WARNING! I've been thinking quite a bit on what would be nice for the prequel, so there are a lot of random ideas coming! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/whistling.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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<b>Opening scene:</b>
I thought up another option for the opening scene. The current opening scene will then feature in the film somewhat later. How do you NOT expect a PotC film to start? With a shot of a waving grass on land, of course. Which is what we could show as first shot of the film. The film starts at the English countryside to establish the country and also possibly to introduce us to a character. We then move to the English shore where Mercer and midshipman Norrington (or some other EITC/navy officials) look through their spyglass and spot the Wicked Wench approaching in the sunrise. There can then be a conversation between the two of them commenting on the ship and/or the ship's captain. The name of the captain should not be mentioned here though so that the revelation of Jack Sparrow as EITC captain is even more surprising. We then move on with the opening scene as already established with the revelation of Jack Sparrow as EITC captain aboard the Wicked Wench.
I like Commodore John Paul Jones' idea of having Jack sail the Wicked Wench of the Thames river and using that time to introduce us to his main crew members.
<b>Prisoners vs Slaves:</b>
Lets weight these two options against each other, trying to decide which would be best. Personally I would still opt for the slaves for several reasons. The reason for the prisoners would be because slaves would be too controversial. But I don't see what is controversial about it, provided that we show in the film that slavery is bad, which we do through Jack Sparrow's good deed. Also: Slaves are bound to get the sympathy of the audience because slavery is bad.
On the other hand with prisoners the audience will assume that they deserve to be prisoners because they'll have done something wrong. Therefore the prisoners would not get the sympathy of the audience. To gain the sympathy of the audience after all, we would need to explain why these people do not deserve to be prisoners to the audience, which would require screentime which would not be nescessary with the slaves.
There are things in the PotC films that you would never expect to see in a Disney film. How about Johnny Depp's weird performance? Or the prisoner getting his eyes picked out by a raven in the opening scene of DMC? Or the religious guy in DMC that is brutally slaughtered by Davy Jones? Or the mass-hangings during the opening scene of AWE where women and even a child are hung. Obviously there already is quite some controversial stuff in the PotC films and Disney allows it to happen because they know PotC is successful and they know taking the risk will pay off.
Also what I suggested before: Jack Sparrow first meets those slaves living peacefully in Ivory Coast in their own village, but then witnesses them being captured. We can then show Jack's ambiguity by having Jack flee for his life instead of valiantly trying to save these people. Next time Jack sees these people, it is at the dock of the African town and he is charged with transporting them to the Caribbean. We don't actually need to state that they are slaves though. We just see them being captured first, then we see them being at the dock to be transported. The audience can then make up their own minds on whether they're slaves or prisoners. In any case: This will explain Jack's sympathy for these people and explain why he will later set them free.
Tia Dalma can be among the villagers. Of course, in the case of Tia Dalma, I think she lets herself be captured on purpose and that she could have evaded being captured just as easily. However, she wants to use Jack for some mysterious purpose, but for that she needs Jack and her to go to the Caribbean. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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<b>The ship-to-ship battle:</b>
For a good ship-to-ship battle you don't just need to have nice visual effects. You also need to have a good side and a bad side. The audience must be rooting for someone to win. With Mercer's suggestion of Davy Jones sinking an EITC fleet, the audience does not care about either Davy Jones or the EITC winning. Jack is indebted to Davy Jones, so both Jack and the audience with him will rather be rid of him. But the EITC are bad guys as well, so the audience doesn't want them to win either. Basically it would just be a diversion for Jack Sparrow to escape. We <i>can</i> put this in the film, but it doesn't really make sense to show it up close. We could show it from afar while Jack escapes. If we <i>would</i> show it up close, it would just be visual effects and spectacle just for the sake of having visual effects and spectacle without it actually contributing anything to the story. And the audience won't care about who wins anyway... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />
I still think we should leave the REAL amazing ship-to-ship battle for the sequel to AWE. Although we can give a small taster in the prequel.
<b>Jack's First Officer:</b>
We need new characters in the film, so I thought up the character of Jack's First Officer. This character would be the second in command aboard the Wicked Wench. Just for reference's sake, let's assume this character is called "Thomas Norton". We can change this name later.
Mr. Norton is a loyal British EITC officer. He joins Jack's crew for the voyage to Ivory Coast to pick up the slaves. During this voyage, the two become friends. However, Jack cannot divulge his secret orders to his First Officer, even though Thomas occasionally asks about them. Of course Jack doesn't fully know what his orders are until he is charged with the slave transport either. During the voyage from Africa to the Caribbean, Jack talks to Thomas about the task he's been given and Thomas has the opinion that Jack should just do what he's been told and deliver the slaves. Imagine the following scene in which Jack has decided what to do:
Jack is making the pirate flag with the red sparrow on it, when his First Officer Mr. Norton knocks on the door.
Jack Sparrow: "Enter, Mr. Norton."
Thomas Norton: "What are you doing, Jack?"
Jack Sparrow, hiding the flag quickly behind his back: "Nothing."
Thomas Norton: "I know you better than that, Jack. What is that behind your back?"
Norton sees the pirate flag
Thomas Norton: "It seems that you have made up your mind then. I cannot follow where you are going."
Jack Sparrow: "MEN! Lock him in the brig!"
Jack Sparrow, to Mr. Norton: "I am sorry it has to be this way, Thomas. I truly am."
Jack then sets the slaves free and goes to Nassau, where he allows Thomas to go. Thomas then witnesses Jack's sacking of the town, however this would play out. Perhaps Thomas told the port authorities a pirate is currently in town, hopeing that Jack would be arrested. Instead this ends up in mayhem culminating in Jack sacking the town. Jack then goes to Indonesia in search of something or to do something. In the meantime Thomas Norton contacts the EITC authorities and he is charged with capturing Jack Sparrow. This will end up with Jack and Norton becoming sworn enemies. After Jack returns to the Indonesian shore from further inland, he sees the Wicked Wench burning and sinking and Thomas Norton is there on the shore:
Jack Sparrow: "NO! Not you! What have you done??"
Thomas Norton: "MEN! GET HIM!"
EITC soldiers rush out from everywhere to capture Jack.
Eventually there can then be a ship-to-ship battle between Thomas Norton's ship and Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl. Jack wins the battle and Norton gets killed either directly or indirectly by Jack Sparrow. It is clear that Jack is very sorry that things happened the way they did and that his one-time good friend Thomas Norton had to die.
<b>Voyage Length:</b>
It seems in the current PotC films most of the times ship voyages seem like they occur just about instantly. So I would like to take a step back from that and actually show some of the many sea voyages in the prequel, add some scenes of shipboard life under EITC captain Jack and pirate Jack. Show the audience what Jack-the-captain is like. Try and put a somewhat new spin on the shipboard events, such as doldrums, unrest among the crew, shortage of food/water/rum. How does Jack deal with these kind of things? That way when we have the "instant" voyages in the other PotC films, we have already shown an extended voyage in the prequel, so we can argue that the reason for the voyages feeling so short in the other films is because we've already shown the "real" length of the voyage in the prequel so we don't need to do it again.
<b>Pacing:</b>
I would like to make this film somewhat slower and more old-fashioned in a way. The current PotC films are really modern with a lot of spectacle and hardly a moment for the audience to relax. I would like to take the speed in the prequel down just a little notch. I want to show some off some of the amazing environments we encounter in the film with nice wide shots with vibrant colours. A bit similar to the shot of Tortuga at the end of AWE, only longer and more frequently. This to give the audience the time and opportunity to be wowed just by the environment alone.
This idea popped into my head during the viewing of a film called Congo. It is just a fun advanture film, nothing more, nothing less and far from being brilliant. But the film has got two added plus-points: The music by Jerry Goldsmith is brilliant (as usual) and, more important for us, the nature-shots are nothing short of aweinspiring. I want to have the same feeling in the PotC prequel: that the nature itself is one of the main assets of the film. But in this case it should be joined with a great story, great acting and excellent action scenes.
<b>Colour of the film:</b>
I agree with Commodore John Paul Jones that the colour of the film is very important. Personally what I want is to have the colours very vibrant and beautiful: the greens really green, the blues really blue. This in contrast with the somewhat dark and grayish tones that seem so apparent in modern films. This would mean that I would suggest having most scenes play out in full daylight, rather than in the night. Personally I would even like to show the opening scene in England in beautiful vibrant colours, but I think I have to agree with the Commodore that having this particular scene feel somewhat damp and foggy would be a strong visual idea.
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