(Shutter Release)
by
(Tasiah K Johnson)
‘When you look into the darkness, the darkness looks into
you’
Name (of company, if applicable)
Address
EXT. BRIDGE - SUNSET
FADE IN:
Alima is walking along the street trying to find someone
or something to photograph. She is wearing her camera
around her neck with a brown satchel across her body -
she’s wearing glasses and has her hair pulled back in a
ponytail. As she continues walking, she sees a group of
people looking up towards a bridge and screaming. She
runs up and stops, takes off her glasses, switches her
camera to continuous shutter and points her camera at the
man on top of the bridge. As the man falls from the
bridge Alima takes pictures of him until he hits the
ground. Alima takes her camera from her face to which a
middle-aged woman looks at her and approaches her.
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
H-how could you photograph
something like that?
ALIMA
What do you mean? You were the one
watching.
The middle-aged woman then walks away from Alima mumbling
to herself. Alima then puts her glasses back on and puts
her camera into her satchel - and carries on walking past
the incident, she takes a second look at the man on the
ground in the midst of the chaos. She walks further along
and begins to breathe heavily as she feels guilty for
photographing a man falling to his death.
CUT TO:
INT. HOME - EVENING
Alima gets home from her walk and enters her home, she
goes into her living room and sits down on the sofa. She
takes her camera from out of her bag and begins to flick
through the pictures that she took. Alima’s mom then
comes into the room from the kitchen and sits down
opposite Alima.
ALIMA’S MOM
Hi, how was your day?
ALIMA
It was extremely chaotic. I was
the witness of a suicide and
honestly, I’d rather not talk
about it at the moment. My left
eye is incredibly itchy and right
now I just want to be alone.
!2
ALIMA’S MOM
(shouts)
What? Who? Where?
ALIMA
(Nonchalant)
Mom calm down, there’s nothing we
can do about it right now. He’s
probably better off anyways.
ALIMA’S MOM
(Inquiring)
What’s on the camera?
ALIMA
Nothing, just changing the
settings.
Alima then gets up off from the sofa and leaves the
living room to go and get changed into her pyjamas.
Alima’s mom then gets and takes the camera off the coffee
table and sees what Alima was photographing, she places
her hand over her mouth in disbelief. She hears Alima
coming down the stairs and puts the camera back down on
the sofa. Alima enters the living room again and grabs
the camera from the chair - and brings it into her
bedroom.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
Alima gets into her room and throws her camera onto her
bed - she hears scratching coming from her window. Alima
walks up to her window and sees a squirrel scratching at
her window, suggesting to look down. She looks down and
see’s a young boy walking with what appears to be his
mother, the young boy then drops and lands in an
identical position to the man who fell from the bridge.
Alima begins to panic as this reminds her of what
happened earlier on in the day - she immediately closes
her curtains, gets into bed, reaches for her lamp and
turns it off.
FADE IN:
INT. BEDROOM - MORNING
Alima wakes up and sits on the edge of her bed, she
reaches for her camera and brings it up to her eye, she
sees a quick flash of the suicidal mans body on the
ground of her room through the viewfinder. She gasps, and
drops the camera on her bed. In shock, she reaches for
her phone and calls her friend Oscar to meet and discuss
the events that happened from the previous day.
!3
ALIMA
Hey Oscar, are you available right
now to come to the library? It’s
important?
OSCAR
(voice over)
Hey, and no I’m not doing anything
right now. I’ll meet you there in
5. Is everything okay?
ALIMA
I’ll explain everything when I see
you, okay?.
OSCAR
Okay.
Alima puts the phone down.
FADE IN:
INT. LIBRARY - NOON
Alima is sitting down at a computer desk in the library,
while she waits for Oscar she begins to investigate who
committed suicide - she finds his facebook profile and
starts scrolling. We then see Oscar’s hands behind Alima
to which he startles her, he then laughs and sits beside
her.
ALIMA
(in shock)
Shii-! don't do that!
OSCAR
(whilst laughing)
Sorry
He takes a seat beside Alima.
OSCAR
Anyways… what’s up?
ALIMA
(Slowly)
The other day, I was walking and I
saw a guy on a bridge.
OSCAR
(Sarcastically)
And?
!4
ALIMA
He jumped!
OSCAR
Is that all you wanted to tell me?
ALIMA
Well… there’s something else.
OSCAR
(Sarcastically)
In your own time Alima…
ALIMA
I photographed him as he fell to
his death.
Oscar starts to roll his eyes as if Alima is lying to
him.
ALIMA
Ever since, my left eye has been
incredibly itchy… the same eye I
bring my camera up to. I saw a
little boy fall the exact way
yesterday, and each time I look
into my viewfinder I see the man
falling from the bridge.
OSCAR
Give me the camera Alima, you’re
going mad.
Alima hands the camera over to Oscar.
Say cheese!
Oscar brings the camera up to his left eye and
photographs Alima.
OSCAR
See. Nothing happened.
ALIMA
I’m not lying Oscar, I’m being
serious
OSCAR
Okay, okay fine. Anyways, what are
you looking at?
ALIMA
I’m finding more info about the
guy who jumped from the bridge
yesterday.
!5
OSCAR
Any luck so far?
ALIMA
Well, so far I’ve found out that
his name was Luca Porter. He was a
father of three and was happily
married to his wife Jennifer
Porter.
OSCAR
(questioning)
So now what?
ALIMA
Don’t you get it Oscar? I’ve found
absolutely nothing that would make
him want to end his life. It just
doesn’t make sense.
OSCAR
Maybe it was spontaneous?
ALIMA
Wow. I doubt it.
She looks down at her wrist watch.
ALIMA
I need to go now, I’m going to be
late for dinner.
Alima reaches out to hug Oscar, gets up and leaves the
library whilst Oscar stays seated.
CUT IN:
INT. HOME - SUNSET
Alima comes into the house and quietly closes the door
behind her, she walks slowly and quietly into the living
room. She takes a seat to which her mom walks in, her
grandma is already seated.
ALIMA’S MOM
You’re late
ALIMA
I know, I'm sorry. I was with
Oscar.
Alima’s mom rolls her eyes and sighs.
!6
ALIMA’S MOM
Your foods on the stove since you
missed dinner.
ALIMA
Hey Grandma
Both Alima’s mom and Grandma look at her with suspicion.
ALIMA
(confused)
What?
GRANDMA
Honey, we’ve seen the pictures on
your camera, would you li-
ALIMA
So you both went through my stuff
without asking is what your saying
ALIMA’S MOM
Alima that’s not the point, we’re
worried about you. You’ve been
acting strange all of a sudden.
Alima starts to get up out of her chair and begins
walking to the kitchen.
ALIMA
(Rushed)
Well… stop worrying. I’m fine. I
don’t want to speak about this
again with either of you.
GRANDMA
But Ali-
ALIMA
(Raised voice)
And don’t go through my stuff
We hear the door close. She then enters the kitchen to
get her food. As she’s picking up the food she has
another vision of the man falling from the bridge from
her kitchen window. We see a number of hands reach out to
grab Alima and almost pull her backwards from the window.
Alima lets out a sharp scream, closes her eyes, shakes
the ‘hands’ away and opens her eyes again, she looks out
the window again and nothing’s there. She leaves her food
in the kitchen and runs into her bedroom.
CUT IN:
!7
INT. BEDROOM - EVENING
Alima closes the door behind her and immediately closes
her blinds and takes off her coat and shoes. She gets
into her bed and grabs her laptop from her drawer, she
begins eating whilst doing more research on Luca Porter.
Shortly after, her phone starts to ring, she reaches over
and answers it - it’s Oscar.
ALIMA
Hey, is everything okay?
OSCAR
No, I’m worried about you.
ALIMA
I’m fine. Honestly.
OSCAR
You’re not fine. We should go back
to the bridge so you can get some
sort of closure or at least see
what’s going on.
ALIMA
Okay fine.
OOSCAR
Good, meet me there at 11:30
tomorrow and don’t be late.
Oscar then puts the phone down and Alima brings the phone
down from her face. She puts her laptop on the floor next
to her bed and begins talking to herself.
ALIMA
(mumbles)
Why did I photograph him? So, so,
so stupid and selfish.
Alima tucks herself deeper into her bed, turns her lamp
off and closes her eyes.
FADE IN:
EXT. BRIDGE - Morning
Oscar is walking up to the bridge and sees Alima standing
on the edge.
OSCAR
(Shouts)
Alima! What the hell?
!8
We see tears fall from Alima’s face as she looks down
from the bridge. We see the same hands from the kitchen
scene come from behind her and hold her back, she feels
an urge to push herself forward.
Oscar comes up from behind her and holds onto her.
ALIMA
(Apathetically)
Let… me… go…
OSCAR
(Whispers)
No. I wont. What the hell are you
doing?
ALIMA
Let go Oscar, or you’ll go down
with me.
We see a crowd form below the bridge, we hear people
telling Alima to not jump. In the distance we see two
boys walking up towards the bridge and looking up at
Alima.
The first boy pulls out his iPhone camera at Alima on top
of the bridge. Oscar lets Alima go and she falls from the
bridge. As the Alima falls from the bridge the first boy
takes pictures of her until she hits the ground.
The boy takes his camera down from his face to which we
see the same middle-aged woman from the start, she looks
at him and approaches him.
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
H-how could you photograph
something like that?
BOY 1
What do you mean? You were the one
watching.
FADE TO BLACK:
!9
! .i
SCENE INDEX
EXT. BRIDGE - SUNSET 2....................................
INT. HOME - EVENING 2.....................................
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT 3....................................
INT. BEDROOM - MORNING 3..................................
INT. LIBRARY - NOON 4.....................................
INT. HOME - SUNSET 6......................................
INT. BEDROOM - EVENING 8..................................

Shutter Release copy 2.0

  • 1.
    (Shutter Release) by (Tasiah KJohnson) ‘When you look into the darkness, the darkness looks into you’ Name (of company, if applicable) Address
  • 2.
    EXT. BRIDGE -SUNSET FADE IN: Alima is walking along the street trying to find someone or something to photograph. She is wearing her camera around her neck with a brown satchel across her body - she’s wearing glasses and has her hair pulled back in a ponytail. As she continues walking, she sees a group of people looking up towards a bridge and screaming. She runs up and stops, takes off her glasses, switches her camera to continuous shutter and points her camera at the man on top of the bridge. As the man falls from the bridge Alima takes pictures of him until he hits the ground. Alima takes her camera from her face to which a middle-aged woman looks at her and approaches her. MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN H-how could you photograph something like that? ALIMA What do you mean? You were the one watching. The middle-aged woman then walks away from Alima mumbling to herself. Alima then puts her glasses back on and puts her camera into her satchel - and carries on walking past the incident, she takes a second look at the man on the ground in the midst of the chaos. She walks further along and begins to breathe heavily as she feels guilty for photographing a man falling to his death. CUT TO: INT. HOME - EVENING Alima gets home from her walk and enters her home, she goes into her living room and sits down on the sofa. She takes her camera from out of her bag and begins to flick through the pictures that she took. Alima’s mom then comes into the room from the kitchen and sits down opposite Alima. ALIMA’S MOM Hi, how was your day? ALIMA It was extremely chaotic. I was the witness of a suicide and honestly, I’d rather not talk about it at the moment. My left eye is incredibly itchy and right now I just want to be alone. !2
  • 3.
    ALIMA’S MOM (shouts) What? Who?Where? ALIMA (Nonchalant) Mom calm down, there’s nothing we can do about it right now. He’s probably better off anyways. ALIMA’S MOM (Inquiring) What’s on the camera? ALIMA Nothing, just changing the settings. Alima then gets up off from the sofa and leaves the living room to go and get changed into her pyjamas. Alima’s mom then gets and takes the camera off the coffee table and sees what Alima was photographing, she places her hand over her mouth in disbelief. She hears Alima coming down the stairs and puts the camera back down on the sofa. Alima enters the living room again and grabs the camera from the chair - and brings it into her bedroom. CUT TO: INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Alima gets into her room and throws her camera onto her bed - she hears scratching coming from her window. Alima walks up to her window and sees a squirrel scratching at her window, suggesting to look down. She looks down and see’s a young boy walking with what appears to be his mother, the young boy then drops and lands in an identical position to the man who fell from the bridge. Alima begins to panic as this reminds her of what happened earlier on in the day - she immediately closes her curtains, gets into bed, reaches for her lamp and turns it off. FADE IN: INT. BEDROOM - MORNING Alima wakes up and sits on the edge of her bed, she reaches for her camera and brings it up to her eye, she sees a quick flash of the suicidal mans body on the ground of her room through the viewfinder. She gasps, and drops the camera on her bed. In shock, she reaches for her phone and calls her friend Oscar to meet and discuss the events that happened from the previous day. !3
  • 4.
    ALIMA Hey Oscar, areyou available right now to come to the library? It’s important? OSCAR (voice over) Hey, and no I’m not doing anything right now. I’ll meet you there in 5. Is everything okay? ALIMA I’ll explain everything when I see you, okay?. OSCAR Okay. Alima puts the phone down. FADE IN: INT. LIBRARY - NOON Alima is sitting down at a computer desk in the library, while she waits for Oscar she begins to investigate who committed suicide - she finds his facebook profile and starts scrolling. We then see Oscar’s hands behind Alima to which he startles her, he then laughs and sits beside her. ALIMA (in shock) Shii-! don't do that! OSCAR (whilst laughing) Sorry He takes a seat beside Alima. OSCAR Anyways… what’s up? ALIMA (Slowly) The other day, I was walking and I saw a guy on a bridge. OSCAR (Sarcastically) And? !4
  • 5.
    ALIMA He jumped! OSCAR Is thatall you wanted to tell me? ALIMA Well… there’s something else. OSCAR (Sarcastically) In your own time Alima… ALIMA I photographed him as he fell to his death. Oscar starts to roll his eyes as if Alima is lying to him. ALIMA Ever since, my left eye has been incredibly itchy… the same eye I bring my camera up to. I saw a little boy fall the exact way yesterday, and each time I look into my viewfinder I see the man falling from the bridge. OSCAR Give me the camera Alima, you’re going mad. Alima hands the camera over to Oscar. Say cheese! Oscar brings the camera up to his left eye and photographs Alima. OSCAR See. Nothing happened. ALIMA I’m not lying Oscar, I’m being serious OSCAR Okay, okay fine. Anyways, what are you looking at? ALIMA I’m finding more info about the guy who jumped from the bridge yesterday. !5
  • 6.
    OSCAR Any luck sofar? ALIMA Well, so far I’ve found out that his name was Luca Porter. He was a father of three and was happily married to his wife Jennifer Porter. OSCAR (questioning) So now what? ALIMA Don’t you get it Oscar? I’ve found absolutely nothing that would make him want to end his life. It just doesn’t make sense. OSCAR Maybe it was spontaneous? ALIMA Wow. I doubt it. She looks down at her wrist watch. ALIMA I need to go now, I’m going to be late for dinner. Alima reaches out to hug Oscar, gets up and leaves the library whilst Oscar stays seated. CUT IN: INT. HOME - SUNSET Alima comes into the house and quietly closes the door behind her, she walks slowly and quietly into the living room. She takes a seat to which her mom walks in, her grandma is already seated. ALIMA’S MOM You’re late ALIMA I know, I'm sorry. I was with Oscar. Alima’s mom rolls her eyes and sighs. !6
  • 7.
    ALIMA’S MOM Your foodson the stove since you missed dinner. ALIMA Hey Grandma Both Alima’s mom and Grandma look at her with suspicion. ALIMA (confused) What? GRANDMA Honey, we’ve seen the pictures on your camera, would you li- ALIMA So you both went through my stuff without asking is what your saying ALIMA’S MOM Alima that’s not the point, we’re worried about you. You’ve been acting strange all of a sudden. Alima starts to get up out of her chair and begins walking to the kitchen. ALIMA (Rushed) Well… stop worrying. I’m fine. I don’t want to speak about this again with either of you. GRANDMA But Ali- ALIMA (Raised voice) And don’t go through my stuff We hear the door close. She then enters the kitchen to get her food. As she’s picking up the food she has another vision of the man falling from the bridge from her kitchen window. We see a number of hands reach out to grab Alima and almost pull her backwards from the window. Alima lets out a sharp scream, closes her eyes, shakes the ‘hands’ away and opens her eyes again, she looks out the window again and nothing’s there. She leaves her food in the kitchen and runs into her bedroom. CUT IN: !7
  • 8.
    INT. BEDROOM -EVENING Alima closes the door behind her and immediately closes her blinds and takes off her coat and shoes. She gets into her bed and grabs her laptop from her drawer, she begins eating whilst doing more research on Luca Porter. Shortly after, her phone starts to ring, she reaches over and answers it - it’s Oscar. ALIMA Hey, is everything okay? OSCAR No, I’m worried about you. ALIMA I’m fine. Honestly. OSCAR You’re not fine. We should go back to the bridge so you can get some sort of closure or at least see what’s going on. ALIMA Okay fine. OOSCAR Good, meet me there at 11:30 tomorrow and don’t be late. Oscar then puts the phone down and Alima brings the phone down from her face. She puts her laptop on the floor next to her bed and begins talking to herself. ALIMA (mumbles) Why did I photograph him? So, so, so stupid and selfish. Alima tucks herself deeper into her bed, turns her lamp off and closes her eyes. FADE IN: EXT. BRIDGE - Morning Oscar is walking up to the bridge and sees Alima standing on the edge. OSCAR (Shouts) Alima! What the hell? !8
  • 9.
    We see tearsfall from Alima’s face as she looks down from the bridge. We see the same hands from the kitchen scene come from behind her and hold her back, she feels an urge to push herself forward. Oscar comes up from behind her and holds onto her. ALIMA (Apathetically) Let… me… go… OSCAR (Whispers) No. I wont. What the hell are you doing? ALIMA Let go Oscar, or you’ll go down with me. We see a crowd form below the bridge, we hear people telling Alima to not jump. In the distance we see two boys walking up towards the bridge and looking up at Alima. The first boy pulls out his iPhone camera at Alima on top of the bridge. Oscar lets Alima go and she falls from the bridge. As the Alima falls from the bridge the first boy takes pictures of her until she hits the ground. The boy takes his camera down from his face to which we see the same middle-aged woman from the start, she looks at him and approaches him. MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN H-how could you photograph something like that? BOY 1 What do you mean? You were the one watching. FADE TO BLACK: !9
  • 10.
    ! .i SCENE INDEX EXT.BRIDGE - SUNSET 2.................................... INT. HOME - EVENING 2..................................... INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT 3.................................... INT. BEDROOM - MORNING 3.................................. INT. LIBRARY - NOON 4..................................... INT. HOME - SUNSET 6...................................... INT. BEDROOM - EVENING 8..................................