Origin of Script-ies

From very early on it was decided that this film would be narrated.

At first the idea was that it might be a PSA-style video talking about Trinidadian folklore. My writer, André Alexis, told me about the Hinterland Who's Who series that aired on Canadian television in the 1960s and 1970s. These were 1-minute videos that briefly described Canadian fauna in a way that could be understood by everyone: habitats and diet, if they were becoming extinct, and where you could find out more (as seen here).  

I, on the other hand, grew up with House Hippos. I was amazed at how similar our inspirations were.

So that's how we got to version one of the script. It took 1 minute and 20 seconds to read start to finish. Too long for a one minute film.

So I cut it down to a 50 second version and boarded it out.

"Welcome to the Canadian Wildlife Service’s series on evil spirits. In this episode we look at … the Dwen. The Dwen is an evil spirit from Trinidad. They have no facial features – except for small mouths - and their feet are on back to front. They live in the crawl spaces under your house or in abandoned fields. A single-minded spirit, the Dwen simply wants to take little children and lead them to their death. In cities or towns the presence of the Dwen is signalled by the sound of high-pitched crying that seems to come from beneath your floorboards or from the bushes in your garden. In the event that you or one of your children sees or hears a Dwen, the best thing to do is to cover your ears and go inside until the cries have stopped or the Dwen has gone in search of another child. For more information, please contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa."

It stayed this way for months, but I wasn't entirely satisfied. It was only recently that I realized the solution to some of my problems: make it a poem. So, taking the ideas and key points from André's narrations, I adapted the story into poem form. This brings us to the narration currently being used:

"And now I will tell you the tale of the Dwen,
A creature of death with its legs backwards bent.
Oh, simple enough is this poor demon's quest
The love of a mother is what it wants best.
The children! That's it! They are too young to know
That when there's a Dwen near there trouble shall go.
So the imp will creep up and prepare to destroy
The obstacle keeping the Dwen from its joy.
Yet-- perhaps there is mercy in their heart for others.
Of course not! They'd kill you to get to your mother."