Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

184
The inclusion of this poem signalled that the story had now become Toss’s story – she,
not Liz, was the “she”, Ethan was the important man, and Birdie became secondary.
The poem also related more closely in spirit to the final title of the film, Vigil, than to its
working title, First Blood, Last Rites. The point of view of Toss did indeed become
central to the structure of the finished film, with an unusually high proportion of
subjective or “watching” shots. 611
The opening of the script had now become more concise and the credit shots came up as
Justin was burning the still-born lambs. There were a few important changes made to
the scenes following Justin’s death. For example, when Toss was trying to explain what
happened to her mother, all she said was “three goats”. 612 Ward had decided to tone
down the symbolism of “the holy family”. When Ethan appeared, carrying the body of
Justin, Liz did not, in this version, accuse Ethan of killing him. Ethan simply said, “He
fell”. 613 The scene of the conversation between the four anonymous mourners after the
funeral had now become a dialogue between Birdie and some of his old “mates”, which
further developed the character of Birdie, who up to this point had had little screen time.
A number of the scenes in the middle section of the script had been compressed, for
example, the dialogue between Toss and her grandfather about the stallion’s erection,
and some scenes, for example where Liz watched Ethan shearing, had been dropped
altogether. The scene with the two linesmen was included unchanged from Draft Three,
but it now came earlier in the script.
Towards the end of the script, some scenes had been considerably condensed and some
dropped altogether, such as the dialogue between Liz and Birdie when one of Birdie’s
old friends was on the telephone. However, an important new scene was introduced
into the script – a scene where Toss was constructing a shrine to her father in an old car,
and accidentally set the interior of the car alight. The “siege” scenes had been further
condensed and the scene of Ethan breaking some of Liz’s crockery, which was present
in earlier drafts, had been omitted. The ending of the film was significantly different in
Draft Four. Now the military band, consisting of Birdie’s old mates - which Elizabeth
saw (indicating it was no longer a figment of the old man’s imagination as it was in
earlier drafts) – came to play outside Birdie’s hut, causing Birdie to break the siege.
611 The word ‘vigil’ carried a variety of associations, but ‘vigilance’ was clearly one of them. In keeping
with many other aspects of the film, the word also has religious associations.
612 Ward and Tetley, “First Blood Last Rites: Fourth Draft Screenplay,” 8.
613 Ward and Tetley, “First Blood Last Rites: Fourth Draft Screenplay,” 9.