Screenplay Scenes: War Trauma, Dark Imagery & Found Diaries
This screenplay excerpt presents three distinct scenes united by tone and theme. The first, an "Aftermath Scene," constructs a montage of unsettling interior spaces — a toolshed, garage, basement, and farmhouse — through brief, imagistic shots that imply violence and obsession. The second scene, titled "Charles Bukowski Scene," follows a WWI veteran named Jack as he navigates a city in November 1919, incorporating verse from Bukowski's poetry to render his combat trauma and fragmented psychological state. The third scene returns to the toolshed, where a rare book dealer named Charles purchases a soldier's wartime diaries from a hoarder's nephew, framing the war narrative within a found-document conceit.
- Aftermath Scene: A Montage of Disturbing Spaces: Silent imagistic shots implying violence and obsession
- The Charles Bukowski Scene: Jack's War Flashbacks: WWI veteran Jack relives combat trauma in 1919
- Jack in the Park: Rain, Mud, and Momentary Peace: Rain and mud trigger trenches; brief moment of peace
- The Toolshed Dialogue: Discovering the Diaries: Rare book dealer buys soldier's wartime diary
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What makes this paper effective
- The screenplay integrates found poetry — specifically Bukowski's verse — directly into action and voiceover, demonstrating how literary source material can be embedded in a visual script format to externalize a character's interior state.
- The "Aftermath Scene" montage uses purely visual storytelling: no dialogue, no named characters, only objects and spaces that accumulate meaning through juxtaposition.
- The structural shift from silent tableau to dialogue-driven scene shows range in screenwriting technique, moving from pure image to character interaction within the same piece.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates intertextual integration — weaving an external poetic voice (Bukowski) into an original dramatic narrative. By assigning the verse as Jack's internal voiceover, the writer shows how pre-existing literary text can be repurposed to characterize a protagonist's psychology without expository dialogue. This technique is common in literary adaptation and intermediate screenwriting coursework.
Structure breakdown
The piece opens with a silent, imagistic montage (Aftermath Scene) that establishes atmosphere and implied violence. It then transitions to a time-stamped dramatic scene (November 1919) in which character, action, and poetry interweave across interior and exterior locations. The final scene — a two-person dialogue — provides narrative framing by introducing the diary as an artifact, connecting the soldier's story to the present-day characters who discover it.
Aftermath Scene: A Montage of Disturbing Spaces
INT. TOOLSHED — NIGHT
Eerie silence. A single light bulb swings from a rusty socket at the center of the room. The bulb both creates and distorts shadows on the grayed and weathered wooden walls.
INT. CAR GARAGE — NIGHT
A sling blade hangs from the wall with fresh blood on the blade. The grey wooden floor has been covered with a plastic drop cloth and is spattered with blood.
INT. BASEMENT — NIGHT
Against the opposing wall, large meat hooks dangle from the basement ceiling. The light bulb casts the hooks' shadow onto the wall.
INT. LIVING ROOM, FARMHOUSE — NIGHT
The news is ending with a story about a marriage proposal at a baseball game and quickly transitions to paid programming.
INT. FIRST BEDROOM — NIGHT
Next to the bed is a table with various fetish and pornographic magazines scattered on it, and there is a half-full glass of cherry Kool-Aid next to the magazines.
INT. SECOND BEDROOM — NIGHT
Right below the glass are countless water rings. At the top of the stack is a fetishist catalogue open to a page of dominator garb that the sleeping man has earmarked.
INT. FARMHOUSE — DAY
Some Polaroids are scattered on the dresser. A close-up reveals they are pictures of women's perfectly manicured toenails. In some of the pictures, it is obvious the woman was bound by thick rope.
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