Laughing Shadows Script

Whilst working on other design work I figured id upload this draft of my script. It still needs some work doing to it.

Laughing Shadows Script Draft

INT. BEDROOM

We’re at the base of a large wooden bed, looking up at the long wooden beams of the ceiling. A foot slip’s out from underneath the sheets, towards the camera. A young girl, sleeping peacefully in her bed, twists and turns under the covers.

The narrators voice slowly comes into the scene

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark as a child. Monsters in the shadows, creatures under my bed. It was all fantasy…

A shadow slips past the camera, low sounding laughs echo around the room.  Bleary eyed, the young girl sits up in her bed. Confusion on her face as she scans the room contemplating what she heard.

The room stays silent, slowly slipping back into bed the girl falls back into a deep sleep.

NARRATOR

That night changed the way I saw the dark for many years.

Another laugh comes out of the darkness, more shadows flit past the camera. Around the room shadows begin to move in the corners, spinning and dancing around the walls. The laughing gets higher and higher.

The girl jumps up in her bed, wide awake now, eyes darting from one side of the room to the other. We get a first person perspective of the room, illuminated by a small nightlight in the corner. Nothing is seen at first. Then the shadows start to move, dancing along the walls, the laughing getting higher and louder.

NARRATOR

The shadows started off slow at first, circling me, their large grins and sharp eyes piercing through me.

The shadows stop, eyes begin to appear in their soft black forms, large open and close, taunting the girl, as they stare. No longer moving, just staring. The young girl pulls the covers up to her chest, hiding herself from the creatures surrounding her. She closes her eyes. The laughing stops once again.

NARRATOR

The shadows taunted me, as I hid behind my sheet the laughing came to a stop

Slowly opening her eyes, the girl slowly looks around the room. Seeing nothing and hearing nothing. She lightly steps out of bed and walks to the middle of the room, blanket in hand. Concealing herself as much as possible. Standing in the centre of the bedroom she slowly spins. Holding up the nightlight she investigates the dark corners of the room.

She backs off into the middle of the room once again, shadows crept from behind the furniture. The room begins grow and morph with the darkness. Becoming large, unfamiliar shapes. The young girl hides underneath her blanket. Watching the shadows dance around her through the thin layer of sheet. They begin to play with the sheet, pulling and pushing it around as the young girl wraps herself tighter and tighter under it.

The laughter getting louder and louder, the shadows continue to spin and move around the room.

EXT. BEDROOM WINDOW

Tree branches slowly batter the window, dull shapes can be seen moving through the fogged glass, illuminated by the faint glow of the nightlight.

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark. Not until that night.

INT.BEDROOM

Under the sheets the young girl sits, eyes closed, faced wrought with terror. Tears being to stream down her face. The shadows continuing to circle her. In a panic she jumps up and runs for the bed, now twisted and dark. Clambering up the sheets, she buries herself underneath. Hiding away from the shadows.

From above we see the shadows circle the small shape hidden beneath the covers, getting closer and closer. The laughing getting even stronger and louder.

A bright light illuminates the room; the girl slips out from under the covers to see a room, completely silent and ordinary. With a look of relief and confusion on her face, the girl leaps out of bed and leaves the room. Shutting the door behind her.

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark.

The room settles into the darkness, shadows once again emerge. Their smiles fill the room as the camera cuts to black.

END.