The Accident
Copyright 1999 by Fred588@Go.Com
Scene 1
Several inter cut shots of Wendy driving her car on a winding, rural, forested road. Most shots should be external shots from the driver’s side, but a few should be a driver’s eye view. If possible, end with an aerial shot showing the car to be driving down a very isolated road on one side of a valley.
Any dialogue is ad-libbed and plays no part in the story.
Scene 2
Several inter cut shots depicting a car accident. For example, inter cut a shot of surprise on Wendy’s face, a sharp turn of the steering wheel, a foot leaving the accelerator and slamming on the brake, Wendy being bounced around behind the wheel, and the car coming to a stop in a ditch.
Some screams or exclamations of surprise can be ad-libbed around sounds of a car running off the road and bouncing around.
Scene 3
A shot through the windshield of Wendy behind the wheel, straightening up and wincing from a bruise/cut on her forehead. She raises her hand to the cut, discovers blood, and almost passes out.
Ad-lib dialogue.
Scene 4
Several inter cut shots of Wendy getting out of the car, still rather stunned and groggy, moving to and opening the trunk, finding a first aid kit, and attempting to bandage her wound.
Ad-lib some dialogue.
Scene 5
Inter cut two camera shots of Wendy as she closes the trunk of the car and looks around. Then cut in a distant shot across a valley and zoom in on a gas station sign
Dialogue (sounding a bit confused and dazed) "Better go for help. I could wait here for days and no one would come. And if they did they wouldn’t stop."
Wendy now re-opens the trunk and pulls out a small backpack. She puts a water bottle and flashlight into the pack, puits it on, and sets out down the slope to cross the valley.
Scene 6
Inter cut shots of Wendy passing by and from her eyes as she makes her way down the slop into the valley. The woods and underbrush gradually get thicker and thicker as the slope lessens. By the time the ground is level it is a thick tangle.
Dialogue is Wendy’s ad-libbed reactions to various stumbles and entanglements.
Scene 7
A driver discovers Wendy’s car, notices some blood near the trunk and driver’s door, and uses a cell phone to call for help.
Scene 8
Wendy stops to rest for a minute. She takes a drink of water and gags on it slightly. She looks around to get her bearings, then continues.
Scene 9
A police car and a tow truck are on the scene of the accident. The car is pulled up onto the tow truck bed.
Scene 10
A team of people are directed to spread out into a line and begin to search the valley slope by the accident scene.
Scene 11
It is starting to get dark. Wendy struggles through undergrowth. She stops and pulls out a flashlight, then continues. The effects of her injury are beginning to intensify.
Dialogue:
Wendy: "Where is that flashlight… It’s a good thing I took it along… This valley is a lot bigger than I thought."
Scene 12
A face shot of a police office using a walkie talkie to call in the searchers because it is getting too dark.
Scene 13
Wendy is now wandering around in the dark and increasingly in shock. Inter cut shots from different angles, including her view, as she stumbles forward into a bog. Include shots of her feet plunging down into the mud, an upper body shot of her arms extending forward as she falls, a rear-side shot as she lands on her chest in the mire, a shot of her flashlight landing in the mud out of reach, a face shot as she lifts herself back to a more vertical position (and sinks deeper in the process) and similar shots.
Dialogue: Ad-libbed expressions of surprise, disgust, and then fear.
Scene 14
Inter cut shots from various angles and through Wendy’s eyes, of a protracted struggle. Wendy tries to crawl forward, struggles violently, crawls again, etc., but gradually sinks deeper and deeper. Eventually she goes under. One of the final shots is through her eyes as she goes under the surface. Follow this with several shots of her arms flailing about and sinking under.
Scene 15
Wendy’s car is towed in to the gas station.
Dialogue:
Truck operator: "What do you want us to do with it?"
Police Officer: "Just hold it for now. We’re still looking for the driver up by the accident site. Some one named Wendy according to DMV."
Truck operator: "If she went down into the flats you might never find her. Those bogs can be real tricky, you know."
End