Adam Levin - The Instructions

I would like you to know, Mr. Maccabee, that I’m honored to have been given this project, and I hope you’ll accept my apology for the tone of our last conversation: I really do understand the importance of keeping the narrative linear and not using the kinds of splicing techniques which you referred to as “Goebbelsian.” It’s just that the technology at my disposal is so much fun to play with, and I guess sometimes I get carried away. In any case, as you’ll see in this draft, I’ve not overlayed any sound onto any imagery that wasn’t occurring simultaneously with that sound (in fact, I’ve avoided all sound-overlays as much as possible, only using them on audience reaction-shots whose accompanying soundtracks don’t, in their original form, pick up the the event or speaker the audience is reacting to), and every moment from the start of the VS til the end is arranged in completely forward-moving temporal order.

Please contact me with any questions, knowing I will do my absolute best to meet your editing needs, whatever they may be.

Sincerely,

Sid Feldman

PS Just to be clear, Mr. Maccabee: I’m sending you this copy of the transcript because you seem to be someone who wants to be aware of as many of his options as possible — a noble desire, to be sure. If you find the code we use confusing, though, or just don’t want to bother reading the transcript, that’s more than fine; please feel free to just watch the VS, and if you have a problem with any of the footage, just please go ahead and feel free to call me up or email, and I’LL check the transcript and let you know what other shots are available. I am at your service.

A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE NOTATION USED

IN THE ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPT

The appearance of a timestamp-line indicates that the corresponding footage on the Video-Sync comes from a different camera than the one that was being used the last time a timestamp-line appeared.

After every timestamp on the timestamp-line, one of the 9 camera codes (listed below) appears: this first camera code corresponds to the camera that shot the footage currently in use in the VS. Following the first code, in parentheses, is a list of other camera codes corresponding to cameras that were shooting different footage simultaneous to that currently in use in the VS. The nature of that footage is indicated by the typeface in which the camera code appears (the meanings to which each of the typefaces correspond are listed below).

CAMERA CODEKEY

C1: ABC LOCAL NEWS CAMERA

C2: NBC LOCAL NEWS CAMERA

C3: CBS LOCAL NEWS CAMERA

C4: FOX LOCAL NEWS CAMERA

C5: BOYSTAR INC. CAMERA A

C6: BOYSTAR INC. CAMERA B

C7: BOYSTAR INC. CAMERA C

C8: BOYSTAR INC. CAMERA D

C9: BOYSTAR INC. CAMERA E

TYPEFACE CODEKEY

1. PLAINFACED: SAME SUBJECT AS PRIMARY CAMERA, DIFFERENT ANGLE

2. ITALICIZED: DIFFERENT SUBJECT THAN PRIMARY CAMERA, NONVIOLENT TYPE

3. BOLDFACED: DIFFERENT SUBJECT THAN PRIMARY CAMERA, VIOLENT TYPE

10:01 AM: C1 (C4; C3; C6 ; C9)

PRINCIPAL LEONARD BRODSKY

(SPEAKING INTO HALFCOURT MICROPHONE)

Welcome. Welcome students and teachers, welcome members of The Boystar Incorporated and New Thing Records, welcome news crews.

10:01 AM: C3 ( C1; C4; C6; C9 )

BLEACHERS

(STUDENTS AND TEACHERS APPLAUDING)

10:01 AM: C6 ( C1; C4; C3; C9 )

SPECIAL GALLERY (PANNING)

(MEMBERS OF THE BOYSTAR INCORPORATED AND NEWTHING RECORDS APPLAUDING)

FOX CAMERAMAN, CBS CAMERAMAN

(LOOKING INTO THEIR CAMERAS)

10:02 AM: C1 (C4; C3; C6; C9)

PRINCIPAL LEONARD BRODSKY

(SPEAKING INTO HALFCOURT MICROPHONE)

We have quite an exciting pep rally to get through, but before I introduce the first part of the program, I’d like to talk for just a minute about some of the difficulties our school has been facing in the last few days. Graffiti on our walls, our lockers, our floors. The destruction of our brand new scoreboard. An increase in disruptive classroom behavior. An increase in fistfights. You’re all well aware of these difficulties, and most of you are aware that these aren’t normal difficulties; that these difficulties are new to Aptakisic. What many of you might not be aware of, however, is that these difficulties are being caused by very few students. Most of you spend your time in class peacefully and quietly. You spend your Lunch-Recess and class-interims being friendly and having fun. Most of you are wonderful students, and I want to emphasize that. I want to emphasize that because, with all these new difficulties cropping up around you, my worry is that you’ll start to think of yourselves as the abnormal ones. I worry that if you start to think of yourselves as the abnormal ones, then you’ll start causing difficulties, in which case I will have to punish you — with detentions, suspensions, maybe even expulsions… I don’t want to have to do that. I don’t like to punish. Nor do I believe that most of you want to cause difficulties. I believe that most of you realize how difficulties hurt our community, that when someone acts up in class, the teacher is made less able to teach, and the students are then less able to learn. That a broken scoreboard will detract from the fun of home games. That graffiti on the walls makes us feel unprotected, like we go to a lawless school. That fistfights not only hurt those directly involved, but the rest of us — they make us fearful, and fear makes it harder for us to learn, harder for us to trust each other, harder for us to form new friendships. I believe most of you care about your friends, your fellow students, your teachers, and I hope that this pep rally, this coming together to support our team and our school, will give you a greater sense of being a part of something larger than yourselves. A part of something larger than yourselves that cares about you. You are a part of the Aptakisic community, and the Aptakisic community appreciates it. I appreciate it. And it is in the spirit of healing and community and appreciation that I have hired crews to come in next week and clear the school of all graffiti, and it is in that same spirit that, by the end of the month, we will have a camera system up and running throughout the school. Our school will feel safer. Our school will be safer. But I want us to feel safe before all of that happens, despite the graffiti, and without the benefit of security cameras taping everything we do at all times. I want us to feel like a community of people who look out for one another. I want us to feel like that right now. And that is why I have decided to grant amnesty for all offenses committed up until this very moment. That means that everyone gets a clean slate, and no one will be stepped for offenses they have not yet been stepped for. I trust that this will greatly reduce the number of offenses that would otherwise be committed from this moment forward. I trust that in the future you will look out for one another and your school. And I thank you for that. We all thank you. Now, without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce… Mr. Mussel and The Aptakisic Braves Brass Band!

10:05 AM: C6 ( C4 ; C3; C1 ; C9)

BAND LEADER MARVIN MUSSEL

(RISES FROM BAND SECTION OF BLEACHERS, TURNS TO FACE THE APTAKISIC BRAVES BRASS BAND)

Braves!

THE APTAKISIC BRAVES BRASS BAND

(STANDS)

BAND LEADER MARVIN MUSSEL

Let’s roll!

THE APTAKISIC BRAVES BRASS BAND

(STRIKES UP APTAKISIC FIGHT SONG)