The Call of the Void Screenplay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Call of the Void

 

 

 

Written for the screen by Kit Parry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACK SCREEN:

A Description reads:

The call of the void: the impulse to jump from a high place or into a dangerous situation, without actually wanting to harm yourself, but rather, to simply see what would happen

 

 

 

 

SCENE 1:

FADE UP FROM BLACK TO: EXT. CLIFFSIDE – MID AFTERNOON

 

 

Long shot facing the man’s back - A man in his late teens can be seen standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out over the sea. The man is Judd (medium height, brown hair, little distinguishing facial features), the protagonist. Judd stands on the cliff edge for a moment.

 

Cut to close up - Judd lifts up his foot up and moves it forward until his right foot is hovering over the edge of the cliff.

 

Cut to close up - He then closes his eyes as if he is about to step off the cliff, with the score building to a climax, until suddenly Judd opens his eyes, and the score stops.

 

Cut back to close up of Judd’s foot - Judd then puts his foot back on solid ground. He then takes a step back from the cliff edge.

 

Cut to long shot – Judd turns around and walks away from the cliff edge slowly with a puzzled look on his face as if he doesn’t know what came over him.

 

 

 

SCENE 2:

CUT TO: EXT. GRAVEYARD – MORNING

 

Extreme long shot - Judd can be seen from a far walking through an empty graveyard, carrying a bouquet of flowers, not looking where he is going, but instead following the path to a certain grave by muscle memory.

 

Cut to long shot – Judd stops at a grave, picks up a wilted bouquet of flowers already on the graves, and puts down the news ones in their place.

 

Cut to low angle mid-long shot of Judd looking down at the camera from the gravestone’s POV- Another person comes into the mid shot standing next to Judd, Judd’s brother Nicholas.

 

 

Nicholas:

Why did you get tulips? You know Mum hated them.

 

Judd stays silent.

 

 

Nicholas:

You haven’t been back to the cliffs recently, have you?

 

Judd:

Why?

 

Nicholas:

 Because you know you’ll only drive yourself insane if you keep obsessing about that stupid call of the void shit. Whatever it is.

 

Judd:

It’s not an obsession Nick.

 

Nicholas:

I think you’ll find when you spent most of your time standing on the edge of a cliff contemplating about what happens if you jump off, it is an obsession. More than an obsession even. 

 

Judd goes silent again.

 

Nicholas:

Just answer me this ok. Why are you so concerned with knowing what happens when you die?

 

Judd:

Because I need to know if my life has any relevance to anyone whatsoever and if not that what’s the point of living it!

 

Judd storms off, leaving Nicholas standing at the grave alone, looking annoyed with himself and with Judd.

 

Cut to over the shoulder shot from Nicholas’ POV - Nicholas walks off leaving camera to tilt down to the gravestone to show the name on it and the flowers placed there by Judd.

 

SCENE 3:

CUT TO: INT. BATHROOM

 

Close up – Judd is standing over the sink looking at himself in the mirror, seeing visions of the cliff edge in his mind.

 

Cut to Establishing shot – a vision of the cliff edge Judd was standing at in the beginning of the film is crosscut with Judd looking at himself in the mirror.

 

Close up crosscut – the camera cuts back to Judd looking at himself in the mirror.

 

Cut back to establishing shot of the cliff edge – this time Judd’s view of the cliff edge is moving closer towards the cliff edge, with it eventually tilting down over the edge of the cliff to reveal the bottom of the cliff and the rough sea below.

 

Cut back to close up – Judd once again looking in the mirror breathing very heavily, splashes cold water on his face to try and calm himself down. He then leaves the bathroom and turns off the light.

 

 

SCENE 4:

FADE UP FROM BLACK TO: INT. CAFÉ – EARLY AFTERNOON

 

Judd and Nicholas are in a café talking to each other. The Café is quiet and nearly empty. Both are drinking coffee. Nicholas buys Judd a sandwich.

In the scene Judd is shot in a Dutch Angle shot, and as the scene progresses, the angle of the shot gets more and more canted to show his increasing instability.

 

 

Nicholas:

Eat this. You look like you haven’t eaten anything for a week.

 

Judd picks up the sandwich and takes one small bite from it before putting it back down again.

 

Nicholas:

Everything alright?

 

Judd:

What do you think?

 

Nicholas:

Yeh alright, I know. But just talk to me. About anything, I don’t care. Just something so that I know you’re not going crazy. How’s school going.

Judd looks at Nicholas as if he’s stupid.

 

Judd:

You really think me talking to you about my Maths class is going to stop me from going insane, do you?

 

Nicholas:

Fair point. (pause) just I don’t want you to do something stupid like mum did ok. (another pause, Nicholas drinks some coffee, Judd continues to stay silent.) So what’s this call of the void thing you’ve been researching recently again?

 

Judd:

(almost angry at Nicholas for making him talking about it again) It’s a impulse that humans can get that tells them to jump off the edge of the cliff or jump onto train tracks or something, just to see what would happen.

 

Nicholas:

(looking slightly concerned) Right... and do you find you’re affected by this?

 

Judd:

(almost disturbingly) Sometimes...

 

Nicholas:

Well maybe you should see someone about that. It’s not a good thing to have at the back of your mind. And God knows what would happen if you actually listened to that impulse.

 

Judd:

I want to know what happens. That’s why im obsessing over it. I want to know what happens when you die. I want to know if anything is worth living for. (almost shouting now) And I want to know if I’m ever going to be able to see my mum again!

 

 

 

SCENE 5:

CUT TO: EXT. CLIFFSIDE – EARLY EVENING

 

Long shot facing Judd’s back (similar to the first shot of the film) - Judd is back at the same cliff edge he was at the beginning of the film, wearing a coat and scarf. He is once again right on the edge of the cliff, looking as if he could jump off at any second.

 

CUT TO: EXT. STREET – EARLY EVENING

 

Mid tracking shot of Nicholas on the phone to the police walking to his car.

 

Nicholas:

(Hurriedly, anxiously) Police please. (pause) Yes, I need to report a missing person. (pause) My brother, Judd. I haven’t seen him for at least 12 hours. (pause) No, I know you can’t launch an investigation until he’s missing for 24 hours, but he isn’t the type of person to just disappear without any warning, OK. (pause). Well could you not just send someone out to help me find him. (pause). No? Alright fine. (Hangs up)

 

Nicholas gets in his car, looking annoyed and worried.

 

Cut to mid shot of inside the car.

 

Nicholas:

(Slams his hands on the steering wheel) Fuck!

 

He bows his head in sadness. Nicholas suddenly looks up, with a sudden look of realisation on his face.

 

Cut to long shot of Judd on the cliffside – the score is getting more prominent in the scene. Shot is similar to first shot of the film – facing Judd’s back and looking out over the cliff edge.

 

Cut to mid shot of Judd’s face and upper torso – he has an accepting look on his face, as if he knows what he is about to do is what must be done. The score continues to climax.

 

Cut to mid shot of Judd with the camera facing his front and at eye level. He looks into the camera for a second, then closes his eyes. The score continues to climax.

 

Cut to a long shot of Nicholas driving his car, stopping it and then getting out and running – Nicholas runs towards the camera and then past it, with the camera panning to follow him running, revealing that he is running towards the cliff edge that Judd is standing on.

 

Cut back to Judd still with his eyes closed – the camera is positioned to only have half of Judd in the frame while the other half is looking over his shoulder to see Nicholas running towards him. Judd still doesn’t know Nicholas is behind him. The score is still climaxing.

 

Nicholas:

JUDD!

 

The score stops.

 

Judd opens his eyes and turns around the see Nicholas, sweating and looking deathly anxious.

 

Nicholas:

Judd you can’t do this. This won’t solve anything. Your trying to find a permanent solution to temporary problems, and it will never help.

 

Nicholas is almost on the verge of tears. Judd remains calm and cold however.

 

Judd:

I’m sorry Nick, but there’s nothing left for me here anymore. I’ve made up my mind.

 

Judd takes a step back towards the cliff edge.

 

Cut to Extreme long shot of the two brothers facing each other by the cliff.

 

Cut to mid shot of Nicholas.

 

Nicholas:

What about me, huh? What will I do if you do this? Then I’ll end up with nothing.

 

Judd looks sympathetically at his brother.

 

Judd:

(calmly) You’ll be okay. I know you will. You were always better off without me anyway. But this is something I have to do now, Nick. The void is calling me, and I must go.

 

Judd turns around to face the cliff edge again and steps out.

 

Nicholas:

NO!

 

Nicholas starts running to try and grab Judd, but Judd seems to far away now. The score is now at it’s height.

Nicholas gets closer and closer to Judd, before Judd steps off the cliff.

 

Cut to close up of Nicholas’ hand grabbing Judd’s scarf – it appears that Nicholas has managed to successfully stop Judd from going over the edge. But then the camera dollies out to show Nicholas holding only Judd’s scarf, at the edge of the cliff, with Judd nowhere to be seen.

 

Nicholas looks down at the scarf, he breathes out heavily, and a tear runs down his face. He looks up out over the cliff edge, and then tosses the scarf out into the sea.

 

Cut to long shot of Nicholas’ back – Nicholas is now standing in Judd’s place, on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the sea, replicating the first shot of the film – to show that Nicholas will now go down the similar path that Judd took, as he now has no one left.

 

 

Cut to black sharply.

 

 

 

THE END.