Cellular Frequency

a short film

Cellular Frequency 

Characters:

Sarah - Scene 1, 3, 8

Tom - Sc. 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10

David Sc. 2, 4, 7, 10

Eric " Sc. 5, 9, 10

Scene 1:

-Black screen. Cell phone noises grow out of silence and become louder and louder. 

-1st image: thumbs rapidly dancing across phone keys

-A girl (Sarah) in her car applying makeup using her camera on her phone. She

 receives a message from David. She reads it, it says:  “please give me another chance”

 She ignores it and turns on her phone camera to take a selfie (camera angle- phone obscures face), then leaves her car.

-A guy (Tom) walks out of class with his eyes on his phone. Texting someone else or taking selfies. (Cinematic score plays softly in background, grows louder as they progress closer to each other).

--As tom and Sarah get closer to each other their scenes are cut shorter and shorter and are shown in rapid sequence until they bump into each-other.  When this happens the music stops; as the camera shows their facial reactions, the first shot of their faces will be blurred but will clear slowly as they gaze into each other’s eyes, coming out of their cellular trance.   They smile. Scene ends.

Scene 2:

We see David in an enclosed environment " the middle of the library- To imply claustrophobia. (Suspenseful score plays throughout scene, grows louder.) David looks pissed off/ sad.  As he waits in-between texts with Sarah, he becomes agitated. He gets an alarm on his phone that says take medicine. He ignores it and walks outside. Scene ends

Scene 3:

Sarah writes her phone number on Tom’s wrist and they part. Scene ends.

Scene 4:

David grows even more agitated when she doesn't reply to him. When she finally does the message says, ”I think we should stop seeing each other." The background music stops playing. Silence as David’s face reacts to the message. He destroys his phone- thrashes it on the ground. Scene ends.

Scene 5:

Eric (driver) is sitting in his car having a full-fledged conversation with Siri, asking her personal questions, and then asks her when will I die? " (Siri’s response) " Eric looks out the window. Looks back at his phone. Tells Siri to text Tom, says hurry the hell up. Scene ends

Scene 6:

Tom goes to the bathroom. Camera shows him in the stall. He plays a game on the toilet or watches a funny YouTube video. Camera shows his feet, we hear him laugh. After he flushes he gets a text from Sarah who he bumped into earlier. He reads it and sets it on the counter to wash his hands. His friend comes in and talks to him and they leave the bathroom. Tom leaves his phone on the counter. Scene ends with camera focused on the phone -background blurred out. Scene continues into scene 7.

Scene 7:

Scene 3's ending plays out for 20 seconds. Same shot of the vacant phone, David walks in, sees the phone. Stares at it. The phone vibrates. It's a message from Sarah.  Looks around bathroom. Looks under stalls. Camera shot from inside stall, catches David looking under the stall. Sees that no one is in there. He steals the phone. He walks out. Gets another text from Sarah. Replies ‘Screw you’ to it. Scene ends.

Scene 8:

Tom checks his pockets for his phone and realized he left it in the bathroom, and as soon as he turns around he sees Sarah and she slaps him in the face. Scene ends.

Scene 9:

Tom opens the bathroom door (same blurred camera angle on the sink counter). He looks all around the bathroom for his phone. He gives and then stares at himself in the mirror, his cheek red. Tom walks to the parking lot. He gets in Eric's car and they leave. Eric is texting. He looks over at Tom and sees the phone number on his wrist. Eric says, “Where did that come from".” Scene ends.

Scene 10:

Walking across the street, David, on Tom’s phone, gets hit by Eric texting and driving.  Same music from the opening scene plays. Black screen. Cellular Frequency. Scene ends.

Author's Note

a film for class