Adelaar. The story of the Flying Dutchman.

Creator: Ryno Swart
Age rating: Everyone
On his ship, the captain is God. The fierce captain of the Adelaar, a Dutch East Indiaman has to take a group of Catholic nuns, priests and novices around the treacherous Cape of Storms. Conflicts and danger drive them toward their destiny, to become the Flying Dutchman.
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Synopsis:
On this ship, the captain is God.


CAPTAIN VAN DER VALCK of the ADELAAR, a falconer, picks up a number of Catholic NOVICES in Table Bay and sets off to round the Cape of Storms.

Conflicts arise. A PRIEST, an ascetic who lives for his violin, with an unnatural quality of stillness, is disliked by all the animals on board. They attack him at any opportunity.

When the novices, young orphan women from Venice, perform their music, the crew tries to ruin it with vulgar sea shanties.

Part of the conflicts is expressed in music, beautiful pure music from the girls, passionate virtuosity from the priest, crude shanties from the seamen, leading to a battle between styles which merge into a union which is shattered by the emotions of the protagonists.

A young sailor, ZOON, falls for a Catholic novice, ROSA. Jealousy leads to keelhauling and Zoon dies. A samurai/engineer back from Holland where he studies reclaiming land from the sea, NAGAYOSHI, fails to rescue the boy.

The captain is rebuffed by the voluptuous NUN who accompanies the girls.

During the boy's funeral a storm blows up, growing in intensity as relationships come into conflict.

In a fight, the BOSUN and the leader of the rebellious sailors, BELHAMEL, a vicious man, are killed, as is the samurai, fulfilling his destiny.

The ship rounds the Cape, mortally wounded by the storm.

The captain orders boats out. The crew hogs the boats, leaving the women to the sea, where they cling for their lives to the ship's HORSES.

The priest threatens the captain with eternal damnation, upon which the captain utters his own great curse, the curse of the Flying Dutchman.

The ship is destroyed, the captain killed by lightning, and the priest is left alone on the wreck.

About to abandon ship, the priest turns back into the bowels of the ship to set free the captain's EAGLE, giving up his life while doing so.

The story ends with the eagle soaring free, cheered by the few survivors.

A long final tracking shot shows the CAPTAIN, the SAMURAI, the boy ZOON, ROSA and the great HORSE on the fiery ghost ship; with the EAGLE soaring high above the FLYING DUTCHMAN.
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Latest Work

  • Trailer 1 - Final - for trailer contest.
    10/27/11
    Creative Notes:
    The fierce captain of the Adelaar takes some Catholic passengers around the Cape of Storms. Conflict and danger take them to their destiny, to become the ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman.

    I tried to make a hand-drawn test movie into a cinematic experience with color, music and tempo.

    Music by Alexander Khanukov.
  • Test Movie 6 - Final - for trailer contest.
    10/27/11
    Creative Notes:
    The fierce captain of the Adelaar has to take a group of Catholic nuns, priests, and novices around the treacherous Cape of Storms. Conflict and danger take them to their destiny, to become the ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. I tried to make a hand-drawn test movie into a cinematic experience with color, music and tempo. Music by Alexander Khanukov.
  • Script 2 - Ryno's 2nd Draft
    12/13/11
    Creative Notes:
    I have started from the beginning, using a more conversational tone. Got to within sight of the end of Act 1, now uploading. Learning to love my characters.
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All Work

  • Test Movie 5 - Test Movie Proposal - Final
    08/16/11
    Creative Notes:
    This is a personal pitch, showing my general approach to Test Movies. Vision first, then drawing, and color later.
  • Test Movie 4 - Scene 1. Slow and crisp.
    07/10/11
    Creative Notes:
    I revised this short movie, and it is now close to what I want. Slowed down the tempo somewhat to make the dialogue (and subtitles) clearer, and used cleaner type for the subtitles. Testing it now on Amazon, and if it works well, I can move on to a full length test movie.
  • Test Movie 3 - Re-upload of Scene 1.
    06/30/11
    Creative Notes:
    This is the first scene, on the jetty. For the moment, I used subtitles instead of a dialogue track. It may be quite practical to storyboard with subtitles and then to do a table read while watching the movie.
  • Test Movie 2 - Scene 1. The Jetty.
    06/29/11
    Creative Notes:
    This is the development of the beginning of the movie "Adelaar" (Eagle), exploring the first scene on the jetty. For the moment, I used subtitles instead of a dialogue track.

    For some reason the image is slightly distorted, stretched horizontally. Please look at the next version.
  • Test Movie 1 - Trailer
    06/16/11
    Creative Notes:
    This trailer is the precursor to a full length test movie. Enjoy!
  • Script 1 - Ryno's Original Draft
    05/30/11
    Main1306787649._sx304_sy171_
    Creative Notes:
    A strong clear vision, a long undertaking; and still very rough. There will be many mistakes which I hope you may point out to me.
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