PAGE 1
Panel 1. Establishing shot of a city in ruins. Smoke, fire & destruction all over.
Caption box
“In a world ravaged by a sickness...”
Panel 2. interior. A nondescript corridor inside one of the buildings.
A few zombies in full-on rage mode. They are screaming at a group of survivors.
In the foreground we see silhouettes of the survivors with their backs to us.
Panel 3. Close-up shot of a zombie starting to run towards them.
Panel 4. Front-view of a vulnerable survivor frozen in fear.
Caption box
“...What's left of humanity struggles to survive.”
PAGE 2
Panel 1. Same shot/angle, but now a 'hero' character is in frame moving victim out of
the way. Probably while diving through the air. Almost.
Panel 2. They're both on the floor out of the way of the zombies. The zombies momentum took it past where they landed.
Victim
“Thanks, mister!”
Panel 3. Close-up of the hero's face. Cheesy hero-pose. (Maybe putting on sunglasses?)
Hero
“Hey! It's what I do.”
Panel 4. Hero pulls out twin pistols from his jacket.
Panel 5. From the hero's perspective, we see him aiming down the sights of his guns at the zombie.
Hero
“Let's see how you like the taste of lead!”
PAGE 3
Full-page artwork. Montage of the hero shooting various zombies with blood and body parts flying all over the place. (or maybe not a montage? Just a really cool shot/angle, overly dramatic and exaggeratively 'action-filmy').
Caption box (at bottom of page)
“Not actual in-game footage”
Page 4
Panel 1. Hero + survivors entering through a door into a safe room.
Panel 2. Hero is closing the door behind them.
Survivor
“Is it safe in here?”
Hero
“We should barricade this door”
Panel 3. In the middle of the room a survivor starts turning into a zombie.
Caption box
“Coming this holiday season...”
Panel 4. Another survivor standing up + pulling out a gun from nowhere.
Caption box
“..An all-new action packed game from GeorgeArts...”
Panel 5. The 2nd hero Points the gun at the zombie-turning survivor.
Hero 2
“Mitchell.. please forgive me”
Panel 6. Hero 2 shoots Mitchell in the face. Blood & brains go everywhere (out of the panel?)
Caption box
“...Featuring all-new game modes...”
PAGE 5
Panel 1. (Very large panel) 9-10 year-old boy sitting in front of a TV. The TV is the focus, with the advert still playing. . Around the TV and in the room it looks messy and dirty.
TV
“...Including co-op, rampage and survival!”
The images we see on the TV is now in-game footage, 1990s style side-scrolling 16-bit.
Panel 2. Close-up of the TV. The title of the video game appears. “Raising the dead 3!” “Rated 18, Contains graphic violence, mild nudity and drug references”.
Panel 3. The kid turns around. We see the parents wasted on the sofa. There's alcohol, and drug paraphernalia on the table in front of them.
Panel 4. Front-view of the child.
Boy
“Can I have this game for christmas? Please please please!?”
PAGE 6
Panel 1. A shot focusing on the parents on the sofa. They sort of look like tramps, living in squalor.
Father
“Yeah, if you behave.”
Panel 2. Boy turns back to the TV and smiles.
Panel 3. Much closer shot of Parents.
Mother
“You're so bad, promising him things like that”
Panel 4. Another view/angle of parents or just the father.
Father
“Fuck it, he's a little shit.”
Panel 5. Father taking a swig of alcohol.
PAGE 7
Panel 1. Just text against black.
Text
A FEW MONTHS LATER...
XMAS EVE
Panel 2. The boy is putting tinsel on the shittest tree ever in the living room.
Mother
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Panel 3.
Boy
“I'm putting the tree up.”
Mother
“What?”
Panel 4. Close-up of boy.
Boy
“You know it's christmas tomorrow, right?”
Panel 5. Shot of whole room.
Mother
“Don't take that tone with me you brat.”
Panel 6. Close-up of mother
Mother
“Go to your room.”
PAGE 8
Panel 1. Shot above the boy's bed looking down with him looking up (in the bed).
Boy (talking to self)
“Ahh please... I need that game!”
Text (in-between panels)
“The next morning..”
Panel 2. The boy is running down the stairs excitedly.
Panel 3. Boy kneeling in front of the christmas tree.
Panel 4. Front-view of the boy's face.
Boy
“I hate my life”
Panel 5. The boy is angrily throwing the tree over on the floor.
PAGE 9
Panel 1. Boy exiting the house through the front door.
Panel 2. Boy is now outside in the cold British winter weather in his Pjs. There's snow on the ground in some places. He's angrily kicking bins over in a rage.
Boy
“Fucking fuck!”
Panel 3. A view of two adults inside their home looking out the window at the boy. The view is inside the room behind the adults looking out. These are the parents of 'girl'.
Girls Mother
“Look at him. Such a trouble-maker”.
Panel 4. The girl (same age as the boy) is sitting in front of the TV playing the very game that he wanted. Parents are walking away from the window behind the girl and towards the next room.
Panel 5. Close up of the girl looking away from the TV with a slightly sad look on her face. (she's looking towards the window)
Panel 6. Close-up of the window from the angle of the girl's POV.
Panel 7. Parents are in the kitchen.
Girls Mother
“Right, we should probably start preparing..”
Sound Effect (from outside the room)
“(Door slam sound effect)”
Panel 8. Parents reacting and looking around.
Girls Father
“Where is she going?”
PAGE 10
Panel 1. Shot of Boy outside sitting on the curb holding his head in his hands looking down.
Girl (out of shot)
“Happy Christmas!”
Panel 2. Boy looking up.
Boy
“Oh... hi.”
Panel 3. Shot from slightly further away so we can now see the girl standing next to him.
Boy
“I hate Christmas.”
Panel 4. Close-up of girl.
Girl
“Even if I gave you a present?”
Panel 5. The parents of the girl are back at the window looking out.
Girls Father
“I hope she isn't doing what I think she's doing..”
Panel 6. The girl has given the boy her copy of the zombie video game.
Boy
“What! Are you serious!?”
Panel 7.
Girl
“Shall we play it together round mine?”
PAGE 11
Panel 1. They're sitting together on the sofa with controllers in their hands. It's a large wide panel and we can see the parents in the next room through the door.
Boy
“Watch out, your health's getting low!”
Girls Mother (In background)
“I really don't want that kid here”
Panel 2. Closer shot of parents.
Girls Father
“He doesn't seem that bad. We should let them play for a while..”
Panel 3. Opposite angle of parents with children in view through the door.
Girls Father
“...It is Christmas.”
Panel 4. Front-view shot of children on the sofa playing the game. They have smiles on their faces.
PAGE 12
Panel 1. Same angle as previous shot with many similarities except it's in a different room and the children are now adults. They're in the same position with modern controllers in their hands.
Caption
“17 years later...”
Panel 2. Close-up shot of the TV. The game they're playing is called 'Left 2 Die'. It's at character select screen (on split-screen for each player). 1 side has a female character selected. The other has none.
Panel 3. Close-up of Male.
Male
“Hey, you always get to be that character!”
PAGE 13
Panel 1. Close-up of Female.
Female
“What, the girl?”
Male (out of shot)
“Yeah.”
Panel 2. Shot of both of them.
Female
“...Because I'm a girl.”
Panel 3. Shot of Female.
Female (smirking)
“But sure, you can be the girl this time if you want.”
Panel 4. Shot of the TV. It's now in a level + on split-screen.
Text
“Wave 1! Fight!”
Panel 5. This shot is now fully inside the game. No split-screen, we see both characters as though it's them speaking to each other.
Male (playing as the female character)
“Doesn't this game have guns?”
Female (playing as a male character)
“Yeah..”
Panel 6. Back to the sofa.
Female
“..of course, but you have to earn them as you progress!”
Male
“Behind you.”
Panel 7. Back in the game. There's a zombie behind the female character (who is the male character in-game). The zombie is lunging for her.
Page 14
Panel 1. Female whacking the zombie around the head with a baseball bat. Lots of blood etc.
Text (small and subtle, hovering above the character)
“+100xp!”
Panel 2. She's bent down going through the zombie's pockets.
Male
“Oh, we have to loot as well?”
Female
“Yep.”
Panel 3. She finishes looting the corpse. In the background the male character is starting to get attacked by zombies. She doesn't notice.
Text (coming out of the corpse)
“+£25 +1 Sandwich”
Female
“Ooh a sandwich!”
Panel 4. Shot of them both on the sofa.
Male
“Stop worrying about bloody sandwiches and help me!”
Panel 5. (in the game) Male (as female in-game character) is on the floor with like 3 zombies on him eating his guts.
Female
“I turn my back for two seconds...”
Panel 6. She shoves them off of him.
Page 15
Panel 1-3. A few panels of them beating up zombies, with 100xp text bubbles for each one.
Panel 4. Both of them standing with heavy automatic rifles amongst a sea of corpses.
Caption
“A few waves later..”
Male
“Yeah this is a fun game.”
Female
“Only because I carried you through it!”
Panel 5. Both characters looking up at:
Text
“FINAL WAVE: BOSS FIGHT!”
Page 16
Panel 1. We see the characters back on the sofa.
Male
“What! I thought we'd finished!”
Female
“It's like you've never played a video game before...”
Panel 2. Close-up of Female.
Female
“...There's always a boss-fight.”
Panel 3. Male is getting up off the sofa.
Male
“I have to go start packing now anyway.”
Panel 4. Shot of Female.
Female
“You're leaving me to fight the boss alone?”
Panel 5. Female has turned back towards the TV with a look of concentration on her face.
Page 17
Panel 1. Shot of an aeroplane in the sky.
Caption
“Elsewhere...”
Panel 2. Inside the plane, the shot focuses on a passenger looking a bit rough. (male, mid-40s). (he'll be referred to as 'focus')
Panel 3. He pulls up his shirt to reveal a bloody bandage around his waist.
Focus
“Ahh”
Panel 4. Starts pulling his shirt back down.
Nosey passenger
“Ouch! You wanna see a doctor, mate.”
Focus
“Uhh.. yeah.”
Focus is very pale and sweating buckets.
Panel 5. He starts to stand up
Focus
“Excuse me...”
Panel 6. He's in the aisle heading towards the toilets. Emphasis is on the toilet sign.
Page 18
Panel 1. Back to the two other characters, this shot is in the bedroom with the male packing his suitcase on the bed. The female is just starting to come through the door.
Panel 2. She runs and dives on him, pushing him onto the bed.
Female
“Tickles!”
Panel 3. She's on top of him tickling him.
Male
“Aahhh! Stop it!”
Female
“Hehehehe!”
Panel 4. Kissing.
Panel 5. She's still on him
Female
“You aren't going! I forbid it.”
Male
“I have to! It's a work thing!”
Panel 6. She's getting off the bed. Male is sitting up.
Female
“But so close to Christmas!”
Panel 7. Male is sorting out the messed up suitcase and clothes from the tickling scene.
Male
“I'll definitely be back home by Christmas morning at the latest.”
Panel 8. A shot of both of them looking at each other.
Female
“You promise?”
Male
“Promise.”
Page 19
Full-page artwork. It's like a character select screen with a video game title above it. There's a generic apocalypse background behind everything. The focus is on the foreground.
Text (top of page)
“MERRY Z-MAS!
THE GAME”
“CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER!”
We see a very brief overview of all 3 characters next to each other each in a box. They are standing in dramatic poses probably with weapons or something.
Left character: Male (maybe it says his name when I think of one). Survival mode! Also has a list of starting stats and items. Brief summary of character and game mode.
Middle character: Female. (again, probably says her name). Horde mode! Also has a list of stats etc.
Right character: The character from the plane. (Says his name). Zombie rampage mode!
The zombie rampage mode seems like it's highlighted or selected.
Page 20
Panel 1. Zombie rampage selected! (maybe another shot of the character selected screen zoomed in on that character, maybe he switches poses or something when you select him)
Panel 2. A shot inside the toilet cubicle on the plane. The character is turning into a zombie while screaming out in pain.
Text
“Player 1 has joined the game!”
Panel 3. A shot outside the toilet with a long queue of people waiting. A stewardess is by the door.
Stewardess
“Excuse me! Is someone in there?”
Panel 4. The stewardess signalling to another staff member to the door.
Panel 5. They're forcing the door open.
Panel 6. The door opens quickly, the zombie leaps out towards the stewardess.
Panel 7. The zombie is tearing her neck apart. All the people around are in shock and screaming etc.
Page 21
Panel 1. Stewardess falls on the floor dead. Zombie lunges at other people.
Text (coming out of stewardess)
“100xp”
Panel 2. Large shot of everyone on the plane panicking and running away from the zombie.
Panel 3-5. Quick montage of the zombie causing chaos. Biting people. Blood, organs and body parts flying everywhere. Kids crying. Dead bodies on the floor.
Page 22
Panel 1. A golden glow radiates through the zombies body.
Text
“Level up!”
Panel 2. Like a video game character stats screen, we see the zombie in a pose.
Text
“Level 2!
+2 Crit
+20 HP
+5 Stamina
+1 Agility”
Panel 3. We see a logo for a new ability in front of the character stat screen.
Text
“Gain ability: Contagious.
You can now spread the zombie virus to innocent bystanders!”
Panel 4. We see the zombie biting someone.
Panel 5. That person turns into a zombie while our original zombie is heading off somewhere else.
Page 23
Panel 1. (pretty large panel) 3-4 other people are now zombies as well as original, and are all chasing/eating family members etc. while other people are running away.
Panel 2. Pilots hearing chaos, they start to open their door.
Pilot 1
“What is going on out there?”
Panel 3. Zombies flood into the cockpit and tear into both pilots, and knock into the steering wheel.
Panel 4. Close-up of warning lights blinking.
Panel 5. Plane is nosediving out of control. It's night time.
Page 24
Panel 1. Long establishing shot of a car driving on a motorway (daytime).
Panel 2. Inside the car, we see the male character driving.
Radio
“Once again, regarding last nights plane crash, the authorities
aren't yet disclosing any details about...”
Panel 3. He turns the dial on the radio to another station.
Radio
“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart...”
Panel 4. Male character and radio both in shot.
Radio
“...But the very next day..”
Male
“...You gave it away”
Panel 5. Exterior shot of the car driving into the distance.
Male (speech bubble coming out of car)
“This year... a lalala laa”
Panel 6. back to previous night. We see the plane crashing into the woods.
Panel 7. A road relatively nearby to the crash, a car is parked. In the distance we see smoke and debris going into the air over the trees. A man is standing next to the car on his mobile phone.
Driver
“Uhh.. all three, I think. Looks like a plane crash.”
Page 25
Panel 1. Back to daytime, this time back at the house with the female character. She's on the phone to her mother. She's standing by the window looking out.
Female
“Mum, we've been together 17 years now, I can't
believe you still don't like him!”
Panel 2. She moves over to the kitchen table. There's a TV in the background on a counter. It's on the news.
Female
“...It's just a work thing. I think it's conferences or
something, and then a Christmas do on the last
day.”
The TV is showing a news presenter/host with a picture of an aeroplane company’s logo behind him/her.
Panel 3. Slightly more of a focus on the TV, but with the female still very much in frame and still on the phone.
TV News presenter
“Start your conspiracy theories, folks! We're being
told the army has stepped in to help quarantine the
whole area...”
Panel 4. Female reaching over to the TV to switch it off. She's still on the phone.
Female
“Look, for the last time he's not cheating on me...”
Panel 5. Close-up of female.
Female
“...These conferences are genuine.”
Page 26
Panel 1. Back at the plane from the previous night. Wide shot of the wreckage. Both an ambulance and fire engine approaches.
Panel 2. Fireman pulling away wreckage looking for survivors.
Panel 3. A fireman sees a body moving trapped underneath a large piece of debris.
Fireman
“Don't worry! Rescue is here! Don't move.”
Panel 4. Fireman is closer, trying to pull away what's got him trapped. Zombie turns to him and growls.
Panel 5. Fireman moves back in shock, dropping the debris back on it.
Fireman
“Urgh!”
Panel 6. Another zombie comes at him from the side. Sinks its teeth in.
TO BE CONTINUED IN ISSUE #2!