Film studies
A young man in love with a girl is haunted by the memory of the girl who was involved in a grueling accident and has cruel friends texting him from her phone.
Synopsis
In the evening Peter walks in the streets desperately looking for Lisa. He is so determined and desperate to see her that he mistakenly approaches another girl thinking that it is Lisa. To his surprise the girl is not Lisa and he apologizes for his mistake. Surprisingly he sees another girl and judges from her back side appearance that she is by all means Lisa. Peter immediately starts going after the girl sure that she is Lisa. Surprisingly the girl starts to walk away in a hurry as if to get away from him. In an attempt to get away from Peter, the girl tries to cross the road and is sadly hit by a car. At this point Peter wakes up, relieved that it was just a dream. He picks up a picture of Lisa and is very happy to know that she is fine and the accident was nothing but just a dream.
The next day Peter is in campus walking and is very depressed. He is very sad and appears to be in a world of his own. He enters the campus cyber café and picks up a newspaper with an article about the accident suffered by Lisa. This script takes Peter back to the very day that Lisa had her accident. On that day, Peter was walking rather jealously with a huge bouquet of flowers in his hand apparently meant for Lisa. He receives a text message on his phone from Lisa asking about his where-abouts. Peter and Lisa plan on a place to meet and Peter gets there first. Peter patiently waits for Lisa but surprisingly she does not show up. At that point, in time Peter receives a phone call from Jason. In the phone call, Jason informs Peter that Lisa was involved in a car accident and tells Peter to be quick in going to the hospital. Peter arrives at the hospital, Bends over Lisa, and starts to weep. Peter then picks up the phone that is in Lisa’s hand.
As Peter continues to browse the newspaper article about Lisa’s car accident he starts to cry. This is because the article gives him a lot of memories about Lisa and that makes him very sad.
In the evening, Peter locks himself up in his bedroom. His mind is immersed in memory. All he can think about is apparently Lisa. He remembers a time when he and Lisa were running around and fooling. He then remembers a time when he took a picture of Lisa. He then remembers a time when he and Lisa were in the theatre watching a film with Lisa leaning her head against his shoulder. In this particular memory, he and Lisa were very happy and very much in love. Peter also remembers a time when he was holding Lisa’s hand and swirling around in circles.
Peter’s mother comes to the door and asks him to open the door. He does not comply with this request from his mother but instead sits on the bed, buries his face in his hands and starts to cry.
The next day Peter sits in a corner of the campus. He is very sad and his friends, Ben and Jason are with him. Ben and Jason start consoling Peter, noticing that he is very sad.
Peter is at home leaning against the head of the bed. All he can think about at this point is Lisa. Surprisingly Peter receives a text message on his phone. The text message is from Lisa’s phone. In the text message, Lisa asks Peter whether or not he is free and whether or not he would like to accompany her to a movie. Peter is clearly surprised by the content of this text message and sits on his bed abruptly. He is doubtful as to whether or not he should reply the text message. He then tears the house apart looking for Lisa’s phone, but after half a day of intense searching, he does not find the phone and gives up the search. Peter receives another text message from Lisa’s phone and they set up a date the following day at 6 o’clock at the entrance of the cinema.
The following day Peter is at the entrance of the cinema waiting for Lisa. To his surprise a phantom of Lisa appears to him but then disappears within the blink of an eye. At this point, Peter is extremely mentally and emotionally disturbed, yet he proceeds to the ticket booth and proceeds to buy the tickets. As the movie continues, the phantom of Lisa appears again and leans her head on Peter’s shoulder. This time around the phantom does not disappear immediately. Instead the phantom stays for a while before vanishing again.
The next day Ben and Jason are sitting on a wooden Bench. Ben has Lisa’s phone in his hand. They are discussing the content of the next message that they send from Lisa’s phone. Peter comes over and almost instinctively, Ben hides the phone behind him in an attempt to keep Peter from seeing the phone. It is revealed that Ben and Jason took Lisa’s phone from Peter’s room.
At home, Peter receives yet another text message from Lisa’s phone asking him whether he has had dinner. Peter replies that he just did and asks Lisa the same. Lisa says that she is yet to have her dinner. Peter reminds Lisa that her body is very weak and that she should pay more attention to her nutrition in order to grow strong.
Peter shows hints of emotional recovery from Lisa’s accident. He starts jogging early in the morning to maintain his good health and playing with his friends Ben and Jason. Now a smile starts to gradually appear on Peter’s face. Peter starts to play basketball with his classmates, discuss schoolwork questions with his classmates and even delivers a speech in the party of the class.
Peter is having dinner with Ben and Jason when he receives another text message from Lisa’s phone. In the message, Lisa expresses her joy at the fact that Peter has left all of his sorrow behind and it was no time for Lisa to leave. For a while, Peter thinks that it was Lisa who sent the message but it finally hits him that it was his friends Ben and Jason who were sending the messages from Lisa’s pone. Ben and Jason however deny the allegations made by Peter and deny ever sending the messages. Ben, however, admits to having the phone and when he reaches for it in his pocket, it is not there. He searches for the phone all to no avail.
Later that night Peter sends a message to Lisa asking whether he could see her one more time but receives no reply. He heads to the place where Lisa had her accident and feels strongly that Lisa is in the vicinity. Peter again texts Lisa asking where she is and again receives no response. As he is about to leave he hears a wave of ringing from behind and when he turns around he notices the phone on the ground. He squats and reaches for the phone when all of a sudden he notices a car heading for him at a very high speed. Peter shouts and suddenly awakens from his dream.
Premise
Haunted by the love he feels for a girl a young man struggles with sorrow after thee girl is involved in a car accident.
Character analysis.
Peter-violet
This is because Peter is rendered unstable by Lisa’s accident. The accident leaves him both an emotional as well as a mental wreck. After the accident he is very sad and can think about nothing except Lisa. H starts having dreams about Lisa and the accident. He sits at home in solitude and withdraws from society as a result of the accident. It takes the intervention of his friends to pull him out of the emotional abyss that the accident sent him into.
Ben-orange
This is because Ben is very concerned about Peter’s feelings. He is concerned about Peter’s state of mind after Lisa’s accident. This drives him to an extreme level of texting Peter from Lisa’s phone.
Jason-orange
Jason is very concerned about Peter and his state of mind after Lisa’s accident. He hangs out with Peter in an attempt to get his mind off Lisa. He evens conspires with Ben to send messages to Peter from Lisa’s phone all in an attempt to make Peter feel better about the entire issue. Throughout the crisis, he is there for Peter as a good friend who cares about Peter’s feelings.
Lisa-indigo
This can be extrapolated from the feelings that Peter had for Lisa. It is clear that Peter felt inspired by Lisa. Lisa even appears to Peter as a phantom in an attempt to cheer Peter up and to inspire him into moving on and letting go of his sorrows.
Step outline
- Opening. The opening of the script is a dream. Peter is dreaming about Lisa and chasing a girl in the streets thinking that she is Lisa. Unfortunately the girl turns out not to be Lisa.
- Inciting incident. This inciting incident takes place when Peter receives a call from Jason. The call is to inform him that Lisa has been involved in an accident. To make matters worse Lisa was on her way to meet Peter when she was involved in the car accident.
- Crisis. A crisis in the script occurs when Peter is completely depressed after Lisa’s accident. He can barely do anything except sit around all day and think about Lisa. He even locks himself in his room and refuses to let his mother in. at this stage he prefers nothing more than sitting alone and crying over Lisa.
- First act break. This is the point where all the main characters have been introduced. At this point, the audience knows Peter and the challenges he faces after Lisa’s accident. The audience also knows of Ben and Jason who are Peter’s friends and appear to be supportive at this stage in time when Peter is apparently at his worst.
- Point of commitment. This is the point where Peter starts living his life once again. He has decided to let go of all of his sorrows that resulted from Lisa being involved in a car accident. Instead of sitting at home and crying all day of wandering aimlessly around the campus Peter decides to start hanging out with friends once again
- The climax. This takes place in the last scene when Peter goes to the spot where Lisa had her car accident. He has mastered up all of his strength to be able to make it to this place. He is convinced that the text messages that he has been receiving are indeed from Lisa. He has gone to see her at least one last time.
- The resolution. This happens when Peter is about to get hit by a car at the very same place where Lisa had her car accident. As Peter sees the oncoming car he screams and immediately wakes up from his dream.
Scenes with the protagonist and antagonist
The first scene. In this scene, Peter follows Lisa and Lisa gets hit y a car. The winner of this scene is the protagonist Lisa. The treasure of this scene is the revelation of Peter’s determination.
The movie theatre scene. In this scene, Lisa appears to Peter as a phantom. The winner of this scene is Peter because he gains some closure. The treasure of this scene is that it reveals the relationship between Peter and Lisa.
The final scene where Peter goes to the spot where Lisa was hit by a car. The inner of this scene is Lisa because she finally gets her message across to Peter. The treasure of this scene is the suspense that it creates.
References
Beveridge, J. A. (2003). Script writing for short films,. Paris: Unesco.
Parker, N. S. (2005). Audiovisual script writing. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
Halsey, A. (2005). Script. S.l.: A. Halsey?
Moore, B. (2001). The revolution script ([1st ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
