neurovision

by
adam andrusiak
2013-11-18 : unfinished draft
2013-11-26 : first draft
CLOSEUP OF A TELEVISION SCREEN
ONSCREEN:
Cavemen cluster around a fire. One gestures wildly as he
tells a story.
VOICE OVER
We have always shared
stories. More than anything else,
its what makes us human.
In the flickering light the gesturing caveman holds up a
hand with two fingers extended. On the cave wall behind him
he casts a shadow puppet rabbit.
He makes it hop while the other hand sneaks up behind it.
VOICE OVER
And as long as weve been telling
stories, weve tried to find better
ways to share them.
The light grows stronger, overwhelming the shadow puppets
and leaving a crude cave painting of a rabbit. Then it
shifts into a clean-lined Egyptian hieroglyph.
VOICE OVER
Better pictures, better materials.
The hieroglyph ripples and grows sharper. It is now on
papyrus.
VOICE OVER
The better we become at sharing,
the closer we come to each other.
The rabbit becomes a detailed ink drawing, a woodcut
print. Another, identical print is placed on top of
it. Then another, and another.
New ones rapidly fall on top of the last, each one slightly
different from the last, and the rabbit begins to
move. Animated.
VOICE OVER
The better we become at telling
stories, the better we understand
each other.
The rabbit hops a couple times then begins to evolve. It
stands up, walking on its hind legs. The details simplify
until it becomes a cartoon rabbit walking in the middle of
the flickering screen.
2.
VOICE OVER
The time has come for a new
innovation in human sharing.
The flickering screen clears and a tweed coloured waistcoat
appears on the rabbit. He pulls out a gold pocket watch and
then turns and starts running.
VOICE OVER
A vision so clear that it looks
just like real life.
The rabbit leaps toward us and it becomes a live rabbit on
the HD television screen.
VOICE OVER
Vision so real, you can touch it.
A young girl walks onto screen. She pets the rabbit, then
picks it up and takes it with her.
Trailing wires are plugged into her head.
A logo appears: Neurovision.
CHANNEL CHANGE:
STOCK MARKET STUDIO
Stock market prices crawl along the bottom of the screen
while a man in a suit talks in an urgent tone of voice.
MARKET HOST
Neurovision is hot right
now! Buy! Buy! Buy!
The Neurovision logo appears in the top left corner of the
screen.
MARKET HOST
You might not want brain surgery
just to walk around in your
favourite movie, but plenty of
people are willing to pay for
it. You dont have to get the
surgery but get their
stock! Overseas regulation doesnt
slow them down, people are
traveling here to give Neurovision
their money.
CHANNEL CHANGE:
3.
NEWS SHOW
A panel of guests are arrayed around a table.
BRITISH PANELIST
We do have concerns about the
safety of the surgery but they are
minor. The main issue is that the
device appears to be susceptible to
hacking. There simply arent
enough regulations in place to
ensure that it continues to operate
properly. Already, there are
reports of people modifying it so
that their life looks like a movie.
NEUROVISION REP.
Improper use of a car or knife is
dangerous, even lethal. There have
been no reported cases of injury
due to Neurovision.
BRITISH PANELIST
None yet... We simply arent ready
to sign off on the technology. Are
you comfortable with the idea that
someone youre talking to might
think that theyre living in a
movie? Who knows what kind of
movie they think it is?!
CHANNEL CHANGE:
DAYTIME TALK SHOW
JENNY (adolescent, content) sits beside her MOTHER
(oversized sunglasses, sharp) and FATHER (gold watch,
impatient) on a sofa.
Title on the screen: Help! My teenage daughter is trapped in
a movie!
MOTHER
Now, me, I dont get it. It was
hard enough to get those creepy
Shining twins out of my head after
I saw them. I dont need them put
straight into my brain.
4.
FATHER
This again?
(turns to camera)
She goes on and on about how we
never do anything but when we go
out all she does is complain.
We begin a slow zoom into the television screen.
MOTHER
I wasnt complaining! You drag me
to a movie I dont want to see-
FATHER
It was what was playing! You
always act like youre
blameless. As if Jenny didnt have
this thing put into her head while
she was staying with you.
MOTHER
How could I know that you gave her
all that money?
We enter the screen and the television frame disappears
entirely. Slow zoom continues toward Jenny.
MOTHER (CONT)
You didnt even ask her what it was
for. You just dont care.
FATHER
I dont care? Dont care?! I work
every single day and give you money
because I dont care?
MOTHER
No, you dont! You dont care if
Im happy... if were happy.
FATHER
But she looks happy now. Happier
than she ever did before.
MOTHER
Thats only because...
We enter Jennys head.
GENRE SHIFT:
From her point of view everything looks like a romance movie
(soft focus & lighting). Her parents appear to be much
closer here.
5.
MOTHER (CONT)
...she has so much
strength. Strength she must have
gotten from you. Ive been a mess
since this happened.
FATHER
You a mess? Not possible. I cant
even imagine it.
MOTHER
I feel like a mess. Jenny has been
slipping away for a long time
now. Now its like shes gone,
locked in her own head. I dont
want to lose her like I lost you.
FATHER
Youll never lose me. When we
couldnt live together anymore I
almost fell apart. I... had to
pretend I was strong. For
Jenny. For you.
MOTHER
Maybe this all happened for a
reason. Maybe Jenny bringing us
together like this will be for the
best.
FATHER
Maybe. Im so worried about
her. Who knows what shes going
through right now?
JENNY
Im okay! Dont worry about me.
GENRE SHIFT:
Standard point of view.
MOTHER
She does seem happier. Not that
thats hard. She was always such a
sullen child.
(to Father)
Maybe you should get brain surgery
too.
FATHER
Honestly!
6.
INT. BACKSTAGE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
Jenny and her parents enter a busy backstage hallway. Her
father is quickly met by an assistant and they talk rapidly
as they walk away.
Her mother turns and pulls out her phone.
Jenny, ignored by everyone, drifts after her father but is
reluctant to leave her mother. In a hallway full of busy
strangers, she becomes further and further away from both of
them.
GENRE SHIFT:
The hallway becomes darker, the colours wash out. Light
seems to flicker. The strangers moving past her are vacant
and deformed. Hideous.
Jenny shrinks into a corner, terrified that the zombies will
notice her as they lurch in and out of doorways. Some run
into closed doors.
Her mother, oblivious to it all, concentrates on her phone.
A zombie is coming up behind her.
Further down the hallway, her father is being dragged away
by the zombie assistant.
Suddenly, a deformed face slams into the glass window of the
door beside Jenny and she stumbles away, screaming.
Her parents fight their way back to her. Regardless of
personal danger, they push toward each other.
GENRE SHIFT:
Standard point of view.
A SHOW ASSISTANT kneels worriedly near a huddled &
hysterical Jenny, afraid to touch her.
SHOW ASSISTANT
I didnt do anything! I just tried
to talk to her!
Mother reaches Jenny first and stoops over, awkwardly trying
to console her.
When Father gets there, Mother looks up at him accusingly.
7.
INT. DOCTORS WAITING ROOM - DAY
Jenny sits between her parents. A NURSE (professional,
downplayed beauty) approaches with a file folder.
NURSE
The doctor will see her now.
They begin to get up.
NURSE
Just Jenny for now.
Her parents settle back into their chairs, sharing genuine
worry over the empty chair between them.
INT. DOCTORS OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Jenny stands in the open doorway. The DOCTOR (poker face,
labcoat) sits behind his desk.
DOCTOR
Have a seat.
Jenny hesitantly starts to enter the room and...
GENRE SHIFT:
The doctor is in black & white, the collar of his labcoat
flipped up.
DOCTOR
Cmon, Doll. You chose to knock on
my door. Its too late to play coy
now.
Jenny comes into the room and takes a seat. The nurse sits
on the corner of the desk.
NURSE
The kid heres got a problem.
DOCTOR
Dont they all? People only see me
when they got problems.
NURSE
Youre in the wrong line of work if
that bugs you.
8.
DOCTOR
I was never good for much else in
this crazy world.
(to Jenny)
Lucky for you, Doll, Im very good
at this.
NURSE
His big head is an occupational
hazard but he comes by it
honestly. He couldnt afford to
keep me around if he didnt.
DOCTOR
Remind me. Why do I do that again?
The nurse shifts her position, recrossing her long legs.
NURSE
Youd fall apart without someone to
hold the pieces together.
She hands him the folder.
NURSE (CONT)
Interesting case, this one.
The doctor glances over the paper then looks at Jenny.
DOCTOR
Now why would a nice girl like you
want to stick a chunk of metal in
your head?
JENNY
I... just...
NURSE
Never mind that ham-fisted
brute. Despite the diplomas on the
wall, he can be remarkably stupid.
DOCTOR
There are things I gotta know in
this line of work and sometimes
there isnt time for tact.
NURSE
A girls reasons are her own. It
aint something you gotta know.
9.
DOCTOR
Im not spending the time and
effort to fix her if she doesnt
want to be fixed. Shes got rich
parents. That gets her through the
door. But I aint in the business
of patching up a house while the
owners still kicking holes in the
wall.
NURSE
You havent met the parents
yet. You have no idea what youre
talking about.
JENNY
No! No... Its alright. I thought
that this would make things...
easier? More interesting, at
least. It isnt what I thought it
would be.
Both Doctor and Nurse watch her for a moment.
DOCTOR
There it is. Lets get this
done. Bring in the parents.
INT. SURGERY - DAY
GENRE:
JJ Abrams scifi. Everything is shiny, lens flare streams
dramatically.
Jenny is sitting reclined with a sheet draped over her
forehead. The doctor sits behind her in a surgical
mask. Two MASKED ASSISTANTS hurry to fetch instruments and
tend to complicated machines.
DOCTOR
Jenny! You have to tell me when
things look normal again. Can you
do that?
JENNY
Yeah. Things are...
A spinning camera shot shows the operating room in chaos.
10.
JENNY
...not normal.
DOCTOR
Get me the hyper-reality retractor!
ASSISTANT
But doctor, that has never been
used before!
DOCTOR
Dammit, dont stand there telling
me things I already know. Get the
retractor!
ASSISTANT
Yes, doctor.
The assistant rushes to the other side of the room and grabs
something that looks like a complicated screwdriver. As
they start to come back one of the machines crashes to the
ground in front them.
Desperately, they look for a way to get over it.
DOCTOR
There isnt time! Throw it to me!
The assistant looks shocked.
DOCTOR (CONT)
Throw it!
They fling it toward the doctor with all the athletic grace
that five years of academic training gives you.
The retractor spins through the air in slow motion until the
doctor snatches it.
He brings the tool down behind the sheet.
GENRE SHIFT:
Everything dims into staid, flat lighting. The room is calm
and quiet.
A couple surgical tools lay on the ground where a tray was
knocked over but they are rapidly tidied away by an
assistant.
JENNY
(hint of disappointment)
Things are normal.
11.
EXT. SEA WALL - DAY
Jenny walks along a seawall as a brisk breeze blows her hair
to the side.
A distance behind her, her parents follow side by side.
Jenny comes up to the edge of the water and takes a deep
breath. She looks down. A bit bored, she toes a rock off
the path and into the water.
Snippets of her parents conversation are carried by the
wind.
FATHER
Im happy to do this. Its what I
want to do. I just want to make
sure we get back before Im missed.
MOTHER
I acknowledge your commitment and
appreciate it. But I want you to
understand that this day is
supposed to be about being together
and restricting the time makes it
difficult...
Jenny sighs and pulls a smart phone out of her pocket. She
plugs in earphones and hunches her back against the sun to
watch a video.