DRAFT

Short Film

Scene 1: INT car

 

 Open in a car, as if the camera is on the dashboard. We see a child in the passenger seat idling about, humming along to a relatively happy tune on the radio. Warm sunlight comes from the passenger window, saturating her and the bear sitting on her lap. The bear is rather small, and it’s ears are lined with pink felt that’s worn down to reveal the old felt underneath. It’s a small pooh bear that is no longer the golden yellow it should be, and instead is a dirty tan from years of love and affection. The child has a grip on the bear with one of her hands, the other is tapping on the door in time to the music. 

Jarring cut to the driver of the car, who is the father of the young girl. His point of view is very dark, there is a lack of music and instead a single low note is playing in the background. He is gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles are turning white, a clear signal of his stress. The lighting turns very cold, missing the youthful colour of the child's perspective.

Another jarring cut back to the young girl, who's humming has stopped. She now grasps the bear with both hands, and the child slowly turns her head towards her father. The light shining through the passenger window disappears, signifying the car moving through a tunnel, possibly even a car park.

Scene fades to black.

Scene 2: INT doctors office

We are introduced to the mother. She enters a doctor's waiting room, and you can clearly tell she is in distress. Her hand grips the right side of her head, an expression of excruciating pain floods her face. She sits down on a seat in the centre of the room. The pain increases, as she settles her head in both of her hands and rests her elbows on her knees. Very suddenly she stands, looking confused, moving forward and scanning the room in a circular motion. People in the background begin to look concerned, some standing and starting to approach the mother. 

Everything freezes, apart from the mother. She starts to fall, and as her head hits the ground the scene transitions into the young girl waking from her bed.

Scene 3: INT hospital waiting room

The young girl and her father sit across from each other at a small, circular table. The bear is sat in the middle the table with a small pot of ice cream situated in front of him. The father leans over as the young girl grabs a spoon and the pot of ice cream. She begins to eat it as her father takes his phone out and shows the child a photo. They begin talking, indistinctively, as the girl slowly stops eating her ice cream. The background sounds of people talking and machines beeping becomes louder as we slowly zoom in to the bear, who is grabbed by the child.

The bear is placed on the table of a hospital bed, still close-up. We zoom out and see that there is now a bandage over the small teddy's head. We continue to zoom out and see the mother sitting in a hospital bed with numerous tubes and machines surrounding her. She has the same bandage as the bear. The young girl sits on the side of the bed, conversing with her mother and showing her some school work she's completed recently. The father sits in a chair off to the side, with his phone in his right hand and his left hand resting on his head. The phone starts to ring and the father stands, walking off as the young girl and her mother continue to talk and joke. Machines continue to beep and whir as a nurse approaches and places a box of medication labelled "NICKY" on the side table.