ON THE FENCE
An innocent story of
young, unadulterated love
By Thaxnay Kapdee
[Cold opening.]
The sound of adhesive tape being torn and cut is hard.
Cut to shot of
BAGBOY as he spreads the tape down on to a KITE. Next to him is a PAPERBAG, he
picks this up quickly and places it unto his head.
BAGBOY - He’s small,
skinny, wears a vest and shorts and of course a Paper-bag on his head. He’s
quite the expressive little fella considering he has a Paper-Bag on his head,
and he’s head over heels for SOFIA.
We see the landscape
now; BAGBOY is on a hill with a RANCH in the distance. BAGBOY runs off into the
distance towards said RANCH, with his KITE in hand.
High Angle shot of
SOFIA as she is sprawled across the grass at the farm.
-SOFIA. A curious young
baby-faced girl, with her well-kept golden hair, and light pink dress. She’s
the kind of child who you can instantly connect with.
[1]
Close up on SOFIA as
she takes in the breeze.
POV Shot from SOFIA
of the clear sky.
Her eyes begin to
shut slowly…but then something comes into view, she forces her eyes open and
looks at the object. A KITE, flying in the sky, SOFIA sits up and follows its
trail to an area of the PICKET FENCE which separates the RANCH from the ROAD.
TITLE fades in above
right hand side of FENCE…
ON THE FENCE
…Fade out.
A smaller, timid
looking boy, with a PAPER-BAG on his head is seen behind the fence. CAMERA
moves in closer, and the audience gets a better look at the young boy. When he
realises Sofia has seen him he unsuccessfully attempts to hide behind one of
the fence’s posts.
SOFIA finds his
behaviour peculiar. She approaches the FENCE to where he is, as she does this
CAMERA pulls out for a better observation of the surrounding area, SOFIA
reaches BAGBOY and stares at him as he whimpers behind the post.
BAGBOY peeks out
slowly, and SOFIA smiles and greets him. Completely unconfident by this point,
he holds out the SPINDLE in his hand, which gives the KITE a jolt in the
process, and offers it to her.
Deafening silence.
SOFIA kindly rejects
his proposal, BAGBOY is completely abashed and lowers his head; out of shame
and disappointment. As he seems all hope to be lost, an idea strikes him;
persistence!
BAGBOY begins to tug
at the string, in an attempt to break it from the SPINDLE. With a loud ‘SNAP!’,
the string comes apart and, quickly shoving the SPINDLE down his back pocket,
BAGBOY ties the string around one of the fence’s PICKET’S.
Feeling rather
accomplished of himself, he bows courteously to SOFIA and begins a merry stride
back over the hill. As he begins to cross the road, a CAR speeds past, blaring
its horn at him. Completely unconcerned by the fact he was almost killed,
BAGBOY simply continues his merry stride across the road and up the hill. Once
reaching its peak, he turns around and waves enthusiastically to SOFIA, who
simply looks back, confused yet…amused.
Finally, BAGBOY has
climbed back up the hill, CAMERA is placed behind and to the side of a TREE
STUMP. We see him walking towards the STUMP, hopping and skipping his way
through the slightly unkempt grass. This is BAGBOY’S SPOT; a place where he can
look out to the horizon of the ranch and see the sun set everyday.
With a feeling of
immense relief, and a soft ‘PLUMP!’, BAGBOY sits himself down onto the STUMP
and immediately loosens up with a sigh. He proudly looks out to the sight of
his KITE, still there, still flying high in the sky….
The feeling of sweet
victory soon vanished as quick as it had arrived. Within a split second, his
KITE went from reaching for the skies to hurling towards the gutter, as it came
down like some sort of badly beaten bird.
BAGBOY jumped onto
his toes, quick as a fox, and ran reluctantly for the hilltop, afraid of the
sight that might meet his eyes. Once finally there, he looked on, searching for
the kite he had slavishly built with his own hands…but there was nothing,
neither KITE nor SOFIA could be seen.
Defeated, BAGBOY
walks back to his SPOT, and as the SCENE fades out (CAMERA pulling out into
Wide), the sound of adhesive tape being pulled is heard.
[2.]
The scene opens with
a book being read, and we see that it is SOFIA sitting against the RANCH’S OAK
TREE, reading a book entitled FLOWER. CAMERA cuts back into the pages of her
book, and a rustling noise and footsteps are heard. SOFIA looks over and around
her book, curiously, upon seeing nothing in particular that was out of the
ordinary; she sinks herself back into her book.
The same RUSTLING
noise and FOOTSTEPS are heard again, this time much louder.
SOFIA peers over her
BOOK again, and shrieks in fear at being startled by Bagboy.
CAMERA cuts to long
shot of the scenery, with OAK TREE in left third of the shot, we see birds
reacting to her shriek and flying away from the tree.
CUT to shot of SOFIA
stood face to face with BAGBOY, furious. BAGBOY is terrified, but as SOFIA
notices the SPINDLE in his hand and the KITE flying in the sky, her expression
softens, and she begins to relax.
Regaining his
confidence, BAGBOY looks SOFIA in the eyes and once again attempts to offer the
KITE to her. However, once again SOFIA refuses politely. Prepared for this,
BAGBOY approaches a PICKET, breaks the string from the SPINDLE again and begins
to tie the string slowly. He stops and looks towards SOFIA, waiting for maybe
some sort of apprehension on her face, maybe a look of disapproval…but there
was nothing. He continues to tie the string around and tightens it with a hard
knot, whilst SOFIA simply watches on.
BAGBOY walks away
from the fence, and makes towards the hill, as he looks back and gives SOFIA a
wave of farewell, he can’t help but feel that SOFIA’S jolly wave in return
wasn’t quite truthful. Sure enough, when he sat himself back down into his SPOT
and looked out to his KITE, hopeful that the very thing he was dreading
wouldn’t happen, the KITE began to come down slowly. BAGBOY sank into himself
in disappointment, before picking himself back up and regaining an inch of
confidence. Tape in hand, the camera cuts to a close up of Bagboy centrally in frame and as he pulls another bit of adhesive tape, the tape acts as a screen transition to the next shot.
[Montage.]
[3.]
As the exhaustive
montage comes to an end, we see BAGBOY in great concentration as he is sat on
his usual SPOT, the STUMP. He realises that things can’t keep going on like
this, and decides that he needs to make a big impression to woo his ladylove.
BAGBOY pulls out the adhesive tape from his pocket, and pulls a strip off in
determination. CUT to next scene using adhesive tape as editing point.
Cut to BAGBOY stood
a top the hill with the ‘ultimate kite’ clutched firmly in his hands. He begins
to run towards the PICKET FENCE, letting go of the KITE to give it momentum to
fly gracefully in the sky. BAGBOY sees SOFIA, and like a heavenly angel, he is
immediately drawn towards her smiling face, it almost looks as if she had been
EXPECTING him today. He begins to cross the street and, noticing a TRUCK
approaching fast, makes a run for the other side with the SPINDLE clutched
firmly in his hand. BAGBOY just about makes it to the other side but the TRUCK
catches on to the STRING of the KITE and with a ‘SNAP!’ the STRING is split
into two and the KITE is blown far from BAGBOY and SOFIA.
The pair looks to
the KITE, tracing its direction, over a distant hill…gone.
BAGBOY drops his
shoulders, lost. He knew when to accept defeat, and this must have been a sign
if anything. Looking at SOFIA one last time, he drops the SPINDLE to the floor
and walks away, over the hill, and out of sight.
SOFIA crosses the
fence and picks up the SPINDLE.
[3. Sunset]
BAGBOY is sat on the
STUMP. The clear, orange skies ahead of him acting like a strange comfort.
SUDDENLY he sees a KITE take flight in the sky, then ANOTHER, and ANOTHER. All
the KITES he had ever given to SOFIA were now flying in the sky, along with
many KITES he had never seen before, filling the orange sea above him with a
multitude of colours. CAMERA pulls back and the amazing sight of the colours
and movement in the sky.
BAGBOY, still
dumbfounded, feels a tap on his shoulder, and SOFIA is stood in front of him,
with the SPINDLE in her hand. The CAMERA pulls in to both of them, and BAGBOY
slowly, almost worriedly takes the SPINDLE from SOFIA, afraid whether this
could all be some sort of dream.
CUT to SOFIA and
BAGBOY walking off into the sunset, with BAGBOY’S PAPERBAG left on the floor,
not afraid anymore.
[End.]
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