july camp novmo '25: anacortes has a secret love

a hidden love story unfolds across several decades in anacortes, told out of order and seen only through fragments. the town itself may be preserving their love like a secret it doesn’t want to share.

ideas
- nonlinear timeline: viewers jump between eras like 1950s, 1980s, 2020s.
- shot with inconsistent media (vhs, super 8, phone footage) to distort time.
- reoccurring symbols: red scarf, paper airplanes, a ferry, etc.
- shipwreck festival (will find some archived footage maybe)
- layered environmental sounds: waves, birds, old radio static, etc.
- a leitmotif? idk man

characters
- The One Who Waits: she sits every night on the porch, what is she waiting for? her house exists untouched by time.
- The Watcher by the Water: from the marina, he gazes across the inlet day and night and scribbles something into a notebook. he writes the same sentence every day. occasionally, his notebook pages go missing.
- The Mirror-Twin: moves only when unseen, copies the gestures of others. they appear in reflections (mirrors, puddles, windows, etc), but never speak. possibly not even real.

idk. this film was born from something real, even if it is convoluted right now. my fiancée's father passed away and we had to return "home" (not mine, to be clear. hers, or something close to it) to collect items from his estate. it is this strange, quiet in-between to see where someone lived once.

nonlinear timeline? consider me hooked already :3 the characters and setting also sound fascinating !! super curious to see where this goes this Camp NovMo!

day one + two

- took some photos
- wrote a scene i guess

EXT. COASTAL PATH - 1964

We open on a red scarf.
It is snagged on a thornbush at the edge of a bluff.
The scarf flutters faintly.
A child's hand reaches into frame to untangle it.

CUT TO:
EXT. FERRY DOCK - 1980s

A WOMAN in her 30s walks along the ferry dock.
The scarf is now wrapped around her neck.
She stops at the edge and looks out over the gray water.

WOMAN
(softly, as if to herself)
I missed the tide again.

She stands still.
A ferry pulls away across the sound.
We never see it arrive.

CUT TO:
INT. LIVING ROOM - VHS FOOTAGE - 1993

Someone is filming a party.
The screen shakes, awkward angles.
The WOMAN is there again, now older.
She's sitting in the corner.
She is laughing silently with someone not visible in the frame.

On the table, a folded airplane.
"DON'T FORGET" is written on its wing.

screenwriting @_@ i love how you're using different mediums !! thats so cool :p

trust me guys i have been writing, just not posting about it

anyway

day 6

- i have filmed like 20 minutes
- scrapped a ton of scenes
- music stuff!

EXT. MARINA EDGE – VHS FOOTAGE - 1980s

The footage flickers, low contrast.
The sun has already dipped behind the hills.
Boats rock gently.

The camera zooms, unsteadily, toward a figure at the far end of the dock.

He is sitting cross-legged beside the water.
His back is to us.
A notebook rests in his lap.
He writes slowly.

A gust of wind blows a page loose.

The paper flutters across the dock, into the water.
He does not chase it.
He keeps writing.

The camera zooms further, losing focus.
Then it stabilizes.
We finally see the page he’s writing on.

INSERT – NOTEBOOK PAGE

Handwritten, again and again, line after line:
“I saw her again today.”

this is so cool and atmospheric like what o.o also you've filmed portions?! epic !!