How about you help me with this scene?

[BreakingExpectations]

I'm stuck.

It seems my brain has decided to go on vacation for a bit, leaving me doing circles around one paricular scene.

Here's the situation...My character, Alexis, has just pulled up infront of a factory. Before she makes it inside, she gets ambushed. I need help with ideas as to HOW she gets ambushed, like what would the sneak attack include? I want something unique...obviously. I've got a few ideas in mind, but they aren't giving me that WOW factor that I'm looking for.

Chemicals & things aren't really my forte, so I was wondering if any of you knew something that when inhaled, can render someone unconcious momentarily.

Hope to hear from you,

Jacintha

 

[Padnar]

I feel a person can press a hanky filled with
choloroform to make people a bit unconscious
padma

 

[aceofspades70]

how about her exhaust has been partially re-routed somehow inside the car, that's why she stops at the factory. The fumes kick in and she passes out as she exits the car.

 

[Alcove Audio]

I'm not a writer, but...

It's hard to know what would have impact for your story without knowing some of the context. Does the story take place in the present day? Is she a "strong" person or easily overcome? Who is ambushing her and why? Is the factory abandoned or active? What time of day? Does the audience have to know what knocks her out? Does it matter what it is? Things could just go black and you leave it a mystery.

An idea or two anyway...

Pepper spray/mace sprayed into the face will not knock you out but will inhibit your vision and breathing. That way if the bad guys are seen they can just say that she is ill.

An unexpected knock upside the head will disorient most people and knock some out.

An injection of a sedative will do nicely.





My two ducats...

 

[VPTurner]

Yes, more description of the setting would help because to be ambushed requires adequate cover for the perp unless s/he's invisible.

There are several ways to take someone down. Do you want to take her down from a distance, or have her bum rushed? Are you revealing the perp to her and/or the audience?

If you want unique, you don't want:

-sedative injection (Dexter)
-tranquilizer dart
-chloroform
-trap door
-net from above
-a black van screeching up with thugs throwing a hood over her head and tossing her into the van
-ninja assassins

 

[PositiveFuture]

There's a Colombian drug called Burundanga which could help your scene. I had some South American friends who told me about it. Basically, you remain conscious but you lose your will.

*According to my friend* who seemed trustworthy and intelligent, after blowing it in the victim's face they stay awake but became very pliable. The example my buddy gave was you could be led in a daze, like a sheep, to an ATM, and made to take out all your money- you couldn't resist.

Sounds like BS but I asked a few unrelated people and they all said it was true. You'll have to google it to verify cos I only heard it from 2-3 people.

Good Luck and Peace..

 

[wheatgrinder]

There's a Colombian drug called Burundanga which could help your scene. I had some South American friends who told me about it. Basically, you remain conscious but you lose your will.

*According to my friend* who seemed trustworthy and intelligent, after blowing it in the victim's face they stay awake but became very pliable. The example my buddy gave was you could be led in a daze, like a sheep, to an ATM, and made to take out all your money- you couldn't resist.

Sounds like BS but I asked a few unrelated people and they all said it was true. You'll have to google it to verify cos I only heard it from 2-3 people.

Good Luck and Peace..

I saw that movie already.. lol

neat idea, even if fictional..

 

[maxham]

I have to say chlorophorm is used a lot to make people fall asleep you pour it onto a rag and put it up to their nose and mouth and they are out. You also could use what they call "slipping a mickey" but that would require her drinking something and then passing out.

And the idea about the car exaust is a good one too. They fiddled with her car and she feels sleepy and stops at the factory and turns out the ambushers were following her the whole time.

 

[PositiveFuture]

I saw that movie already.. lol

neat idea, even if fictional..

What movie? I don't watch too many movies so I guess it's been used before. Burundanga is real... If you think this stuff's fictional you need to do some travelling. Check this out:

http://earthops.org/scopalamine1.html

Used for hundreds of years by Natie Americans in religious ceremonies,
the powder when ingested causes victims to lose their will and memory, sometimes
for days. (This drug is also known as Nightshade or "CIA drugs).
When refined the powder yields scopolamine, a well-know drug with
legitimate uses as a sedative and to combat motion sickness. (Mengele of
Nazi fame also had and experimented with scopolamine as a truth serum).
But in Colombia, the drug's most avid fans are street criminals. Crooks
mix the powder with sedatives and feed the Burundanga cocktail to unsuspecting
victims whom they then proceed to rob - or worse.
Doctors here estimate that Colombian hustlers slip the odorless,
colorless and soluble Burundanga (pronounced boor-oon-DAN-ga) in food or
drink to about 500 unwitting victims in the city each month. About half of
the city's total emergency room admissions for poison are Burundanga
victims.
"It is a very serious problem," says Fernando Botero, Colombia's defense
minister. Adds Camilo Uribe, the doctor who runs the city's formost toxicology
clinic and who is in charge of toxicology for all of Bogota's public hospitals.
"It's epidemic".
It seems that everyone in Bogota knows someone who has been victimized by
the drug, Burundanguiado, as the say in Spanish. In one common scenario, a
person will be offered a soda or drink laced with the substance. The next
the person remembers is waking up miles away, extremely groggy and with no
memory of what happened. People soon discover that they have handed over
jewelry, money, car keys, and sometimes have even made multiple bank with-
drawals for the benefit of their assailants. Because Burundanga is often
given at seedy bars or houses of prostitution, many victims are reluctant
to come forward.
"The victim can't say no; he has no will and becomes very open to
suggestion. It's like CHEMICAL HYPNOTISM," says Dr. Uribe. "From the
moment it's given, the victim remembers absolutely nothing of what happened."
He adds, "From a criminal point of view, it's got a lot of advantages".

 

[wheatgrinder]

I'm stuck.

It seems my brain has decided to go on vacation for a bit, leaving me doing circles around one paricular scene.

Here's the situation...My character, Alexis, has just pulled up infront of a factory. Before she makes it inside, she gets ambushed. I need help with ideas as to HOW she gets ambushed, like what would the sneak attack include? I want something unique...obviously. I've got a few ideas in mind, but they aren't giving me that WOW factor that I'm looking for.

Chemicals & things aren't really my forte, so I was wondering if any of you knew something that when inhaled, can render someone unconcious momentarily.

Hope to hear from you,

Jacintha

Here is a different direction.. no sleeping gas... its well.. sleepy.. yawn..


Assuming MANY things, so shot me.

Alexis, with a name like Alexis, she sexy, powerful and a freaking ninja with a .45.

She stops outside the factory "sensing" her goal is just inside the factory. She checks her mirrors, rechecks that her big 'ole .45 is loaded, and that her favorite 6" "pig sticker" is duck taped to her inner thigh, barley hidden by her mini skirt. (ok, I got issues!)

anyway..

She exits the car, moving quickly she sides up to the wall, hidden in shadows she sneaks along.. she rounds a corner, and there, in a pool of light is her BEST FRIEND(lover, coworker, police partner...), shaking hands with the bad guy as they exchange cases.. one presumably full of cash the other full of the stuff (documents, secret formula, paternity papers.. what ever)

She is stunned for a moment, lowering her guard, when the bad guy turns and speaks to her directly.. "Ah, good to see you, I was hoping you would arrive in time to say hello to our mutual friend.." the friend is surprised, ashamed etc, realizing that this was a trap for Alexis all along..

Alexis, momentarily disoriented by the revelation, turns just in time to see the butt of rifle heading at high speed for her face..

She wakes, restrained in some awkward, yet revealing pose (more issues), her friend is restrained by her side.. looking very sheepish..

 

[wheatgrinder]

What movie? I don't watch too many movies so I guess it's been used before. Burundanga is real... If you think this stuff's fictional you need to do some travelling. Check this out:

http://earthops.org/scopalamine1.html

We are a bit sensitive about our south American wonder drugs arent we.. (no offense buddy, just having fun.. )

I don't know if that PRECISE drug was used or referenced, but certainly the idea of a "powder" being blown in your face rendering you to a zombie like state HAS been done to Mickey Rourke. (Angel Heart) and if I recall, Sean Connery (Medicine Man)

EDIT: In medicine man I think they used a tube and blew some drugs up his nose.. so not an exact match..

 

[PositiveFuture]

No worries pal haha, I just thought you wuz callin me a liar.... And I'm strung out after doing 10 hour days on this documentary I'm working on for months.

I'll bring a bag of the stuff to Sundance next year and we'll have some fun with it...

*

From skimming the threads here it looks like one of the best forums I've ever been on. Pleased to meet you all.

 

[indietalk]

Why do you wan't something unique and never done before? Is this some ex-Navy Seal, or special ops person? Or your random dude? Think about it, and don't "over think" it. If it's too unique it will look unbelievable unless it's science fiction or some special ops training sh*t. Go for the classics and what fits the character. Believability.

 

[wheatgrinder]

Why do you wan't something unique and never done before? Is this some ex-Navy Seal, or special ops person? Or your random dude? Think about it, and don't "over think" it. If it's too unique it will look unbelievable unless it's science fiction or some special ops training sh*t. Go for the classics and what fits the character. Believability.

Good point, how many times do we see "cleaver" ideas being used just because they are clever.. we rely on archetypes for many things.. heck, just blowing some powder in someones face and have them go zombie like is practically part of our modern syntax. Nobody would be confused, and everyone would just get it, without any explanation. (this read kinda sarcastic, but its not meant to be) Same with the rag.. everyone KNOWS that you put a rag over someones face, they will instantly go to sleep..

 

[PositiveFuture]

If it was Burundanga/Zombie dust... maybe just think of an interesting way of it being delivered to the person's face: A cleaner, some one who initially looks trustworthy, a security guard... As others have said, it doesn't need to be spectacularly original... maybe the character delivering it could add the spark you need.

 

[VPTurner]

Good point, how many times do we see "cleaver" ideas being used just because they are clever.. we rely on archetypes for many things.. heck, just blowing some powder in someones face and have them go zombie like is practically part of our modern syntax. Nobody would be confused, and everyone would just get it, without any explanation. (this read kinda sarcastic, but its not meant to be) Same with the rag.. everyone KNOWS that you put a rag over someones face, they will instantly go to sleep..

The "flashy thing" in Men In Black was clever and had some nice comedy bits ensuing as a direct result. But then we're in the Sci-Fi realm, so anything is possible as long as it's plausible.

Whenever I see inhalation, I picture that episode of Star Trek, "This Side of Paradise".

But the OP didn't specify genre, either, so...

 

[Buddy Greenfield]

Need more info: (Genre, day or night, what/who is in the factory, is she planning to sneak in somehow?)

A possible alternate method- IF she must ultimately get into the factory (ideally undetected) and IF when she regains consciousness she is in the factory (tied up or something), then I might move the ambush from out front when she pulls up (too easy), to once she is inside the factory.

You know the old:

-Outside Factory-
She creeps up to the doors-
Suddenly- VOICES approach from inside-
She backs against the wall-
The door bursts open –
A few THUGS exit and walk off-
She steps from the shadows behind the door-
She grabs the door just before it swings closed-
She enters.

-Inside Factory-
She carefully guides the door closed-
She exhales-
She turns around-
BAM!
She is knocked out!

So it’s not completely the means of unconsciousness you are selling, it’s the surprise.

-Thanks-