The Art of Survival is a story about a young chameleon who just can't get the hang of camouflage.
The Cast:
| Shot | Camera | Description | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wide | Jungle - Establishing shot. Chameleon Teacher/Students are visible, sitting on two skinny branches. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 2 | cu teacher | Teacher pulls down a screen showing a picture of brown chameleon on green background, follows an arrow to a green chameleon on a green background. Teacher snaps the screen back up and changes to a green color to match the leafy background. Teacher changes back and points at Albert. | 7.25 sec 100-273 |
| 3 | cu albert (panning) |
Albert changes (with ease) and changes back. Pan to Maurice, who changes (with ease) and changes back. Pan to Leon, who isn't really paying attention. Leon struggles/squints/strains and (silly SFX) changes to a bright purple, then pants with exhaustion. | 12 sec 100-387 |
| 4 | cu teacher | Cut to Teacher. Teacher shakes head in disappointment. Teacher pulls down another screen with a diagram of "purple chameleon death" (picture of purple chameleon, and purple chameleon being attacked by a bird of prey). Suddenly, a bird shriek is heard, and a shadow passes over the scene. The teacher looks up in shock, but then deftly blends into the background. | 9.5 sec 100-327 |
| 5 | cu albert & maurice | Cut to Albert and Maurice, who quickly camouflage themselves. | 2 sec 100-148 |
| 6 | cu leon | Cut to Leon. Leon is freaked! He squints and strains, and (silly SFX) turns bright yellow. Leon sees himself, panics, frantically looks for escape, and dashes off screen right. | 5.5 sec 100-231 |
| 7 | tracking | Camera follows Leon to the right as he runs down the branch while looking over his shoulder frantically. The branch droops downward dramatically, and suddenly Leon comes to the end of the branch. | 4 sec 91-186 |
| 8 | cu leon | Cut to Leon hanging precariously from end of branch, holding on with his hind legs. Leon hears a noise from below (SFX: School bus/Kids) and looks down to see what it is. | 3 sec 100-171 |
| 9 | pov leon | Cut to Leon's point of view. Close up of Leon's hand parting leaves to reveal a bright yellow school bus below. (SFX: Schoolteacher: "C'mon kids, field trip's over! Everybody back on the bus!") Leon holds out his other hand and we see that it's the same color as the bus. | 3 sec 100-171 |
| 10 | cu leon | Cut back to Leon, looking at his hands. The bird shrieks! Leon looks back up, looks back down at the bus, winds up, and leaps off screen. The branch springs back. | 3 sec 100-171 |
| 11 | cu top of bus | Cut to close up top of bus from side (roughly 1/3 of screen is bus). Leon lands on bus from off screen (SFX: Wumph!). Just as Leon is about to recover, the bus begins to shake (SFX: Engine/Hydraulics). The bus pulls away, and Leon has to hold on for dear life as he is dragged offscreen right. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 12 | wide, road | Cut to rear of bus driving into the distance. Fade out. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 13 | wide, city | Bustling metropolis - Establishing shot. Fade in. We can see the bus coming up the street to an intersection. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 14 | cu top of bus | Cut to close up of Leon on top of bus (same as shot 11). Bus comes to a stop at a light (engine is still idling, there is a slight shaking of the bus). Leon is still very much in a panic (SFX: Loud city noises - cars honking, whistles, crying, screaming, etc...). Somewhat relieved that the bus has stopped moving, Leon looks down toward the sidewalk, sees his chance, and leaps off the roof of the bus and out of frame lower right. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 15 | cu sidewalk | Cut to the sidewalk. Leon lands on sidewalk from out of frame (SFX: Oomph!) facing the camera, and attempts to get his bearings. A large shadow slowly covers the shot from bottom-up (Dreadful music). Leon looks up in fear (Freaky Hitchcock camera effect and dramatic music). | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 16 | pov leon, fisheye | Cut to Leon's point of view. Large figure (Beatnik) in silhouette (very distorted,low angle). Hand moves towards camera (light adjusts/focus shifts to hand) getting larger as it moves closer. | 4 sec 0-95 |
| 17 | cu sidewalk | Cut back to Leon (same as shot 15). We see the hand grab Leon and pick him up. Fade (or wipe) to black. | 3 sec 100-171 |
| 18 | wide table | Wide shot of table. There are sinister looking tools scattered everywhere. Beatnik's hand plunks Leon onto tabletop, and we hear the Beatnik's footsteps as he walks away for a moment. Leon looks around him frantically, and sees something terrifying. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 18b | ecu knife | Light glints off of a nasty-looking knife. | 2 sec 100-147 |
| 18c | cu Leon | As we hear the Beatnik walking back towards us, Leon makes one last desperate attempt to disguise himself, strains/squints, and turns paisley! | 3 sec 100-171 |
| 19 | cu beatnik (pov leon) |
Cut to clear shot of Beatnik, who reacts to Leon's performance (Eyebrows raise, cigarette falls out of mouth). Beatnik, inspired, starts framing with his hands, pulls out a paintbrush and palette and begins to paint. | 7 sec 0-167 |
| 20 | wide | Art Studio - Establishing shot. We see that we're in an art studio. Beatnik is painting on easel. Fade out. | 4 sec 100-195 |
| 21 | cu paintings (panning) |
Fade in. We see a painting of Leon grossly mismatched with his background. There is the faint sound of people (a party) and flashbulbs. We move towards the noise and ultimately the Beatnik, who is smiling and waving to the cameras. We continue to move to Leon, who is perched comfortably on the Beatnik's shoulder, smiling and posing ridiculously (making muscles/changing patterns). BIG smile on Leon. | 12 sec |
| 22 | magazine | Flash to still of Leon on Beatnik's shoulder. Pull back to reveal that photo is on the cover of some big deal art magazine, and Leon is "Artist of the Year". Roll credits. | 3 sec |
| TOTAL | 1:56 | ||