# flamer.flash-in-the-pan · PILOT LIGHT · STANDOFF · choreography doc v1 (O, 27 Oct)

Replaces the FLASH IN THE PAN gag in its slot (same key). Style: **STANDOFF** (western). Chotu, a gunslinger, and Faris with the
flamer stand three strides apart for ten seconds. The wind blows the pilot light out; Chotu draws on a dead flamer. His own bullet
glances off the gold fire hook and the spark relights the pilot. Then a few explosive seconds.

**Specific to this weapon and story (ANTI-TEMPLATE):**
- **Dismemberment:** the gun hand at the wrist. The hook up-cuts it, and it lands still holding the revolver, which fires once.
  Then the LEFT ARM burns down to charred bone in front of his face while he screams. That is the flamer's own dismemberment.
- **Opening:** the CHEST, as a burst from inside. The hook goes into the chest and the flame fired through it blows out his back,
  the ribs splayed outward.
- **End pose:** dropped to his knees, held up on the hook, his face lit from below by the flame. The hook pulls free and he pitches
  face down. XT: Faris's boot rolls him onto his back.

**Declared needs:** `{ kinds: ['FLOOR'], space: { w: 380 } }`, room58 about [-170, 230], range mid, air false, victims 1. The hook,
the derringer and the forearm guard are gold-cast. No map element is used. The Deep: skip.

**The look:**
- A high-noon amber grade with bleached highs and the shadows sharpened.
- Dust drifting on the wind.
- Grain and a letterbox through the whole stare.
- Extreme close-ups cut on the sound clock (the fuel drip).
- The grade cools to steel for the slow-mo.

**Length:** about 20 s of scene, plus two slow-mo beats (trigger to final about 22 s).

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## BEAT SHEET (scene s; C = CHOTU, F = FARIS; F at 700 facing right, C at 880 facing left)

### PHASE 0 · THE STARE (0.0-10.8) · SHOTS 1-9: a wide, then extreme closes cut on the drip clock
| t | CHOTU | FARIS | FX / SOUND / CAMERA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0-2.0 | Square to him, hat low, coat open, the gun hand hovering a hand's width over the holster, the fingers loose. The breath shows in the shoulders. | Flamer low at the hip, the nozzle angled at the floor between them, the pilot flame bent by the wind. Still. | SHOT 1: low and wide, the two small at the edges, dust drifting through. Wind; the pilot's hiss. Letterbox. |
| 2.0 | Eyes narrowed under the brim. | — | SHOT 2: an extreme close on his eyes. |
| 2.8 | The fingers flex once and settle. | — | SHOT 3: an extreme close on the hand over the grip. |
| 3.6 | — | — | SHOT 4: an extreme close on the pilot flame bending, recovering. |
| 4.4 | — | A drop of fuel gathers on the nozzle lip and falls. | SHOT 5: the drip lands. A tick. (The drips are the clock: about every 1.6 s.) |
| 5.2 | — | His eyes: calm, unblinking. | SHOT 6: an extreme close on Faris's eyes. |
| 5.8-6.4 | — | **CAST 1 (F, 'snap'), barely a gesture:** his back hand passes down the nozzle and a gold FIRE HOOK inks along it (a firefighter's hook, the bill curving forward past the tip). | ink.cast.snap at a whisper. |
| 6.5 | Catches the glint: the eyes flick down to it and back. A beat of doubt. | — | SHOT 7: on his eyes. |
| 6.8-7.6 | A bead of sweat runs from the temple down the cheek. | — | — |
| 7.8-8.6 | — | — | SHOT 8: a medium two-shot from behind Chotu's hip, the holster in the foreground. |
| 8.8 | His coat flaps in a gust. | — | A dust sheet crosses the frame. |
| 9.2-9.9 | — | — | SHOT 9: the pilot flame flutters, shrinks, and goes OUT (a thread of smoke). The heartbeat stops. |
| 10.2 | The eyes widen a fraction: the opening. | — | On his eyes. |

### PHASE 1 · THE DRAW (10.8-12.4) · SHOT 10: low side-on; slow-mo on the shot
| t | CHOTU | FARIS | FX / SOUND / CAMERA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.8 | Draws: the hand drops, the gun clears leather, the hip turns (a real fast draw, about 0.18 s). | Already moving: the weight onto the front foot, the head turning. | The leather snap. |
| 11.0 | Fires from the hip. | — | **SLOW-MO 0.12x** (about 2 s of film): the round crosses the gap on a trail; it grazes Faris's cheek (a red line opens); it glances off the gold hook in a spark; the spark drifts onto the nozzle and the pilot relights (the blue bead blooms). Steel grade. |
| 11.5 | — | — | Snap back loud. |
| 11.6-11.8 | Thumbing the hammer for the second shot. | Two driving steps in, the hook swinging up from low. | — |
| 11.8 | **EXPLODING LIMB:** the gun hand off at the wrist. The hand and the revolver spin up and away. | Follows through. | A flash; a wet crack. |
| 12.0-12.4 | Staggers back, clutching the stump to his chest, screaming. | Resets, the hook low. | The severed hand lands; the finger clenches and the revolver fires once into the dirt. |

### PHASE 2 · THE LEFT ARM (12.4-15.2) · SHOT 11: a medium; SHOT 12: a close on his face behind the burning arm
| t | CHOTU | FARIS | FX / SOUND / CAMERA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.5 | **CAST 2 (C, 'fist'):** a gold derringer inks into his left palm. | — | ink.cast.fist. |
| 12.7 | Fires it at Faris's face. | **CAST 2 (F, 'snap'):** a gold forearm guard inks onto his back arm, raised; the round sparks off it. | A clang. |
| 12.9-13.4 | The left arm, still raised with the derringer, goes up in flame. | Opens the valve point blank on the arm. | The roar; the derringer drops and un-draws. |
| 13.4-14.8 | He holds the burning arm up in front of his face, screaming. The arm burns down: the skin blackens, splits and curls off; the flesh chars away to the bones of the forearm and the finger bones, curled. | Lets off and watches. | SHOT 12: close on his face behind the arm, the fire lighting it orange; his eyes huge (mgHorror). |

### PHASE 3 · THE HOOK (15.2-17.6) · SHOT 13: a tight two-shot; slow-mo on the burst
| t | CHOTU | FARIS | FX / SOUND / CAMERA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.2 | Stumbles back a step. | Steps in. | — |
| 15.4 | The hook goes into his chest; he doubles over it. | Drives it in with the step and the hips. | A deep wet thud; shake. |
| 15.7 | Drops to his knees, held up on the hook. | Leans back on it, holding him there. | — |
| 15.9 | — | FIRES THROUGH THE HOOK. | — |
| 15.95-16.5 | The flame goes into the chest and BLOWS OUT HIS BACK: a burst from inside, the ribs splayed outward, a jet of fire and meat out of the back. His face is lit from below. | Braced. | **SLOW-MO 0.15x**, then snap back loud. |

### PHASE 4 · FACE DOWN, ROLLED OVER (16.5-19.0) · SHOT 14: overhead; SHOT 15: low on the boot
| t | CHOTU | FARIS | FX / SOUND / CAMERA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.8 | — | The hook pulls free with a wrench. | — |
| 17.0-17.3 | Pitches forward onto his face. | — | Overhead: the back blown open, the ribs splayed like opened hands, smoking. His hat rolls in a curve to a stop. |
| 18.0-18.8 | Rolled onto his back. | Steps over, gets his boot under the shoulder and rolls him. | A dead weight, a thud. |

### FINAL (18.8-21.0) · SHOT 16: low on the floor, w ~120
**XT:**
- On his back, Faris's boot just leaving his shoulder at the frame edge.
- The dead face upright: soot-streaked, half-lidded, bloodshot, the pupils small and drifted, lit amber by the pilot flame.
- The charred hook wound in the chest.
- The back burst: broken ribs splayed out past his flanks onto the floor and blood fanned beneath. Torn, never a disc.
- The left forearm burnt to bone, the finger bones curled, lying across him.
- The wrist stump.
- The severed hand still holding the revolver a stride away. The hat.
- The pilot flame steady at the frame edge.

## SOUND
Wind, the pilot's hiss, the drip clock, breath, heartbeat (it stops at the pilot's death). The leather snap. The shot in slow-mo:
a pitched-down crack, the spark's ping, the pilot's soft whoomp. The hook's wet crack. The derringer's clang off the guard. The
roar. The screaming. The burst from inside (a muffled boom, a wet rip). The thud; the hat's roll.

## LADDER (after the XT pass)
- **VH:** knelt on the hook, dead, the back blown open (from behind).
- **H:** the hand off, the arm burnt, dead face down.
- **M:** flamed down, soot-black, X eyes.
- **L:** the hand clipped by the hook; he drops the gun and stumbles back, dazed.
- **VL:** the pilot relights, he drops his gun and raises his hands, singed hat.