Se7en textual Analasis

Screen Play

FACT OR FICTION SCRIPT

First Draft Screenplay

By

Sidonie Wells

Producers:

Sidonie, Macauley & Lauren

Fact or Fiction?

INT. GIRL’S HOUSE – NIGHT

1

Diegetic music associated with a typical household.

Panning shot over the room, ending on the bed where the girl is laid doing her homework. The room is generally quiet, but the sound of scribbling can be heard as she works. Close-up of the girl’s phone receiving a notification for Facebook. She frowns, putting down her pen to sit up. Long shot of her picking up the phone, then a super imposition as she unlocks the phone and checks her messages.

The notification was for being tagged in a new post. Opening the post, it is revealed to be a chain-mail post, saying ‘Share in the next ten minutes or this will greet you tonight’ with a picture of a shadowy figure. The girl scoffs, tossing her phone back on her bedside – close-up of the phone for emphasis, followed by a reverse-zoom. Putting her homework to one side, she switches off her lamp – close-up of the lamp switch.

BLACKOUT TO NEXT SCENE

EXT. GIRL’S HOUSE – NIGHT

2

Non-diegetic music to create tension.

A long shot reveals a shadowy figure is stood just outside the girl’s house, staring up at the window of the girl’s bedroom. POV shot from the figure to the window. Artificial lighting is used through street lamps to highlight the outline of the figure, but the face is never revealed.

FAST CUT TO NEXT SCENE

INT. GIRL’S HOUSE – NIGHT

3

Increased volume to the tense music.

The figure is now at the end of the girl’s bed, looming over. The girl remains asleep, but begins to become restless in her sleep. She awakes with a start – tense music comes to an abrupt halt - desperately turning on her light. The figure is gone. Assuming it was just a dream, the girl calms her breathing and falls back asleep. The music starts softly again, and the figure is back in the bedroom, only this time, it is hovering over her. It doesn’t move. Only stands over her. The music becomes tense once more. The girl wakes again, desperately panting for breath – music stops - turning on her light. The figure is gone. This time, still frantic, the girl begins to turn the lamp on and off. The first time she turns it back on, nothing happens. However, she does it a second time, just to be sure. Upon the second time, when the lamp is turned back on, fast-cuts to the face of the figure.

A loud scream resounds.

BLACKOUT TO NEXT SCENE

INT. SCHOOL SCENE – DAY

4

Loud chatter

Cuts to a small group of kids in an empty classroom. It’s darkly lit, and all of them are huddled together. They are frantically arguing about the conspiracy around their friend’s sudden death. They all appear really frightened, and everyone is talking over each other. The discussion escalates until they all decide to make a pact to share the post. Cindy, who is in this group, says she will, but has no intention of doing so.

INT. HOUSE – NIGHT

5

Tense booming music

Short montage, revealing that all those who made the pact are dead. It shows a bloody hand holding a phone, an expressionless face with a focus pull on the phone, and more showing the dead group. All except Cindy.

INT. CINDY’S HOUSE – NIGHT

6

Loud tense music increasing volume slowly.

Gradual zoom, showing Cindy looking very manic – messy hair, disgruntled clothing – hugging her knees and rocking back and forth on her bed. Fast-cut to show her phone smashed. Return to slow zoom. Fast-cut to show her smashed laptop. Return to slow zoom. The zoom reaches a close up, revealing more of her frantic expression. She’s panting desperately in fear. Pauses on her face for a while.

BLACKOUT

Emphasised last breath.

One Page Pitch

THIS IS OUR ONE PAGE PITCH FOR OUR THRILLER OPENING...

Working Title: Fact or Fiction?

Genre: Supernatural/ Conspiracy Thriller

Length: 2-4 minutes

Target Audience: 15-24, as we believe this audience will be large   enough, while still interested in what we are trying to portray.

Tag-line: Seeing is believing

‘What if’: Have you ever ignored a chain-mail post on Facebook? Have you ever scrolled past with no worries of the consequences? Do you consider it fake?                                What if it actually found you?

Story Synopsis: Typical teenage girl is sat on her bed, scrolling through the internet when she comes across a chain-mail scare-post. She ignores this post and brushes it off as a fake, going to sleep after turning off the light. In the middle of the night, a mysterious figure seems to be loitering outside the girl’s house. It appears at the end of her bed. The girl wakes up to see nothing is there. That night, the girl dies.

Spreading fear and anxiety throughout the girl’s social groups, suddenly these chain-mail posts are everywhere. And everyone is sharing them. In a twisted turn of fate, these people are then also punished for believing such a conspiracy. It seems no one can win, either way.

Cindy, the girl’s close friend, is traumatised and confused. She won’t go on her phone, on her laptop, anything, for she fears the worst. Cindy won’t let herself be met by the same fate as her friend or any other victims. She just locked herself away in her room…

Intent: The film is based around the scare-mongering posts which incite fear and are used for personal gain through internet reputation. Our idea is to give that ‘what if’ feeling, in order to leave the audience contemplating what they do/post on social media. As these chain-mail posts are quite popular in the 21^st century, it would create more fear as it’s a relevant topic.

Visual realisation: Our film will have quite a dark ambience, with a very fast pace. This will increase the amount of an emotional reaction we receive from the audience. Other films have also explored similar territory, such as ‘Unfriended’, however these films do not venture into the areas that we want to. Yet this is still a very relevant example of what we are trying to achieve. The dark atmosphere and frightening camera work is quite similar to the look we want in our own thriller opening.

Audience Appeal: As our film will revolve mostly around modern technology, we believe our audience would be no older than 30. The idea of using social media to create horror would entice this audience as this type of technology is something they would use every day. Another selling point is the use of the Supernatural; younger people usually believe in these types of conspiracies more than the elderly ages, therefore we can appeal to these audiences through the genre of Supernatural.