truth

Writer & Director: Johnathan Woo
Script-Editor, Post-Production Editor, and Director: Christian Park
Bamboozled.org Script-Editor: Kyle O’Neill
An Amateur Filming Association & Bamboozled.org Project

R E L I N Q U I S H E D

The interactions with and death of a mutual friend of four high school juniors affect their personality, outlook on life, and their public and private selves.

Characters:

1. Lola
Casual internet poet & writer to vent emotions, bookworm. A self-described matured intellectual (without substantial proof). Despises people with one-track minds or the immature. However, a double standard exists between her public self and her anonymous self: her internet literary posts explore the range of predictable teenage angst-filled drama and emotion. These two conflicting sides of Lola do not interfere with each other – she maintains her cooled demeanor around everyone at school. Well known around her high school, but not immensely popular until her relationship with David. After the happiness filled weeks, they started to argue and she soon discovered that David’s interest revolve around schoolwork and grades, almost exclusively. Beatrice later approached her and they soon slept behind David’s back. She now spends her time with David jaded or apathetic.

2. David Christensen “Dave”
“Modern-Day ‘Scholar’”: Almost singularly interested in grades, driven by parents. Determined to make money in later life, but clueless as to what to do with the money once acquired. Very popular with girls and boys who simply want to copy homework off of him and he feeds off of their attention. Spoiled by parents and snaps rudely at people. Wants people to call him by his name, not with any nicknames; gets upset when other make nicknames for him.  David asked Lola to a date on a dare (he won $20, but he never told Lola that), but despite the bet they grew close for a while, and David’s parasitic classmates elevated the couple to larger popularity. However, his grades almost immediately dropped after entering into a relationship, and now David has to make a choice whether or not to follow his parent’s commandment or his new crush.

3. Richard
Upon entering high school, Richard changes his personality from a quiet friendly person to a more outgoing adventurous type of person to experiment with hedonism. He enjoys his change, and regretting not doing so earlier. His guise becomes identity. Everyone in high school knows him through his charming personality and he realizes he cannot return to his past personality until possibly the end of his days at high school. Keeping up his facade took more and more effort until he started a relationship with Beatrice, whom he suspected of practicing hedonism as well. Her nonchalant and smooth attitude towards everything attracted him towards her. His suspicions heightened after he discovered that Beatrice also went out with Lola. He didn’t mind and agreed to keep the secret between the three of them (Lola was still going out with David), because he happily assumed that she was a hedonist by now. Just as Richard developed true feelings for Beatrice, she broke up with Richard after learning about his past as a mellower person (Beatrice did not want anyone capable of discovering her true personality near her) from an alumni of Richard’s middle school. Beatrice claims that she cannot fulfill Richard’s sexual demands, and both remain friends after ending their relationship. During his years with hedonism he realizes that sexual pleasure can smother all emotions away. He starts to fear hedonism and this aspect, doubting and questioning himself about the moral legitimacy of hedonism; he wonders whether or not he can accept hedonism as a lifestyle.

4. Jesse
Pianist. Untrusting of anyone, seen as an outcast by most of the school. He will never let anyone at school hear him play. Enjoys loneliness. Highly secretive with his past.

5. Beatrice “Bee”
While she was alive, Beatrice knew all of the other characters in various different ways. Most people recognize her as an outgoing, optimistic, intelligent, understanding, kind, friendly, and studious sort of person. Unlike David’s mission, Beatrice has an actual interest in the academia itself, valuing the gathering of knowledge over the pursuit of high grades and an impressive transcript: she wanted to learn what she wanted to learn, not what everyone else tells her as a key to a “respectable college.” Since the beginning of her life, she is unable to truly believe in something, causing a deep depression to mature during her late middle school years and continuing onto high school. She has never truly felt deeply about anyone, nor has she really felt anything towards her parents, her pets, or anyone around her. She has traveled through her life without emotion. Her middle school alumni remember her as silent, unemotional, and reluctant to make friends, a complete 180 from her current state. She believed that she might learn something that will teach her how to feel deeply, and that is why she studies so hard. But she never lets anyone into this silent world, nor show it openly in front of anyone. She just finished her high school junior year when a drunk driver crashed into her sedan after a late night party.

She created her eager personality so she could sample the life of a popular person in a high school with a larger amount of people. In the second semester of her Junior year (after she watched Jesse), she started to revert back to her silent alter-ego – she believes as a popular person, too much energy is spent on trivial matters that hold no worth in the deep future. However, as we know, Beatrice discarded her popular shade because it no longer served a purpose.

Notes:

FLASHBACKS are filmed in color.
Everything else is filmed in blackandwhite, unless otherwise stated.

Script:

Episode 1: Anti-Tank Weaponry

FADE IN – int. Lola’s bedroom. Lights are on, impossible to tell time of day in the room. Sometime around morning, actually. ESTABLISHING SHOT. Lola is typing on a computer. She looks up at clock next to her, and then powers it down.

FLASHBACK START: ext. steps of Lowell High School (LHS). David and Lola stand without looking quite at each other.

David
I thought I could manage my time, but I can’t. I can’t keep my grade up if we keep seeing each other so often. I’m just trying to explain to you that in high school my grade is really important, you know?

Lola
…

David
Lola? You understand, right?

Lola
We’re seeing each other less often because you care about grades and your beautiful college transcript [David cuts her off here] more than you care about me.

David
No no that’s not what I’m trying to say. Runs hand through hair and sighs. I mean, if you knew what I actually meant, then you’d understand.

Lola
So what do you actually mean?

David
sighs again. It’s really hard to explain, Lola, I’m trying as hard as I can.

Lola
Well, it doesn’t really look like it and you’re kinda pissing me off.

David
I’m really trying! David checks his watch, and then Silence. Hey, I really have to go now, can I talk to you later? About this?

Lola
Sure. Just keep running away, it’ll make things better. Gets up and walks towards Stonestown.

David
Walks away towards Sloat St. I’m not running away from you!

Lola
Lola ignores him.

FLASHBACK END: CUT – int. Lola’s bedroom, Lola is listening to David’s voice message.

David
I’m not trying to be mean or anything. I just need more time. I still love you, as much as I did before. Tell you what, how about we meet tomorrow, 9am for chess at the chess boards? I’ll bring my own pieces. It’ll just be like old times. Call me back, okay? Bye.

CUT TO -  int. Lola’s house. Lola leaves her house while the message is playing. She closes the door.

CUT TO BLACK BEFORE SHE CLOSES DOOR, AND FADE TO – chess boards near the Metreon. ESTABLISHING SHOT David is seated with a plastic bag of chess pieces. He looks at her and waves, but Lola does not respond. Lola seats herself, and David starts setting up the pieces. He automatically takes the white pieces. Lola has finished setting up her side, while David is slowly and purposefully placing each white piece in its proper place. He smiles for a bit. Lola looks emotionless, but she speaks with irritation.

Lola
Why are you only using your right arm? You’re taking so long to set up.

David looks like he was woken from a dream.

David
It’s my good luck charm. I always do this before I win.

Lola
her mind is somewhere else…Oh. How intimidating. I guess you’ll beat me this time.

David finishes and makes his first move.

David
I half thought you would want to go to the movies or something. You know, they’re not too far, but I chose here because I wanted some peace and quiet. Thanks for coming out here.

Lola
I hear you wanted to finish our chat, way back when.

David
Well…yeah. Lola, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. I still want to have you as my girlfriend. I think we are a good couple, right?

Lola
Everyone thinks we look cute together. You’re getting pretty popular with me around.

David
You move pretty quickly. Do you play chess often?

Lola
I used to play chess with Beatrice.

David
Oh. silence, as they move pieces. I’m sorry I brought her up.

Lola
…

David
Anyhow, are we cool now? It’s almost the end of school, so we’ll have lots of fun in the summertime.

Lola
…

David
You…You can’t be that sad about Beatrice, can you? Besides, you have me around, right?

Lola
…

David is losing.

David
Okay let’s stop playing chess. It’s becoming a distraction for you. Starts to place the pieces back into the plastic bag. Lola says nothing. What’s wrong? You look like you’re seeing dead people or something, and you won’t say anything to me. To me! Your boyfriend! We’re supposed to be happy and carefree, not all sulky like this! Smile! Where did the Lola I knew go to?

Lola
looks up at him. I should’ve done this a long time ago. The last time we’ve talked like this you never got straight to why we were actually here.

David
We were supposed to play chess together to make up for our argument a few days ago! Besides, there was nothing else to discuss. I would’ve said the same things I said back at the steps the other day. Today I’m just trying to make you happier.

Lola
Aw, how cute. I suppose everything just slipped your mind again. You know how you conveniently forget things. No, I think we’re over. Goodbye, David. Gets up and walks away.

David
Mutters. For once, I wish she called me Davey or Dave or something now. What did I do wrong?

Lola
Stops and turns back to walk towards him. David.

David
Yes, Lola?

Lola
Will you attend the funeral?

David
Uh. Yeah. Beatrice was my friend too. Why?

Lola
Turns around and walks away.

David
…What did I do wrong?

FADE TO – Lola’s bed. CONTINUOUS SHOT. She is facing the ceiling. Her computer is powered off.

Lola
A silence, and then she starts talking without looking at anything. You know, I broke up with him because I didn’t want him to find out about you and me, Beatrice. What else could I do but finish what I planned? And he always talked about how he yearned to be my first. She snorts. Oh well. I suppose I can finish writing my story now.

Lola doesn’t move.

Where do you live now, Bee? Someplace static, I guess. Smiles. Well, I’m still not content. Forgive me.

FADE OUT as Lola walks towards the computer to turn it on and takes papers out.

Fin.

Episode 2: A Warning Salvo

FADE IN – int. David’s house, table in a room. The lights outside his room are grey, but his room lights are turned on. David has four pictures laid out on the table. One is a picture of him, Beatrice, and Lola laughing together (Richard took the picture), another with Beatrice and Richard with their backs facing the sun, holding hands, walking down a crowded street in downtown, another with Lola staring into the camera, and the last one, a picture of Richard and Lola holding a camera together and smiling.

David
What am I doing here. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to go to work today. I’m supposed to go to work today. He rests his face in his left palm. I’m supposed to go to work today.
He then gets up and leaves his house, leaving the pictures on the table.

FLASHBACK START: AUDIO FADE IN TO BEFORE HARD CUT TO – LHS steps, same day as FLASHBACK in ep1. CONTINUOUS SHOT. David walks away from Lola, and whips out a cellphone. As he talks into it, we can see Lola in the background get up and walk towards Stonestown.

David
Did you get all of that?

Richard
Yes, Davey.

David
Don’t call me Davey!

Richard
Hah. Anyways, it seems like you’re in pretty deep shit. But she’s right, isn’t she? You are valuing your grades over her.

David
No, man! That’s not it! I…my dad wants me to go to this summer academy, and I don’t think I’ll have time for her during the summer!

Richard
Oh? Is that your true reason?

David
Yes.

Richard
I don’t remember hearing that while you were talking to her. She can’t handle the truth or something?

David
…N-no. No, I bet she can’t.

(David lied to Lola in the previous conversation)

Richard
…Well, if you know Lola that well, then I suppose you don’t need my help.

David
What?

Richard
You should’ve had more confidence in yourself. Even I didn’t know Lola like that. Congratulations.

Richard hangs up, and David stops walking.

CUT TO: Right of Way & Eucalyptus Dr., dusk. Richard waits for the bus, slipping the cellphone back into his pant pocket. He exhales, looks depressed. Nobody else is there.

WHITE OUT

START FLASHBACK: Right of Way & Eucalyptus Dr., late afternoon. Beatrice and Richard are at the bus stop. This is filmed in blackandwhite. Beatrice and Richard are dressed according to film noir.

Beatrice
Richard.

Richard
Beatrice.

Beatrice
…Kiss me.

Richard
That has got to be the ridiculous thing you’ve asked me [Beatrice interrupts here] to do. Now I really don’t want to.

Beatrice
On the railroad tracks. I wanna teach you a lesson.

Richard
He smiles and looks towards the rails…We have a twenty seconds before the train runs us over, okay?

FADE TO BLACK as Beatrice utters her line.

Beatrice
This is what life is about, right? Getting closer to death.

END FLASHBACK: We are back at Richard in the original flashback. He walks to the train tracks, and stairs at his feet. A moment later he returns to the tracks.

Richard
(this line isn’t directed at anyone in particular) I think I really missed my train. I feel false and plastic, indulging and smiling all the time. I don’t think I can live like this anymore.

CUT TO – int. my (or a) house, dining room. We now see in a camcorder’s nightvision. The lights are off and Richard in a suit talks directly to the camera. When the shot starts, he leans against the table, but he gets off it during his line. He gesticulates frequently but calm/smoothly. CONTINUOUS SHOT (Setting B)

Suited Richard
Yes we can! Er, yes you can! Laughs.

(Suited Richard is a presence within Richard himself. It represents what Richard believes he wants to be. This entity, however, has a different goal in mind: to make Richard mentally mature by having him believe his dreams so that he (Richard) may grow beyond them, or  alter them or follow them less zealously.)

CUT TO – Right of Way & Eucalyptus Drive, late afternoon. Richard is still alone at the bus stop. CONTINUOUS SHOT. (Setting A)

Richard
I seriously can’t.

CUT TO Setting B, CONTINUOUS SHOT.

Suited Richard
Why not? You’re a simple, normal human being. What should stop you from dreaming a little?

CUT TO Setting A, CONTINUOUS SHOT. (and so on)

Richard
I’m not dreaming.

Suited Richard
Really? You want me to rephrase that?

Richard
No!

Suited Richard
Richard, you’re just a boy. That means you’re just a boy. But it also means, you’re just a bore. So when will you stop acting like you don’t want to handle every breast and just relax? I promise you’ll like it.

Richard
But I don’t like it.

Suited Richard
Erm. Handle every erect penis, then? No, it’s okay; I, personally, have nothing against homosexuality. It’s like apples and oranges to me.

Richard
I feel deceived. I feel that you have deceived me, and that I do not agree with these forced changes in my personality.

Suited Richard
You simply cannot accept who you are, can you? You’re a hedonist, so get used to it for now! Winks at the camera.

Richard
For…now?

Richard
Enough.

Suited Richard
What’s wrong? I don’t know which side the Devil’s Advocate should stand on anymore, so I’m pulling at straws! Besides, you should really learn to enjoy pain, whenever it arrives. That skill will come in handy in the deep future, when you grow up all big and strong.

Richard
No.

Suited Richard
You are such a pain in the ass, man. You really do remind me of a child. Well…maybe I’m wrong, and you still are a baby. Not a young man.

Richard
…

Suited Richard
Sighs heavily. Slowly walks towards the lightswitch, flips it on, but the camera remains in nightvision mode.
Alright man. You win. You think you shouldn’t trust me at all because I’m not what you think I am. I give up. You know what? I’ll let you figure yourself out on your own. I can help other people who will listen.
Starts to the door.

Richard
So you’re not a hedonist but you say you are?

Suited Richard
See you later, Richard. Remember to say hi to Beatrice, okay?
Turns the light off again and walks towards the door and leaves the scene.

CUT TO Setting A. Lola walks up the street to meet Richard at the stop.

Lola
I’m not a hedonist at all. I believe in love.

Richard
Regains composure.
And the human spirit to persevere through all of David’s lame jokes?

Lola
Oh c’mon! They’re not that bad!

Richard
Eyes her suspiciously.

Lola
Alright they are, but you’re right. That’s what love is.

Richard
Really. Love? What kinda response is that? There is absolutely no difference!

Lola
Yes, you should try it sometime. You might like it!

Richard
Nah. Takes too long. I don’t like to take too long with anything unless it’s a naked woman. A good looking naked woman.

Lola
Have you really gotten tail?

Richard
Expression turns serious.
Depends.
Pulls out an unusual coin (Golden dollar, half dollar coin, w/e) and starts flipping it.

Lola
Doesn’t laugh.
Funny.

Richard
Pockets coin.
Maybe you’ll find out for yourself. Maybe not.

SILENCE.

Lola
Looks irritated by Richard.
So are you coming to Beatrice’s funeral?

Richard
chuckles under his breath.
Yes, I’ll be there. Have you been asking everyone that?

Lola
Of course.

SILENCE.

Richard
You know, you’re almost too subtle with your affection. Thanks. You’re a good friend, you know that?

Lola
Well, that’s how I am. Hey, don’t you take the bus, not the streetcar?

SILENCE.

Richard
So today I take the streetcar. Shoot me.

Lola
Walks up towards Richard and aims an invisible gun at Richard’s face.
Bang. Now you’re dead.

FADE TO BLACK.

Fin.

Episode 3: Theatre

CONTINUOUS SHOT – int. of Jesse’s house. Jesse and Beatrice are sitting down at a piano chair, near a piano. The time is around morning, and the blinds let a little bit of light get into the room. None of the lamps are on. The piano’s keys are exposed. Jesse and Beatrice sit on opposite sides of the piano chair and stare at opposites sides of the room. There is something stopping the door from closing completely (a sandal held against the door). Year is…sometime in the 2007 summer. Beatrice seems tired, and exhaustive with Jesse’s immature arguing.

Beatrice
Runs hand through hair, speaks tiredly.
So. Can you play the piano for me, or not?

Jesse
Why don’t you play piano?

Beatrice
I asked you first. Quite a few hours ago. Like, when I first walked in here.

Jesse
I don’t play the piano for anyone. You really should’ve left with the rest of your friends.

Beatrice
Why don’t you play the piano for anyone anymore?

Jesse
Because I hate playing the piano for people, like a songbird in a cage. They all just sit there like idiots watching television or something.

Beatrice
Who’s caging you? I’m asking for you to play piano for me. Do you want me to pay you?

Jesse
I won’t play until you will.

Beatrice
I don’t play an instrument. I write poetry.

Jesse
stifles a snicker.

Beatrice
remaining unemotional.
Play.

Jesse
stops smiling.
No.

Beatrice
Stands up, and walks out. She angrily slams the door, and the door hits the frame and bounces backwards, and stops, leaving a gap between the door and the doorframe. A gate opens and closes noisily.
Is this better?

A silence, and then.

Jesse
I’m not going to go all out. I’m going to do something easy.

Beatrice
Play.

Jesse turns and faces the piano, with his arms at his sides.
CUT TO BLACKNESS. A moment later, and Clair De Lune plays in its entirety.
FADE TO – Jesse in the exact position he was before the song. Beatrice is standing between the door and the doorframe.

Beatrice
Walks back her seat, and sits where she sat before, now right next to Jesse.
You are afraid that people will find out about this.
knocks on the Piano.

Jesse
Yes.

Beatrice
…I get it now.

Jesse
You see?

Beatrice
Why hide? You are causing quite a stir alone with that silence of yours.

Jesse
You…don’t understand, then? Well, I am not hiding it without reason.

Beatrice
Smiles a little
Now you sound a little silly. Well, I suppose I won’t find men here.

Jesse
Excuse me?

Beatrice
Laughs
Nothing. I’m just thinking outloud, that’s all. So why are you hiding this?

Jesse
My friends already think me as whitewashed, and that’s how I want them to think of me. It’s too much of a hassle to change people’s minds.

Beatrice
What? You don’t deny that you play the piano.

Jesse
But they don’t know I’ve played since I was 3 and my mother plays at the Boston Philharmonic.

Beatrice
Cocks head
So. Not divorced.

Jesse
No.

A moment passes…

Beatrice
You really think it’s that much of a hassle?

Jesse
In my old school, everyone would call me over to the piano. They would tell me to play for them. Chant as I would walk over. They even congratulate me after I finish screwed up songs and unimpressive pieces. Like a songbird in a cage. I hated that.

Beatrice
I think your friends are funny.

Jesse
I think they’re all bastards.

Beatrice
Facepalms.
But you trust me with your secret.

Jesse
…

Beatrice
I think you’re lying.

Jesse
…

Beatrice
You fear being labeled strange. You fear people calling you unusual. You fear having a special history, having to live up to an expectation even though you actually can.

Jesse
Lots of people play piano.

Beatrice
Nope, that’s not it. More like the fact that you have placed your energy into an activity for an extended amount of time with noticeable results.

Jesse
Lots of people play piano well. I shouldn’t be unusual.

Beatrice
But you are. Why? Because you make such a big fucking deal about hiding it. See, part of this strangeness is your own fault. Most of us have never seen a silent, caged songbird. Most of them sing.

Jesse
Well, I’m a special case. I want to be a special case.

Beatrice
Now you just sound like a little kid. Like a boy. You want to escape what you cannot deny, hide what you cannot swallow, even if you can smell it all around you. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Jesse
No.

(individualism. Jesse wants to hide his individualism by concealing his prowess. Ironically, his actions render him unique to other piano players at his high school.)

Beatrice
Your futile escape from yourself. You know, you should consider yourself lucky. You didn’t end up with cybernetic implants in your body, or something like that.

Jesse
Turns to face her, unnerverved.

Beatrice
You know what makes up you. Thanks for performing with the piano.
She gets up and actually leaves.

FADE OUT.

CONTINUOUS SHOT – int. Jesse’s bedroom. Year is…sometime in the 2008 summer. Jesse ruminates outloud.

Jesse
I did not expect for her to keep her end of the bargain. She is one of those popular girls who laugh forever and ever. I expected a more…oblivious and happy person, and I fell for her trap. Such a strange switch of personality…did I see something I wasn’t supposed to see? Was that who she truly was?

Trap? Did she even set up a trap? Was last year’s incident even on purpose?

Maybe she would’ve said something if she didn’t die. In any case, I’m thankful for her death. She will trouble me no longer. Nobody else can figure me out.

…Nobody else? How sad…No, wrong. Someone else will break me.

No, that can’t be right, she could’ve opened her mouth the moment she left my house. She is more honorable than I give her credit, and I should show up and mourn for her, along with the other people she has touched.

Beatrice has left you more confused than ever, and…now what?

a doorbell rings, Jesse looks through the window. Lola is waiting at the gate. She sees him looking at her through the window, and starts to speak.

Lola
Beatrice told me that you and she were friends. I’m assuming you want to pay your respects to her. The funeral is in eight days, starting at 9am. May I come in?

Jesse
as he is walking towards the door
Damn you for inviting her into my house. What are you trying to do to me? I cannot change this quickly.

opens door
Yes, come in.

Lola
So, would you care to explain your relationship with her to me?

Jesse
For what reason? I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name [Lola interrupts him here] is Jesse Montero, what is yours?

Lola
Names are unimportant at this moment right now. We can introduce ourselves later, or at the funeral. I want to hear you play the piano.

Jesse
…Play…

Lola
What?

Jesse
Nothing. Why do you want to hear me play the piano?

Lola
Because I know what you played for Beatrice, and that piece outpaces the ability you say you possess. She also told me you played it well.

Jesse
…How many other people did she tell?

Lola
Nobody else…from personal experience, I understand that when one plays a difficult piece, he or she pours a bit of one’s own personality when playing. So I will leave the choice to you.

CUT TO BLACK

Fin.

Episode 4: Salt the Earth

FADE IN – int. of a church. CUT TO: Beatrice in a dress standing in a graveyard, and she turns to face the camera. The time of day is irrelevant.

Beatrice
Tonight, we mourn the death of an exceptional high school student. Outgoing, optimistic, intelligent, understanding, kind, friendly, studious, Beatrice, or “Bee,” as her friends call her, was killed twenty three days ago by a drunk driver. But this service isn’t about the dangers of driving drunk. No, Beatrice has ascended beyond petty deaths and has gained a place in our memories. For that, we thank her for her time here and her time with us. Tonight, we remember the beautiful life of Beatrice.

CUT TO – int. a basement (interview room), Beatrice interviews Beatrice. Both women wear different clothes. One is clothed in the dress from the last cut, and the other is dressed in casual clothing.

Interviewer Beatrice (IVB)
Do you think you have made a difference in people’s lives?

Interviewee Beatrice (IEB)
I believe that I have existed in other peoples’ lives, yes.

IVB
Do you have any desires to return to the world of the living? Unfinished business, or anything like that?

IEB
Not as a walking corpse, no. And no unfinished business.

IVB
Really? Nothing else you want to sample as one of the living?

IEB
Nothing.

IVB
…I’m rather surprised that you found something to feel passionate about.

IEB
Yes.

IVB
How did you find it?

IEB
I watched Jesse perform a piece with his piano.

IVB
That’s all? Well, what did you find?

IEB
Simplicity in life.
IEB prepares to stand up

CUT TO – ext. Stern Grove – CONTINUOUS SHOT – Interviewee Beatrice stands up outside Stern Grove. The chair she sat on previously appears behind her. She walks alone into Stern Grove. She speaks without facing the camera, and always faces foreword. During her soliloquy short pictures of her past may flash onscreen between sentences. These pictures will be colored, always. As she begins her speech speaking very dispassionately and quickly, she begins to talk more naturally as she continues. The camera will change angle every two sentences or so to help lessen the memorization load. In some cuts of Beatrice, the scene will be colored, and in others, the scene will be blackandwhite (the entire scene will be filmed in color, with the blackandwhite effect added in post-production).

Interviewee Beatrice

Beatrice’s life represents a series of cycles of questions, quests and conclusions to answer a question haunting her since a child’s age.

Beatrice’s younger self found no use in expressing emotions externally. She felt that rage, despair, confusion, and happiness displayed with one’s musculature served as a waste of energy. She enjoyed much deeper and accurate interpretations of emotions through her mind, as well as privacy. Unfortunately, a medium for transportation of such thoughts to another person with high accuracy has not appeared yet, and therefore she found language an unfortunate necessity. During her early years vocal communication proved difficult and convoluted for her. She struggled to express her thoughts and evade ridicule. Her peers wondered how anyone could interpret a doll’s jumbled gurgling as genuine warnings.

Eventually mastering language to a level comparable to her peers’, Beatrice gave up her violent streak, opting for a lesser expenditure of energy – diplomacy. As she traveled through the grades, many conflicts could not resolve themselves through honored verbal agreements, and so Beatrice learned to don the mask of normalcy, exiling herself from the chaos of playground politics and hierarchy. From her tower she observed the many details of a normal child’s social life in a massive K through 8 school: the construction of a facade to mask personal weaknesses, longtime friends, longtime rivals, exaggerated vengeance, intimidation, xenophobia, cries of injustice, betrayals, outrageous espionage and counterespionage campaigns, cold wars, superiority complexes, inferiority complexes, depression, and, most curious of all, hope in the form of aspirations.

Throughout these two paragraphs, shots of trees in the Presidio forest area and the Crissy Field beach and trail flash.

These select children, with arms stretched towards the sun, contrasted with Beatrice, shielding her face from the sun with her arms. Out of curiosity, she started to study them. Many of their ideas were fanciful and unrealistic. Sometimes, Beatrice would destroy dreams after explaining their impossibility. Many others entrenched themselves in their beliefs, and refused to see anything else. Such goals inspired the children to endure and struggle beyond current hardships to witness their dream realized. Desperate optimists who sacrifice for their wishes, while retaining a blind hope in the future. The level of despair and desperation intrigued Beatrice, and upon experimentation with her own self, she found no such force existed within her. No sort of wish for the world or interest in drastic betterment of oneself.

Perhaps the other children convinced her, or some other entity shocked her into an epiphany, but soon after that moment Beatrice desired to capture such a force for herself. Lying to herself, she thought she could use this force as a complement to her mask, drawing further attention away from her. “People will see me as more normal if I possess such impossible goals,” she believed, and used this false reason to legitimize her search for such a passion. This state of mind would occupy the rest of her years, and she soon delved into depression out of frustration, leaving her peers to think of her as a loner, a melancholy statuette, a warning to all who enjoy silence.

Beatrice enters Stern Grove’s blackberry bushes.

Within her layered consciousness, Beatrice truthfully wanted such a power to imitate the children: to pour all of her life’s energy into a goal. Before setting up her false beliefs, she reasoned that she spent too much time reflecting and studying on the children around her instead of spending her life on something she truly felt passionate about. She stops walking for a moment, and then she starts again. I suspect that her isolated consciousness’s exposure to the different ideas for the future convinced her younger self to participate in shaping this collective image. Perhaps this stemmed from an unnoticed inflated ego. I will never know, but she remembers feeling desperate to leave something for the world to remember her and her accomplishments. Chuckles. That actually does sound like an inflated ego, doesn’t it…that would explain why Beatrice could not bring herself to find a goal for the sake of others or herself. Beatrice respected the world as it was, sinful and lost.

When she graduated from middle school, Beatrice switched strategies and adopted a friendlier personality to interact closely with others. She gambled that with this new shade of character she will find enough data to complete her search. Her middle school alumni viewed her strange change as a simple matter of puberty and a lack of self-confidence.

With this new shade of herself, Beatrice courted attention from many new people,  and infiltrated the life that the children she distanced herself from experienced. Her various relationships with other people yielded new caches of data, especially her intimate relationship with Richard, but none created such a disturbance in her thought processes as Jesse with his piano.

After I suddenly felt content, and then I woke up.

There is a chair in the middle of the path. She sits down and she returns to the interview room.

During the interviewing scenes, a full body mirror lies right behind Beatrice. In Beatrice’s mid sentence, a hand picks the camera up and turns it upside down. It waits for a while and then turns the camera to nightvision.

Beatrice
Ah, Richard. Well, to start, he possessed many interesting ideas regarding life, some contrasting with my own, but that was why I respected him as a…
Wait, really? Now?

HARD CUT TO BLACK.

Episode 5: Nuclear Winter

During one of the scenes we will, for a brief second, see someone watering flowers.

Music before funeral: Jimi Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower
Music after funeral: Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper

Various cuts of each character dressing up for the funeral and arriving to the funeral shown. In his house, David lights the four pictures from before on fire, before leaving. Once the last character walks into the Church, the screen pans to a clock in the vicinity. After a quick cut implying passed time, Jesse leaves the funeral. Another quick cut (and implied passing of time), and Lola leaves. Another quick cut, and David leaves. Finally, after another quick cut, Richard leaves the church. The camera pans up to the sky, with a fade to black.

Fin.

D E D I C A T I O N
I dedicate this project to all I have forgotten.

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