Scene blocking - a rough description detailing everything that will occur in a scene, such as which characters are present, where they go, what they do, and what they say.
Below is a sample guideline you may consider.
Goals for the scene:
Characters:
Location:
Opening:
Middle:
End:
Character development:
World info revealed:
Source
Writing References: Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding
I have started writing something! I am not sure what it will turn into at this point, but the base concept is reader has known jason for years, like before he met Bruce, and now they have reconnected after Jason has stabilized somewhat from his Lazarus swim. There is angst via miscommunication, past trauma, and low self esteem, self gaslighting, but ultimately fluffy happy ending. There is potential for smut but that will be a later thing. Anyways I need some help workshopping some of the scenes and would love to bring on some beta readers for feedback, the fic is very much still in its infancy so dont expect a lot but I have been very inspired lately! Please shoot me a dm or ask if you might be interested!
Usually one would think of going through their memories as a learning experience as more of a "rummaging around in the attic" metaphor, since the brain, the keeper of memories, is in the highest part of our bodies. But one of S2's underlying themes is the looming Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead, so its underground that we need to head - to the basement.
Aziraphale does a great deal of "stocktaking in the basement" during his trip to Edinburgh. He recalls the encounter with the body-snatcher Elspeth and her companion wee Morag in 1827 on the way up, has his memory jolted by the statue of Gabriel to something more recent, then thinks about what happened in 1941 on the way back. We are largely going to deal with aspects of the 1827 minisode in this meta, and some possible implications for S3.
Lets have a look at why this year, 1827, was chosen for this minisode. The Anatomy Act of 1832 gave doctors and medical students legal permission to use donated bodies for research and educational purposes, and was made so to stop the distressing trade of body snatching that was occurring at the time. But this minisode isn't necessarily about stopping that activity, rather the reasons for doing it in the first place. Looking at Strong's Concordance, as we must, in the Greek, 1827 gives us "convince" or "prove to be in the wrong." This sounds about right for this minisode, which includes the conversation about poverty inducing more opportunities to be wicked, which somehow leads to holiness, from the book. The minisode shows how Aziraphale has this idea turned around for him - he's convinced otherwise, and shown how his initial beliefs about the practice turn out to be wrong.
Also, around 1827 is the time when the building of private mausoleums was at its peak. A mausoleum was (and still is) a display of wealth, so featuring one here plays into the story in the minisode of the virtues of poverty versus the rich. (It's also a call back to the origin of the Bentley's number plate, which was written on a mausoleum in a Monty Python sketch.)
Digging Up the Past
Shax does her own stocktaking when she receives the above push-back from Crowley, and realizes that Aziraphale is not in the bookshop at all at that moment, and goes looking for him. Later, she digs up his own dirty past to taunt him with, in an effort to make him crack and give up Gabriel.
But why is Aziraphale digging up this particular memory at this time? We know he is fond of Edinburgh and has visited many times, so this particular memory must contain something of importance for us to see.
There is the title of the minisode, some Masonic symbology and the metaphorical act of the snatched bodies as the dead rising from their graves which all point us in the direction of the Second Coming and Judgement Day, which we will cover in Part 4, so we'll put that to the side for the moment.
Changing Sides
Let's have a look at some of the blocking of the scenes in the Resurrectionists minisode. This wont cover everything, so if you do go back to have another look at it yourself, do pay close attention to who stands where.
When we first meet Crowley and Aziraphale in 1827, they are standing on what we think of as their "normal" sides, angel on the right and demon on the left. Elspeth, caught in the act of body snatching, is even further to the left, the real demon on the scene, which actually pushes Crowley back to the middle ground.
Straight afterwards, we see all three of them walking together through the streets of Edinburgh. Crowley is still in the middle, but now Elspeth is in the angel's position and Aziraphale on the far left as a demon, as they all discuss the virtues of poverty. Oh dear, Aziraphale, you're losing the argument here, and losing badly!
Inside Mr Dalrymple's rooms, Aziraphale decides to take matters into his own hands, where he thinks he is doing the right thing, and miracles the first body into soup. Elspeth is caught innocently in the middle of this, and Dalrymple is on the demonic left.
A conversation is had with Dalrymple following this. Crowley is hidden in the right-hand chair, Aziraphale, who needs to be swayed, is in the middle, and Dalrymple is still on the demonic left.
After heading back to the cemetery for another body, Crowley and Aziraphale inspect some of the protective measures set up to guard the graves. Crowley is still on the moral right, questioning if the rich are more worthy of being protected from body snatchers than the poor.
Despite changing his mind about body snatching, Aziraphale still ends up on the wrong side of the argument in the end. As a giant Crowley looks down on the two of them, its Aziraphale standing on the demonic left side as the virtues of poverty lose out once more.
Timely Lessons
Back to the fireside chat with Dalrymple. We have this heartfelt reaction from Aziraphale when he learns the preserved specimen he is holding came from a seven-year-old boy.
AZIRAPHALE: [takes the jar] Well, that's a foot. So it's definitely not a foot. [laughs]
DALRYMPLE: That's my point. If you two smart gentlemen can't identify it, then what are my students to make of it? I removed this tumor from a seven-year-old boy.
AZIRAPHALE: Oh. Oh dear. And… Is he…?
DALRYMPLE: [shakes head] And that is why we need a steady supply of cadavers. We need to cut. If we can't cut, we can't learn. If we can't learn more, a lot more, then how on earth are we going to win the battle against monstrosities like this one? I'm just trying to save lives and teach students. I either end up with a knighthood or condemned as a resurrectionist and hanging from a rope.
This, I feel, is an important lesson for them, and it seems for Aziraphale in particular. Why? This part focuses more on his reaction to the tumor, rather than Crowley's, and when we focus on Aziraphale it has ramifications for the future.*
A physical problem is usually easily identified (such as the foot). But what if the problem is invisible, because its on the inside? How do you see into a body, find a problem and make it visible, if you have not been presented with this problem before? Or perhaps you know something is wrong, but don't know what to call it?
It doesn't even have to be physical, it can be a mental, or a psychological problem. One still has to learn how to "see" the problem, to identify what it is (such as a particular pattern of behaviour) and to know the best course of action to overcome it.
Crowley wishing for more murderers to facilitate Dalrymple's research is one thing, but not being able to save a 7 year-old boy...this is the theme of the death of innocent children we've seen repeated throughout the series (the Flood, Job's children, the aborted attempt on Adam, the Crucifixion, and the implications around Crowley's Fall, to name a few.)
This also plays into the "representation matters" theme from the end - you can't be what you can't see.
This is not a lesson about the fact that they care, because they do, but how they learn to see the real problem in the first place.** I'll be interested to see the matching scenes/parallels to this in S3.
The Two Dalrymples
It has not gone unremarked that there is a Dalrymple mentioned in S1 as well - Witchfinder Colonel Dalrymple, who made the fancy Thundergun that was taken to Tadfield to shoot the antichrist with.
Now we can talk about the connection between the two Dalrymples - they are both about removing "monstrosities" from humanity.
Take the line in the passage above: "If we can't learn more, a lot more, then how on earth are we going to win the battle against monstrosities like this one?"
As I've mentioned before, the root of the word monster is from the Latin for monstrum, "a divine omen (of misfortune)," but also monstrare, which means "to point out," which bring us back to this scene in S1, on the tarmac of the Tadfield Airbase:
Aziraphale took Witchfinder Colonel Dalrymple's Thundergun to remove the monstrosity that was Adam the antichrist to save humanity, and Mr Dalrymple the surgeon is trying to learn how to remove and save humanity from the monstrosity we know as cancer. I'm just making a spot now on my S3 bingo card for a third Dalrymple mention, that will no doubt have some connection to the removal of monsters and/or monstrosities from the world.
Balancing the Books
The final bit of stocktaking might just be the coldest part of the whole recall process.
When Aziraphale calls from the cemetery in Edinburgh, he mentions Dalrymple's fate to Crowley:
AZIRAPHALE: Oh, do you really think so? Um, Crowley… Do you remember Dr. Dalrymple, The one who bought, err…
CROWLEY: Wee Morag's body. Not a doctor… A mister, yes! Yes, whatever happened to him?
AZIRAPHALE: [reading pamphlet] He left Edinburgh in disgrace. And then he killed himself.
CROWLEY: Mmm.
Mmm, indeed. They might have saved Elspeth from Hell to meet up with wee Morag again, but the count of souls was still balanced out in the end, with Dalrymple heading the other way. The last time we see him he is still on the demonic LHS of the screen in blocking as he pays for wee Morag's body. Hell had him marked well in advance of his demise.
Time to move on to Part 4: Judgment Day, where we look at all the signs that the End Times are approaching. Again.
Thanks to @vidavalor for the thematic inspiration for this post.
For further reading:
You Say Potato, I Say Excellent! Or blocking, accents and legacy of morality tales in ‘The Resurrectionists’ minisode PART II by @pommedepersephone
The linked post at the beginning Historical Analysis: class and injustice in 'The Ressurrectionists' minisode by @bowtiepastabitch is here.
An intro to Elspeth and wee Morag being parallel characters to Aziraphale and Crowley by @good-soupmens I'm going to follow up on this in Part 5.
*I explained in Part 2 that I believe we are being shown the future through Aziraphale and his parallel characters, Beelzebub and Maggie. Another reason for this is that in S1 is that Anathema is one of his parallels, and she is also caught up with living in the future through the prophecies of Agnes Nutter. In contrast, Crowley's story, and that of his parallels, such as Gabriel and Newt, are about the past and trying to live the life you want that isn't bound by expectations. Urrgghh, I can see I might have to expand on this somewhere later.
**Crowley, with most of his story in the past, shows us an example of this with his "looking where the furniture isn't" comment.
The other posts in this series can be found here:
Part 1: Detective Aziraphale
Part 2: Aziraphale-Beelzebub Parallels
Part 4: Judgement Day
Part 5: I Know Where I'm Going
Scene-blocks are finished! Doubtful I could finish drafting before Camp Nano - and Camp Nano's plans might need to change because of recent events - but the scenes are more or less plotted out now.
Just want to add to your directorial nugget. I love how the shot of Yasmina surrounded by the boys was framed and then it zooms in to her expression. It gives a very strong a “woman in a man’s world” vibe where the woman feels a lot of pressure while the men are just playing around her.
Look at this particular shot and the body language of the characters. It is almost like Yasmina, a female, is bombarded by the male voices around her. Her having her head down. Immediately after that, the shot changes into a close up of her lifting her chin up and making her move. Rising above those voices.
The issues this clip is bringing forward visually and plot wise with the “slave” game have to do with the oppression of the female voices by men in society, the patriarchy in general but also the misogyny that some Muslim women face (remember that was a subject that was brought up in the first clip).
This particular clip was basically taken straight from OG Skam. We know that that game was used later by the Pepsi Max squad to make assumptions about Sana and her brother and her role as a Muslim female against the role of her Muslim male brother.
As much as I am not a fan of that particular OG plot it actually works well at showcasing how people who hold privilege are blind to it. Elias as a male doesn’t understand how what he says is impacting his sister, because he has never walked this life as a woman and especially a Muslim woman. For him it is a joke for her it isn’t exactly because it is a lived experience.
It is interesting how Younes immediately picks up on that. It shows how he understands the impact those actions have on Yasmina. That is an indication of his character and stance in life in general.
Lastly the way the curtains are draped behind them and the colour palette of that room are a beautiful nod to the Moroccan architecture and the red, green of the Moroccan flag.
