Sample script, Splitting Atoms
Scriptwriter: Sean Kirk, 206-284-3679,
1
SAMPLESAMPLESAMPLE
Splitting Atoms: An Electrifying Experience
Client: U.S. Dept. of Energy
Scriptwriter: Sean Kirk
206-284-3679
Splitting Atoms: An Electrifying Experience!
(Final)
FADE IN:
1. KITCHEN. DAY. 1.
TED, JESSICA, and AMY, twelve-year-olds, are coming into Jessica's house after school. They enter the kitchen and set their school books and bags down as they address the camera. They're wearing brightly colored clothes. Their manner is casual and fun, but they also feel that what they have to say is very important. The camera work is playful and fast-paced throughout the video.
Jessica
Hi, I'm Jessica.
Amy
I'm Amy.
Ted
I'm Ted.
JESSICA
Here's a riddle. There's something you do all the time, and you probably don't even know it. What is it? Here's a hint.
2. MONTAGE 2.
Two brief scenes, edited to music.
Jessica and Ted in the glow of a computer terminal (LIVING ROOM)
Amy and Ted taking a pan of brownies out of the oven (KITCHEN).
3. KITCHEN. SAME TIME. 3.
Amy finds drinking glasses and begins to fill them with ice cubes from the freezer.
AMY
Need a little more help? Watch this.
4. MONTAGE 4.
Two scenes, edited to music.
(CONTINUED)
4. CONTINUED: 4.
Jessica playing a video game, shot from behind the TV (LIVING ROOM).
Jessica, Amy and Ted eating pizza slices as Ted takes still more hot pizza out of the microwave (KITCHEN).
5. KITCHEN. SAME TIME. 5.
Ted helps Amy by reaching into the fridge to find a two-liter bottle of soda. The refrigerator is filled with an assortment of generic foods (no labels) like milk, cheese, fried chicken, apples, soft drinks, pizza, etc. He takes the bottle out, opens it, and begins to pour soda into the glasses.
TED
Do you know what it is? Here's one more hint.
6. MONTAGE 6.
Two shots, edited to music.
Jessica, Amy and Ted sitting on sofa. Blue wash of TV screen is on their faces. Amy is using the remote to change channels. They channel surf with their mouths dropped open and their eyes glazed over (LIVING ROOM).
Jessica, Amy and Ted making big thick milkshakes using a blender and lots of ice cream (KITCHEN).
7. KITCHEN. SAME TIME. 7.
Jessica puts a bag of microwave popcorn in the microwave and turns it on as she speaks.
JESSICA
Okay, time's up. So what's the answer? What do you do all the time without even knowing it? Drive your parents crazy?
TED
Go to school with a goofy haircut?
AMY
Make awful noises when you chew? We ALL do those things, but that's not it. The answer is you use nuclear energy. That's
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
7. CONTINUED: 7.
right, nuclear energy. But if you guessed you use electricity, you're right, too, because we use nuclear energy to make a lot of electricity. And we do it by. . . splitting atoms! It's an electrifying experience!
8. TITLE SEQUENCE 8.
Combination of graphics and animation, set to music, for our title sequence "Splitting Atoms, An Electrifying Experience!"
9. KITCHEN. SAME TIME. 9.
When Ted says his line, the fraction "1/5" appears next to him in numbers that dance. He looks over at it and raises his eyebrows.
TED
About one-fifth of all the electricity we use comes from nuclear energy. Does that sound like a lot? It does if you think about it like this.
GRAPHIC. We see a row of five houses. The lights are off in all of them. On Ted's cue, the lights come on in one of them.
TED
In the whole country, about one out of every five houses gets its electricity from nuclear energy.
10. LIVING ROOM. SAME TIME. 10.
Jessica is sitting on the sofa. She turns on the lamp next to her.
JESSICA
You might use it every time you turn on a light.
11. KITCHEN. SAME TIME. 11.
Amy gestures to the clothes she's wearing, then takes a frozen pizza out of the freezer.
(CONTINUED)
11. CONTINUED 11.
AMY
But even if nuclear energy doesn't make the electricity to light your house, you still use it. How? Because nuclear plants produce some electricity that's used to make all kinds of stuff, like maybe your clothes or a cool TV show . . .
TED
Or frozen pizza!
12. LIVING ROOM. AFTERNOON. 12.
Jessica walks into the middle of the living room as she says her line.
JESSICA
Why do we use all this nuclear power? Because we use a lot of electricity.
13. TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK. DUSK. 13.
Jessica steps into frame at Times Square. It is cold. She's wearing a hat, scarf and gloves. We can see the lights of Times Square in the background.
JESSICA
Just imagine how much electricity it takes to keep millions and millions of people warm in a big city like New York. And when it gets dark, just think how much electricity they need for all these lights! (We may want to show wide shot of New York skyline at night when she says this.)
14. FLORIDABEACH. 14.
Amy is standing on a Florida beach. It is obviously hot. She is wearing a one-piece bathing suit and she is shiny with suntan lotion. She is wearing sunglasses. As she speaks the camera moves so that we can see the water, then pivots around so that we can see ocean front condos.
AMY
Or take someplace where it's hot most of the time, like Florida. Imagine how much electricity it takes to run all the air conditioners in the whole state for a whole year.
15. SHOPPING MALL. DAY. 15.
Ted is standing in a very crowded, very loud shopping mall. We see lots of neon, but can't read any store signs.
TED
Wait a minute! What about -- malls! Think about how much electricity it takes to run all the malls in America.