Fugitive Motel

“Fugitive Motel” is a song of separation.

Hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year. The agony of not knowing what has happened to their loved ones can break a family apart.

The action to this promo would be shot in a roadside diner, “somewhere in the dustbowl”, where a woman in her mid twenties works behind the counter. There is a dearth of customers, and a pot of coffee slowly stews, waiting for customers that seldom come. She leans on the counter, staring out on the never-ending road.

A man walks along the road, towards the diner in the distance. He’s in his fifties, and his clothes and the length of his beard indicate that he’s been walking for some time. He stops momentarily as he sees the diner, as if he recognises it from a former life.

A van overtakes him, and then pulls in at the diner. Elbow get out, and stretch before making their way inside. They take their place in a booth, and the woman comes over and pours them coffee. She walks back behind the counter, and stops briefly to look at a photo of a man on the wall. He’s in his mid forties, and has his arm around a girl in her early teens.

Out on the road, the man slowly makes his way towards the diner. It now seems as if he recognises the place, and he watches carefully as he approaches. He stops not far from the diner, on the other side of the road. 

The woman inside puts down some food wordlessly in front of the band, and then goes out to look at the highway and smoke a cigarette. The man stands very still, watching her. She notices him, and tries to get a better look. A truck arrives along the road, passing the man, and pulling into the diner. She takes one last questioning look at the man over the road, before stubbing out her cigarette and going back inside.

The truck driver is someone she recognises, and they exchange a couple of words as he sits at the counter, and she pours him a cup of coffee.

She sets about fixing him some food, but still seems distracted. The sight of the man outside has obviously disturbed her. As she wraps up a burger for him, he thanks her, and leaves. She follows him outside, but there is no sign of the scruffy older man that has been watching the diner.

The truck driver climbs back in his cab. As the truck pulls away we see the man who has been watching the diner climb up from the ground onto the rig between the cab and the truck. The truck pulls away.

The woman looks back down the highway, and then after the truck. Tears line her eyes.

Having been present at the legendary evening that saw Face off his face, the ideal casting for the older hobo character would be the one and only Dirk Benedict, only made up to look considerably more scruffy and fucked up than anyone has seen him before. I see the woman as someone with a lot of character – an older Sissy Spacek in Badlands kind of look, rather than model good looking.

I’ve attached a photo reference for the overall look I’d be looking to achieve with this promo – over exposed and almost bleached out colours to bring out the raw emotions that the song evokes, and also to give it a timeless quality. The styling should also give the effect that we’re not quite sure when this is happening. The overall palette of the film should be light greens and browns.

The shot of the diner with the chairs on the tables is for the mood I’m looking to capture, but is also useful when thinking about the location itself. I’d also like to play around with the depth of field in a similar way, shifting focus very subtly from fore to background. The exterior diner shot is for location reference – the idea that this is somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Recommended viewing: Paris, Texas. Electra Glide in Blue.

Recommended reading: Underworld by Don Delillo. Freeways by Leslie Davies.