Film Script Task

I am going to annotate the movie script of the 2002 film “The Bourne Identity”. The film is based on a novel by Robert Ludlum which was released in February 1980. The Bourne Identity is part of a spy thriller trilogy and it is about a retrograde amnesiac man who must discover who he is before he is killed by other assassins and the CIA.

Bourne Identity (2002) movie script

by Tony Gilroy.
Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum.     1
Paris Draft, 9/20/00.

DARKNESS.  THE SOUND OF WIND AND SPRAY. 2

MUSIC.  TITLES.  3

EXT. OCEAN -- NIGHT  4

The darkness is actually water.  A SEARCHLIGHT arcs across 5

heavy ocean swells.  Half-a-dozen flashlights -- weaker

beams -- racing along what we can see is the deck of an

aging FISHING TRAWLER.

FISHERMEN struggling with a gaff -- something in the water -- 6

A HUMAN CORPSE.  7

EXT. FISHING BOAT DECK -- NIGHT   8

THE BODY sprawled there.  The Sailors all talking at once --  9

three languages going -- brave chatter to mask the presence

of death --

                    SAILOR #1

       -- Jesus, look at him --

                    SAILOR #2

       -- what? -- you never saw a dead

       man before? --

                    SAILOR #3

       -- look, look he was shot --

              (nudging the body--)

                    SAILOR #1

       -- don't, don't do that --

                    SAILOR #2

       -- he's dead, you think he cares? --

                    SAILOR #1

       -- so have some respect -- it's a --

              (stopping as--)                     10

THE BODY MOVES! -- convulsing -- coughing up sea water --

the Sailors -- freaked -- jumping back -- standing there, as --

THE MAN begins to breathe.

1.       The first that the script shows is who it is written by, where the movie is based on and what draft is it. Paris draft could be that it was written in France and that there is more than one draft of the whole movie.

2.       The first line gives this script immediately tells that the film starts in darkness giving it a very creepy feeling. The writer that adds wind and spray, not giving away anything about where the action starts.

3.        “Music Titles” added so that it can be shown that music is needed to be added in the editing since the beginning of the script starts off dark, the music would properly have to be dark and spooky.

4.       This is where the location is known, outside and at sea. It also explains the darkness since the writer puts down that is it night. All of a sudden the beginning is giving a dangerous vibe since sailing in the sea at night can be very unpredictable. It mostly likely that the director would be doing very long shots of overlooking the scene and making it real.

5.       Here is explaining more in detail about the slugline and where the scene is heading. It’s confusing about the writer writing SEARCHLIGHT being in capital letters since it isn’t a character’s name nor is it a character at all. It’s a lighthouse giving off light to all sailors and it’s the same thing with FISHMAN TRAWLER but the writer added “aging” so it’s known how old does the boat need to be when filming. The term of “heavy ocean swells” definitely shows that the sea is rough.

6.       Finally in the script characters reveal themselves but not in name as the writer put FISHERMEN to say that there are more than one of them. There are no names to any of the fisherman because they play their part and then for the rest of the script, they are no longer needed so from that they are just extras. You see them but you only notice more of the main character even though the script doesn’t say who it is yet.

7.       This line is a heart-stopper because you don’t how and why it’s suddenly there’s a human body in the ocean and the script hides the reaction of the fisherman that suddenly have to deal with a dead man on their boat.

8.       The scene changes so that we are on the boat instead of overlooking it from afar giving the options of using all sorts of camera angles – from close up – to med-long shot but whatever the camera angles they come up with the slugline shows that it is still night time.

9.       The description shows both the human corpse and the sailors, the agitation and concern, each sailor with different views about what to do with the dead.

10.   The dialogue of a conversation cuts shorts immediately and finally there is reaction of the sailors when suddenly the dead body begins to move and in the last line reveal the body is a man.