynous
woman now by her side marvelling at her full skirt and bloomers, Victoria
smiles at the family playing in the sand. The mother gets up out of her golden
mermaid’s tail, brushes herself clean of sand and reveals –
Victoria gasps
and falls backwards into the arms of the lady behind her. She had just seen…
the mermaid woman… the shock of it! The sand had brushed away to expose
brightly coloured, minute garments that only just covered the women’s essentials!
Her legs and midriff were completely out in
the open for the world to see! Woozy with shock and still being steadied by the
boyish woman, Victoria watches as the practically naked woman walks towards her. The man in the deckchair is
beside himself and does not know where to look as she approaches. One of her
children is paddling in the sea, one playing in the remains of the mermaid’s
tail. Everyone on the now rather busy beach is chatting and admiring each
other’s attire, comparing hairstyles and materials. The sound of chatter
mingles with the crashing of the sea and the squawking gulls and Victoria can
hardly bear it any longer.
In all the din,
another bathing machine has appeared on the beach. This hut seems to be without
wheels however. Victoria wonders how on earth it has arrived there without the
aid of wheels – it looks as though a giant hand has just popped it down from
the sky. More and more people are noticing it now. Curiously circling it,
trying to work out who might lurk inside, the people gather around the hut
excitedly. Just as Victoria begins to tire of looking at the strange hut, the
door swings open. The others on the beach lean in expectantly, trying to
glimpse the newcomer. A gentleman’s head emerges from behind the door (the man
in the deckchair looks disappointed) and he beams confidently at the assortment
of faces staring at him. In one large stride, he crosses the threshold, out of
the shadows into the bright sunlight. For a second there is stunned silence
whilst every eye roams the man’s broad grin, strange dark glasses, muscular
physique… and the alarmingly thin, bright green material stretched in a Y shape
from his shoulders to his…
In unison the
whole crowd gasps in horror. The beach swims in front of Victoria’s eyes.
Women, men and children swoon all around her as everything goes dark.
(Image from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19755686)