Writing out that end credits scene from Antarctic Empire I mentioned (it’s important to me that you know the song Techno is humming is Danse Macabre):
*open shot of a wide cluttered office, with stone was and deeply seated windows, each with a simple motive of a blue band and a white starburst in the center worked in stained glass panels. The walls are draped with thick tapestries and red curtains, framing several tables, all cluttered with kitsch. The rest of the room seems to be roughly divided between a paper-and-books office space and a blacksmithing setup. This is, as common sense would put it, probably really stupid. And a fire hazard.*
*techno walks across screen, from the office side to the smithy, quietly humming. He’s carrying a bucket of water in one hand and wearing his cape and crown. His tail snatches something from a table as he steps offscreen*
*a waist-high shot of techno draping his cape over the back of a chair and his crown over one of the prongs on the back, walking foreword past the camera and out of frame. He’s honestly barely in focus, our eyes are drawn to the crown. We can hear him put the bucket down and pull a chair out from behind camera*
*cut to a closeup of his upper body at table-level as he settles. His humming is louder now, and he’s prepping what looks like gold wire. We cut again to see him from behind at a yet-unseen work table, this one in an open part of the room. He’s framed in front of the open front of a massive fireplace, roaring brightly, whose light has been one of the easiest ways to tell where things are in this space thus far. Techno grabs a tiny hammer and begins tapping at whatever he’s working at.*
*cut again, this time to see him hauling with one hand at the bellows, the other flipping through a heavy book tucked into his elbow. He’s timing the beats of his humming to the breath of the bellows, and as the scene picks up pace the background music kicks in, accompanying his voice until it eventually drowns it out.*
*what follows is a gradually hastening series of shots, timed to the music, of Techno’s work at the forge and his desks, crafting and enchanting and scrapping attempts at something. His cape and crown are thrown down in the same chair at the same angle with increasing frustration, and we see him scribbling again and again on diagrams we can’t quite make out. The intention is clear: whatever he’s making isn’t good enough.*
*finally, the music comes to a screeching halt as we see Techno crush his latest attempt, turn to hurl it at the wall, and freeze at the sight of a pile of loot and refuse heaped in the corner of his room. We cut to a front shot, his expression somewhere between shocked and enraged, and pan slowly away until we are in a pile of something indistinct that he’s staring at. He pauses for a moment, the scene dead-silent, then steps forward to rake through the rubble, yanking out a massive intricate necklace of diamond and emerald. It looks obscenely expensive, made even more absurd by the fact that it’s just… sheen sitting in his office in a heap. There’s a closeup of his hands, thumbing over the gems in the necklace. clever eyes might remember this necklace as one the vicious former queen was wearing in most of the political scenes in the film, including Phil’s introduction in the very beginning.*
*one last cut, this one with a distinct difference in light from the previous to imply time passing. Techno is working, but he looks satisfied again, and is back to humming. He cuts off as Phil knocks on the door behind him*
Phil: Techno! You up?
Techno (scrambling to cover whatever it is he’s making): Yes?!
Phil; Get your arse out here, we’ll be late for petitioner’s hour!
Techno: I’m the Emperor, *he turns, grinning, to set a tool down on the table and grab his crown as he stands* I can cancel petitioner hour if I please!
*the shot continues as Techno walks out of focus, opening the door and slamming it shut, leaving us to pan across the mess of the table until we reach two massive rectangular-cut emeralds, set in intricate gold housings and glittering in the morning sunlight. They lay on a stack of haphazard sketches and draft papers. In the corner, if you pause the frame, you can see the words ‘friendship emeralds’ scrawled in Techno’s handwriting on one of the pages and underlined several times. The emeralds hum slightly as they glitter, runes flickering in their depths, clearly enchanted. There’s one last faint repetition of the musical motive techno has been humming.*
*cut to black*
