PROFESSIONAL TOOLKIT (SCRIPT WRITING)

                                    

                                                              

  STORYLINE

A girl talks to a boy telling him about how he had been inactive from social media for the past few days and she tells him that if he doesn’t get back there, he will be taken into custody for a very serious offense. While she talks to him, her eyes are transfixed on her phone. He goes inside the washroom and while he stands by the sink, he looks at his phone and throws it in the flush.

The year is 2054 a working-class guy walks by MM Alam Road, Lahore. Looking at every glassed café he sees people either sitting together or alone are just focused on using their cellphones and constantly typing or scrolling without any expressions just blankly staring at their screens. Looking at them he realizes that he doesn’t have a phone in his pocket, wherever he goes including the office, traveling in orange-line, or sitting in between friends he finds himself isolated as he doesn’t seem to get any importance between people as he doesn’t own a phone. He stands in front of an old watch shop that stands in a weary old condition and an old person is sitting by it. The guy asks him for the time and he doesn’t open his phone instead he rolls up his sleeves and looks at his watch.

He loses his promotion as he doesn’t have his phone with him inside the conference room during the presentation. Senior executives and other office staff urge him to get a phone as soon as possible else he’ll be seen as a traitor and anything that he’ll do will go against the state’s official policy. Upon leaving the office he goes by to a friend where they stand on the bridge/roadside. While he’s with him his friend constantly keeps using his phone and sees that he gets angry. It makes him question the existence of human nature if everything is merely judged or evaluated just based on social interaction and depiction of life just on social media. His friend urges him to get his phone replaced or repaired before the due date and he’ll be held in captivity for a serious offense.

In sheer anger, he leaves his friend and goes to meet his girlfriend who is already sitting in an empty café using her cell phone. He goes and sits in front of him while she’s busy on her phone he keeps talking to her but she doesn’t even bet an eye on him. He starts shouting and breaks her phone in anger as he does that the surveillance team arrives and puts on a black cloth over his face taking him into custody. It all opens back in his room as he lies down in his bed while his phone rings again and he looks around to get hold of it. He picks it up and looks at every follow request on Instagram, he sees all those people whom he saw in his dream or some kind of a split dystopian futuristic reality. He adds them all and keeps his phone in his hand while again falling asleep. The google cast/google assistant gives away a quote of the day ‘The times are changing and with that humans are evolving with this race. Today we don’t make friends with people we just add them on social sites to create a healthy evolving and ever-changing environment.’

   

One-liner:

Living in a world governed by A.I dictator government officials, a person lost between thoughts, reality, and dilemma finds himself entangled within the immensely growing world of technology.

‘We don’t make friends with people; we just add them.’

Introduction:

The statement above depicts the disrupted and disoriented reality in which a human being exists today. Where relationships are evaluated based on social interaction and personalizing how you put yourself out in front of hundreds of people. We’ve blurred the lines between understanding the truthful meaning of actually making friends. All of it is more about online activity and social interaction rather than getting along in the existing period. In between all this, we lose touch with reality and start living in the world of illusions.

Story Development:

The idea development for the story was simply taken as a reference from human activity on a trivial and day-to-day basis. We are so caught up in our minds that most of our time is spent either on phone or thinking about how we should go on with his/her day. Looking at the developed idea the complexities of social interaction are overgrown in our heads and we have started to live in the world of constantly growing chaos.

In the beginning, when the boy is told by his girlfriend that if he doesn’t get active on his social media platforms then it is going to be considered a serious criminal offense and a threat to national security. The boy leaves the room goes into the bathroom and throws the phone in the flush. In this first part of the story, we get to see the denial of a human being. Not wanting to follow certain guidelines which might create havoc for him.

While traveling or walking by he gets to witness people mindlessly involved with using the phone, there is nothing there for them that could be considered a human interaction. From one place or another, from one meeting to the other everywhere he went felt insolated for him. He is warned by the office staff that if he goes against the government’s orders then he will have to face a term in custody and it will create complications for him. His friends also ask him to get a phone else it is going to get difficult for him. Looking at this aspect closely we get to see how a human being is forced into a certain situation just because of social values or virtues. It doesn’t matter if that is suitable for him or not, what matters is that if everyone is bluntly following some orders then everyone is supposed to do so.

Towards the end, after losing his job, and leaving in anger at his friend’s company he reaches a restaurant to meet his girlfriend but she also doesn’t respond to her because of being busy with the phone. He gets angry at her, starts shouting and takes up her phone, slams it on the floor. Then the surveillance arrives, taking him into custody. He wakes up from a dream, his phone binges notifications and he adds up everybody that he saw in the dream. Talking about the climax, it is a bit complex but yet very simple at the same time. If we get to see it closely, we see that human minds are controlled on every level and they are taught how to live inside a simulated reality that they are creating for themselves. All of it is created just inside a human-made device and accessibility to social interactive platforms.

‘The times are changing and with that humans are evolving with this race. Today we don’t make friends with people we just add them on social sites to create a healthy evolving and ever-changing environment.’

The quote comes in on Google Chrome Cast as the day starts for him.

Genre:

Choosing a Sci-Fi/Drama is a unique choice to address a topic like that. Science fiction helps to create a developed as well as a dystopian land in which humans are being forced and taken into custody by government surveillance just because they don’t follow a told pattern of life. It gives an immense amount of insight into us on social media, human interactions falling, and how toxicity is destroying our mindsets on all of these interactive platforms.

Looking at it through a futuristic approach gives us the ability to explore and visualize the story from various perspectives. Then giving it a drama element creates the experience of close human connectivity. With both of these genres combined, creating a destructive future yet showing a glorious image of it is the ideal choice for this film to be shown like that. The most interesting factor of these two genres is that they both are opposite to each other but the most fascinating them to be seeing both of them in a contrast.

Using or implementing any other genre won’t do justice to the humane approach of the story. All the other genres will have the ability to explore this particular story differently but with that, it will change the whole crux of it too. Considering Sci-fi/drama is a personal choice as it gives this story the ideological identity that it tries to portray for a certain class of society and it becomes difficult for people to make sense of it in any way possible.

Background Research:

Looking at the current usage of social media and its toxicity rooted in our society has challenged the moral, ethical and social conduct of human beings regularly. The idea is uprooted from the over usage of social media and how it destroys almost half of your energy that could be used productively. Considering the year 2022, today we see ourselves being aware and exposed to various depths of the internet but still, we lack certain social values.

You would see people living depressive lives, challenging their worth, having a lack of energy to do something, and various other problems. If you just look at the root cause for their lives to be that way will be social exposure to various corners of the world. The most affected and challenged by them are the teenagers in our society who are unaware of their selves. With all these things if somebody considers doing a detox from all these platforms and wishes to give his time to the things that are a priority in his life. They are considered to be old-schooled or someone who hasn’t learned to grow with time.

Talking about political or governmental involvement shows how controlled we are and everything is just regulated in a simulated reality that is presented to us by all authorities over these platforms in the manner of news, articles, social commentary, and various other things. So, all these combined in a fictional story will address a lot of these aspects all together in a singular medium of a film.Character Description:

Zain is a self-made person who has lived his life achieving whatever he aimed for and in that process, he had become someone who always had a rigid point of view toward some things. With these constraint traits he never actually liked the way people live their day-to-day lives under the fear of being caught or dying for no reason. The anti-social identity inside his psyche felt contained to him and everything felt claustrophobic.

He grew up different from the rest of the world around him. He never liked to interact with so many people and it was just like a life he wanted to live with and for himself. Zain had a rough time growing up being an introvert but he seemed to enjoy that solitude as it gave him few but a greater friend and a loving friend who later on turned out to be his girlfriend. He knew and understood how to value relationships and the people that are in his life.

But with the ever-changing technology and political unrest growing he saw the times changing, people coming in and going out of his life, with nothing else to do, he just starts to grow with the socially active world. He never liked that but that seemed to be the only option for him. As time passed it grew difficult for him to maintain his social identity and a day comes when he tries to challenge the social system. He tries to break the method of social connectivity and tries to bring it back to the same human in-person value for a relationship but he fails. One day once again he wakes up, without a thought of what had happened earlier and he still finds himself stuck within the walls of these social boundaries, trying to hold and suppress the ideas, beliefs, and self-identity to a regulated level. That’s how we have constantly involved ourselves in a such self-righteous dilemma.

       DILEMMA

Runtime: 

15-20 Minutes. 

One liner:

Living in a world governed by A.I dictator government officials, a person lost between thoughts, reality, and dilemma finds himself entangled within the immensely growing world of technology.

Synopsis:

Living in a world governed by A.I and in the age of identity crisis, Zain finds himself rebelling against the idea of following the measured guidelines or going against them. One day Zain throws his phone, the only mode of communication that helps you to build your social identity, into the flush. He looks at himself and tries to sort himself out, for the day he is constantly reminded by his friends and acquaintances that what he is doing is against the national state policy which might damage his reputation and can also affect his identity.

He is forced to function according to the social values of the growing race of technology. In between all this, his social identity gets in danger due to less social connectivity and he is hunted by the government surveillance agency. After getting caught, he wakes up from a deep sleep only to realize the dilemma of something and gets back to normal life which is the reality he was escaping from.

Artistic Approach:

It is going to showcase the approach from the viewpoint of Zain keeping it as the central character in the story. The plot is going to put together obstacles from various parts of society as a character or as a hurdle. It will show a futuristic Pakistan immensely filled with details from our original past. To create a unique watching experience the story could be shot in places with well-developed infrastructures to give a sense of evolvement and with manipulating with VFX mixing the realistic approach with science fiction elements included in it.

From start to end the feeling of intense adrenaline rush would be kept to sustain the suspenseful aspect and depth of this film. The elements related to social media will be kept real by showing actual search engines, actual apps, and everything that can add to the film’s visual experience. From bright neutral tones, the film will dive deep into a dark, moody, and highly contrasted environment. The sense of being lost or just entangled in one’s mind will be kept on the forefront to keep the audience anticipated and they remain involved in the world that the character’s mind as presented by him.

In the end, the whole film will turn into a claustrophobic environment as he is captured and taken into captivity but before that as the story progresses the world around him starts to get dark and scary. It takes a lot of hustles to break through everything that he had been forcefully doing but it doesn’t pay him back and yet again he wakes up within the same existing reality. Till the end the film would get intense, giving less information but showing everything visually, with less minimal dialogues but meaningful visual images.

Treatment:

The treatment of this film will be divided into three different acts or let us say the chapters. The beginning will be all bright and a fresh start to the new day but then later on it starts to slip. The incident that occurs allows the environment to get dark and then darker. Division of these three aspects in this film will help us initiate the character, his inner world, and then his outer world. Such a pattern is going to create a sense of connectivity with the character for the audience and become relatable for them.

From a brighter sunny day, the day for Zain starts to get darker as he takes up his decisions without any second thought. With all that happening the film shows the world going against him through the camera as well as through the lighting setup. All of it would be used to suffocate the world for our main character. Using VFX will be another addition to the film’s mise en scene.

Above mentioned pictures are the reference for the changing color-palettes and mood tones over the course of the period of the story and the character’s arc.

Intended Audience:

The intended audience for this story is also divided into three various categories. First of them are the teenagers who are constantly involved with the validation available on social media and their struggle to overcome their anxiety and for having enough of everything that they have. Second of them are adults who are also mindlessly struggling with practical growth and whatever they see on such platforms end up depressing them. Third, are the various communities living in our society that are already finding their space.

These people will be shown it all through the eyes of some characters belonging to those communities. This will help us in diversifying the film for the audience. With all that, the audience is spread in the different parts and classes of society. So the target is to approach them all through the medium of the film and help them access the reality that they had been running away from.

Timeline

Pre-Production                                                 December 01-25th

Funding/Production.                                        December/January (Work in progress)  

Post-Production                                               February 01st-28th

 Promotions/Festival Submissions                  February - Onwards

Private Screenings                                          During the festival runs

Online  Premieres                                          Towards the end of 2023

Agreement with OTT Platforms                   After successful run on all other platforms.

                   Shooting Schedule

DAY 01                     Shooting main scenes with the character indoor. Shooting major indoor sequences                    with light setup.  

DAY 02                     Shooting major outdoor sequences and take b-roll footage of the city as well

DAY 03                     A day for VFX/Chroma shots. Indoor studio setup with lighting..

DAY 04                     Recording ambience sound and insertions for the film. Sorting all the shot data and making backups.

DAY 05                     Another extra day if some kind of technical or production problem comes in.

*Dates and production subjects to change depending on the fundraising and completion of all other mandatory requirements for the shoot.

Social Media:

After the film is shot, then comes the time for publicity. A few are the listed methods that we will be following in social media marketing. The film talks about social media would be marketed using the tool itself.

• -  Hashtag trends (Instagram/Twitter)

• -  Podcast Invites

• -  Grand teaser launch

• -  Instagram reels

• -  Trailer announcement after festivals

• -  Sharing the BTS process along with the interviews of the crew

  Using these methods the film will get its hype through its crazy visual language and a dramatic story that too is set in Pakistan.

                                          

       SCRIPT

                REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES

INT. BLACK SCREEN.

On the black screen, a couple talks to each other about their
mundane activities while the girl tells the boy about his
inactivity on social media.

SAMEEN

         What's up with you Zain?               

 ZAIN
         What do you mean by that?                   

SAMEEN
         For the past few days, you seem to be

         unavailable on almost every social
         site.

ZAIN    So?                   

SAMEEN

         What so? You know what this new

         government is doing to people.                

 ZAIN
         I don't care.                 

 SAMEEN
         You have to. I mean you cannot go

         against state security.                   

ZAIN
         You care about that but not about me?                 

SAMEEN
         It's not like that. I just want you to

         understand that doing something like
         that isn't right. Not for you, and not
         for us.

The screen opens with Sameen, her eyes transfixed on her
phone while talking to Zain.

Zain sits there staring at her. He rises from the bed and
heads inside the bathroom.

CUT TO.

INT. BATHROOM. DAY.

Zain stands in front of the mirror, looking at himself with
lost or incomplete thoughts. His phone notifies him of
something, then the notifications start increasing.

Zain angrily picks up his phone and slams it into the flush.

CUT TO:

The phone is flush and keeps sending in notifications with
muffled sounds.

CUT TO BLACK.

EXT. ORANGE LINE STATION. LAHORE.

Zain stands beside the train's safety door. He looks around
at people coming in with phones in their hands. He stands
there waiting for the train. He looks at the waiting time and
the watch on his wrist.

The train arrives. Zain along with everybody gets inside the
train and nobody seems to be caring about one another. All
they seemed to be caring is about the phone in their hands.

CUT TO.

INT. ORANGE LINE. MOVING THROUGH LAHORE.

The year is 2050 and the city has been transformed into this
mega-structured metropolitan but still vividly remembers the
essence of old Lahore.

Zain thinks about old times while staring out at the city. He
seemed to be less concerned about everything else around him.

Suddenly when he gets back from his thoughts he sees a huge
number of people ranging in various different age groups,
continuously involved with their phones.

Some are taking and uploading pictures, some are scrolling
through apps, and others are just sitting there using their
phones.

The train stops and everyone gets out.

EXT. OUTSIDE - ORANGE LINE STATION.

Zain stands out on the road, looking at the city being
reshaped around him while he hears the announcements in the
background by the new government.

Walking towards his office and crossing one of the posh areas
in the city MMM ALAM ROAD, he looks at cafes filled with
young people sitting together or alone, just using their
phones.

No sign of human interaction. They laugh, smile, or even feel
sad just while looking at the screen. He looks at them and
feels pitiful.

He sighs and walks away.
INT. OFFICE BUILDING.

Zain enters his office, seeing his colleagues or other people
entering and exiting through either lifts or stairs not even
betting an eye on each other.

He feels claustrophobic between them, he reaches his office
floor and gets out of the lift, in order to breathe. Looking
at the city from a rooftop view, he looks at the changing
cityscape.

The high-rise buildings, surveillance all the time, huge
announcers, and moral police appointed by the government
roaming around. Announcing different packages and offers for
social connectivity.

Seeing all of it makes him feel sad and he keeps his hand
around his pocket which is empty.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM. SENIOR EXECUTIVES.

Zain enters the room, greets everybody, and settles in front
of them. He tries to keep himself calm and maintain a smile
on his face, knowing he will be promoted today.

The seniors talk to him calmly while their eyes blankly are
on the screen and tell him that his promotion has been
halted. Zain tries to calm himself down and asks them the
reason.

After conveying the reason, they urge him to get a cell phone
as soon as possible else the company would be forced to fire
him or may ask for his resignation.

3.

EXT. OUTSIDE - OFFICE BUILDING. EVENING.

Zain exists through the office building and in anger stands
on the roadside.

He thinks for a while and he thinks to go and meet one of his
old friends. As he takes his hand inside the pocket he
realizes that he doesn't have a phone.

He gets more impulsive and starts to walk.
EXT. OUTSIDE - ORANGE LINE STATION.SUNSET.

While heading toward his friend he sees a person running with
his friend and talking to him.

SAMEER
         Fuck man! The phone broke down a few

         days back and it's the last day due
         for repair.

 ASIM
         Run and get to the shop. ASAP.

He stumbles upon something and his phone breaks down.

Before his friend could do anything, the surveillance force
arrives and takes the boy into custody.

Zain hears the announcement.

  GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCER

         Whatever you saw is sad. Also
         unacceptable. This is for the
         sacrifice that we made in the 2035's
         war for technology. To bring to you a
         peaceful and emerging Pakistan.

         Always remember that difference of
         opinion only uproots chaos.

         After the war, the newly formed
         government passed the ordinance to
         consider the development of Pakistan.
         With this ordinance, every activity
         except for using a cellphone would be
         considered a serious offense.

4.

INT. ORANGE LINE. MOVING THROUGH LAHORE. NIGHT.

Sitting on the train he thinks about whatever happened
earlier and he tries to distract himself.

He stares at the setting sun while a kid comes to him and
asks him to take a picture of him by the window.

He talks to the kid while taking the picture.

 ZAIN
         What are you going to do with this picture?                  

KID
         I am going to upload it and show

         people to increase my rating.                   

ZAIN
         Are you crazy? What is your age?

KID 14 Years                 

 ZAIN
         Take your phone and go away, man.

After hearing what the kid had to say he gives him the phone
and asks him to leave.

EXT. MALL ROAD.

Walking by the road he sees an old, weary watch shop and an
old uncle sitting outside of it. He looks at the uncle and
sees him without anything in his hands and just staring at
the traffic.

He talks to the uncle asking for time.

 ZAIN
         Assalam-O-Alaikum                

 UNCLE
         Walaikum-a-Salam!

 ZAIN

         Can you please tell me uncle what's

the time?

5.

He sees that the uncle didn't take out his phone but he
rolled up his sleeve and told him the time through his own
wristwatch.

 ZAIN
         Don't you keep a mobile phone?

 UNCLE

         I threw it away. I am tired of this

         bullshit. I don't want to get it
         repaired and I will wait for those
         assholes to come and lock me up.

He pays his regards to the uncle and leaves.

INT. GALLERY. FRIEND'S PLACE.

Awais greets him using his phone, he talks to him using his
phone and they both stood in the gallery while Awais still
had his eyes on the phone.

 AWAIS
         Hey, zain! How're you doing man?                

 ZAIN
         Yeah. Just okay.

Zain waits for Awais to just look at him for a while. But he
seems to be failing at it.

  AWAIS
         Why are you without your phone?                

  ZAIN
         I threw it away today.                 

 AWAIS
         What? Why man?                  

 ZAIN
         I am tired of this shit and I just

         don't want all of it. This is not me,
         and nothing feels great anymore.

 AWAIS

         Nobody is me anymore, we are just

         banter followers.

6.

   ZAIN
         So what? Do you just want to keep

         going like that?                 

 AWAIS
         Okay calm down you don't have to take

         it all personally.

 ZAIN

         No. I am taking it all personally.

         What's up with his evaluation of
         someone through their social identity?

They both converse and it gets heated.

 AWAIS
         Know that whatever you're doing is

         doing to cost you your life.                  

 ZAIN

         I don't fucking care.                   

AWAIS
         Be careful with whatever you're doing.

         I would still suggest you get your
         cell phone repaired.

He tells Zain to be careful with whatever choices he is
making as it is going to cost him badly.

Zain looks at him and unable to say anything he just leaves.
EXT. ON THE ROAD. NIGHT.

Zain walks through the crowd who is constantly busy with
phones or just talking to each other while not looking at one
another. With announcements happening in the background.

                   GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCER

         Is any of your friends involved in the
         crime of not using social media? Is
         there someone you know who is not
         abiding by the laws?

         Submit your complaints to the
         authority and win amazing discounts
         and prizes for your upcoming
         activities.

He misses the time when nothing like this ever mattered. This
feels like a reality constructed for all these humans.

7.

He thinks of walking back to his home, but instead, he heads
to his and Sameen's favorite cafe, knowing he will find her
there.

INT. CAFE. ALMOST EMPTY. NIGHT.

Zain enters the cafe and sees Sameen sitting between the
empty tables. He goes up to her while she's busy with her
phone activity he settles.

ZAIN     Hey

    SAMEEN

         Hey! Where have you been?

   ZAIN
         Nothing. Just a rough day.

 ZAIN

         Nobody understands the value of human

emotions.

 SAMEEN
         Because there are none left.

  ZAIN

         What Sameen? Look at me while I am

         talking to you.

 SAMEEN
         I am talking to you Zain.

 ZAIN
         But you aren't looking at me. This all

         is so fucked up.

While talking Zain loses his mind, he takes up her phone and
throws it on the floor.

As he does so, Sameen starts screaming, and the announcement
is made about the violations.

There are sounds of heavy boots entering the cafe, before
Zain could do anything, they cover his face with dark black
cloth and take him away.

CUT TO BLACK.

8.

INT. BEDROOM. EARLY MORNING.

Zain wakes up in his room, sleeping beside him is Sameen. He
looks at her and then he hears a notification.

Then a stream of notifications, he opens Instagram and adds
everybody that he had seen earlier in his dream or some kind
of split reality.

Zain keeps his phone in his hand and walks inside the
bathroom.

INT. BATHROOM. MORNING.

Zain keeps his phone in his hand while sitting to pee. He
scrolls through everything and yawing.

The voice is heard in the background. GOOGLE CHROME CAST kept on the side table conveys the quote of the day.

'THE TIMES ARE CHANGING AND HUMANS ARE EVOLVING WITH THIS
RACE. TODAY WE DON'T MAKE FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE WE JUST ADD
THEM ON SOCIAL SITES TO CREATE A HEALTHY EVOLVING AND SWIFTLY
CHANGING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE SOCIETY.'

With the Chrome Cast delivering the message the screen goes black.

THE END.