Charlie Ren and Ellie Hawkins

Written by Joseph S. Hutton

ACT 1 SCENE 1

[interior - morning] We fade in from white which turns out to be the bright dawn sunlight from outside the window of Ellies living room, to see a close up shot of a recording microphone hanging from a stand sitting on the coffee table. Next is a clip of Ellies hands playing a slow melody on the piano which starts off as diegetic, but becomes non-diegetic and continues in the next clip of her hands playing the violin. Next is a clip of Charlies hands playing the flute, with the piano and violin still playing over it. A slow and peaceful music track with these three instruments is now playing, as we see clips of both of their houses; The credits appear as these clips are shown. At first we see a laptop on the coffee table with the mic hooked up to it, with a music making program on the screen. As the song gets to a piano solo, a track entitled Piano is recording on the timeline. As the song continues with all three instruments, we see clips of acoustic and electric guitars in the living room. Then we cut to Charlies bedroom desk with detailed plasticine models and wireframes, then a shot of his folder portfolio with printed screenshots of a 2D digital animation in production visible through the see-through plastic. When we get to a part of the song where the flute is most distinctive, we cut back to the laptop which is now recording a track entitled Flute underneath the already recorded Piano track. As the song resumes with the three instruments, we pan across Charlies bedroom wall. Starting from the corner of the wall furthest from the door, we see a printed screenshot of their YouTube channel views status (over 7,000,000), various drawings of cartoon characters and comics and a writing board filled with scribbled down ideas and diagrams. As we go further across the wall, we begin to pan down, revealing a canvas painting of Charlie and Ellie in a buddy-like pose with a spacey background. We cut back to Charlies hands playing the flute. The camera pans up to reveal his face, just as he stops playing. The only instrument playing now is the violin, and we respectively cut back to the laptop, now recording a track entitled Violin underneath the previous two. Just as the song ends, we cut back to Ellies hands playing the violin, to see them stop and her face be revealed in the same fashion. The credits have now ended, now that they have both been revealed. They are both in Ellies living room. CHARLIE (confidently, slightly out of breath): Okay, that was awesome! I think I hit a few wrong

notes in the middle, but do you think thats noticeable? ELLIE (reassuringly): Come on, a few imperfect bars is curse of the multi-instrumentalist! CHARLIE (mock-dramatically): It was bestowed on us upon birth...! ELLIE (in same tone): Oooooohhhh! CHARLIE: (laughs) So anyway, have you perfected the lyrics yet? Ellie picks up a sheet of paper with music lyrics wirtten on biro. ELLIE: I wish you hadnt made me finish them at the last minute; your first two verses we awesome, then you just suddenly left it to me... CHARLIE: I just thought they could be more original. I mean, how many songs have we written about being lost in the mountains now? ELLIE: I think its about three; but this whole album is about mankind versus the elements. I mean, look... Ellie takes the laptop and opens the folder for their current album. She plays a few tracks for a few seconds as she lists them. ELLIE: We start with The Nomad Awakens, a kind of Indian, Arabic and Turkish piece, at the peak of dawn. Next is Venture Of The Kri-Kri; Greek, Romanian and anything kind of Mediterranean. This piece is meant to make you think of noon. After that is Bajol El Sol, Travellers Feast and Ohm; all of them related to times of day. Weve done dawn, noon, afternoon, early evening and late evening; these lyrics of a harsh mountain blizzard could be the cruel night! CHARLIE: I see where youre coming from, but it just feels like weve done it before... ELLIE: Just because the concept is being reused, doesnt mean we cant make it seem original! CHARLIE: (soft laugh) We anyway, lets get back to this later. Weve got two other projects on the go! Charlie rises from his seat and saves the project file on the laptop. They both get up and walk out of the living room and into the hallway. (In the hallway)

CHARLIE: Ive brought my latest models with me. I made a humanoid dragon, a cyborg pirate and a weird spikey, hedgehog-y guy. Theyre in my bag... They both walk up the stairs to Ellies room. ELLIE: You made a pirate? You know me so well! [In Ellies room] Charlie crouches down and opens his bag by the matress bed he slept in last night. He gets out the three plactecine models he mentioned which are contained in plastic cases. He also gets out his camera and spider tripod. Ellie carefully takes the models out of their cases and examines them. ELLIE: These are so detailed! Youre getting good at this... CHARLIE: Thanks, took all Friday night to make them. ELLIE (laughing): You realise Im having a miniature fan-gasm at the pirate? CHARLIE: I knew youd appreciate it! I call it Jack Sparroid... ELLIE: (awed squeal) This would make such an awesome character for World of Apex...! Charlie encourages Ellie to kneel down next to him with the model. He directs her through the structure. CHARLIE: I followed your advice and started using two pairs of pliars to bend the wireframes. Right now Im stuck with large paper clips... I used a 10 acrylic set to paint it, and used the best plasticine I could find. For the machine parts, I just went into my dads gararge and got as many tiny pieces of metal I could. But for the robotic eye, I used the old laser eye from the CD drive in my old laptop! ELLIE (casually astounded): Its pretty effective... Ellies mum (Terri) knocks at the bedroom door and peeks through the doorway. TERRI: Ellie, were having breakfast in half an hour if you want to join us. If youd rather do your genius work, its fine! ELLIE (politely): Thanks mum, we might join in a bit. TERRI: Did you sleep well, Charlie?

CHARLIE: Yeah, thanks, Terri! TERRI (mock-nosey): So what have you two being doing this weekend? Have you built the rocket to Mars yet? ELLIE: Charlies built some awesome models for our latest stop motion episode. One being a cyborg with a real laser eye! TERRI (half shocked): Does it shoot actual lasers?! CHARLIE (laughing): No way, that would be dangerous. Its just for show... TERRI: Well if you were to make a kind of red torch thing and make it so it points in a line, you could have a pretty good Sci-Fi robot. Just like the Borg in Star Trek... CHARLIE: (laughs) Well maybe one day well figure it out... TERRI: Just think if you could make an army of robot pirate people, they could enslave the world and force everyone to start stealing treasure and whatnot... Just keep that idea in mind! CHARLIE: Well consider it...! TERRI: Just be sure to include my name in the credits! Anyway Im off to get dressed; have fun, you two... ELLIE: We will... Terri closes the door and starts to walk back to her room, but then comes back and opens it. TERRI: Oh, by the way, Charlie, did you even brush your teeth last night? CHARLIE (forced reassuringly): Yes, of course I did, Terri! Terri shakes her head is humorous disbelief and leaves. ELLIE (playful sarcasm): Nice cover up (!) CHARLIE: Ive got all day to do that...! But weve got until Wednesday to finish this animation... Ellie gets a printed script from on top of her bedside table. She runs it over with Charlie.

ELLIE: Alright, you said we have three new characters, but you didnt give me any idea on what they looked like. So I just wrote their lines in a universal tone, and we can add the personality through the voices. Although thats not stopping us from changing the smaller parts of their dialog... CHARLIE: Okay, lets get the green screen in place, and well start shooting... As they get up and set up the camera, green screen and models, we cut to a short montage of them filming the project. We see shots of them setting up the lighting, positioning the camera, Ellie reading aloud from the script, and shooting the scene. We then go to shots of the both of them sitting at the home computer in the kitchen, as they insert the SD card and import the frames, rendering all of the frames of the first scene into a movie file, loading the movie file into a special effects software, and choosing the green from the green screen as the colour key and replacing it with an epic mountainous background (which Ellie painted), and Ellies mother watching them in admiration from the kitchen table as she eats her breakfast. We then cut to shots of the two of them eating their breakfast with Terri, making conversation (M.O.S.). (In the hallway) After the montage, we see Charlie preparing to leave for home. Ellie is with him, helping him collect his things. CHARLIE: Okay, that was awesome. Thanks for having me around, and Ill see you tomorrow at college. Terri comes in. TERRI: You know theres always a place for you around here, Charlie. I mean youve known each other since you were little, and youre practically brother and sister...! CHARLIE: Thanks, Terri... Him and Ellie smile friendly to each other. CHARLIE: See ya later... Charlie slings his bag over his shoulder and leaves through the front door.

SCENE 2

[interior - bus - noon] We cut to shots of Charlie on the bus; he sits in the back corner and puts on his headphones and listens to music (M.O.S.). He reaches into his bag and gets out a college assignment paper entitled Music Media: Unit 9: Compose World Music Track. He ticks three out of four boxes. In a box underneath entitled Extra Notes, he writes Composing an entire album,. After this, he slips the paper back in his bag. He then gets his mobile phone out of his pocket and scrolls through the pictures he took over the weekend. The pictures serve as behind-the-scenes for their projects; included are a picture of the keyboard being hooked up to the laptop (the previous night), the piece of paper with the handwritten lyrics, Ellie playing an acoustic guitar, the three plasticine models lay in a row on the bedroom desk (that morning), his own hands positioning one of the models in front of the green screen, the both of them posing with the film set behind them, and an image of the film itself on the editing program on the computer with the camera plugged in. Charlie scrolls back to the previous one, with him and Ellie; Charlie is holding the phone camera with one hand and the other around Ellies shoulder in a brother-like fashion. Charlie is pulling a retard face, while Ellie is pulling her comical encountered an old enemy face, and holding her hand out to the camera in a claw-like fashion, like an Anime character getting ready to attack. He cut to a shot of his face as he looks down at the picture on his phone; he laughs softly and shakes his head in an Oh, typical of us! way. He puts the phone back in his pocket and turns to the window. [exterior - Charlies neighborhood] We cut to several minutes later, when Charlie arrives at his stop. We see him get out and walk down a neighborhood road. We cut to various shots as he walks through the neighborhood as he looks confident and welcomed. A few passing locals greet him while passing; one being an elderly woman who stops him briefly. OLD LADY: Ah, young Mr. Ren, just got back from your business partner? CHARLIE: Yeah, just worked on a few projects, here and there... OLD LADY: Well, keep it up! Yours and that Hawkins girls animations are the reason I actually bothered to use the Internet in the first place...! CHARLIE: (laughs) Well thanks. How are you and your husband? OLD LADY (now revealed to be partially deaf): Thats good, son! Anyway have a nice day. The old lady starts to walk away. POV still on Charlie. OLD LADY (mumbling): Such a nice boy; gives our generation hope...

As he watches her walk away, he turns and resumes walking to his house; he laughs showing that this was expected of the old lady. We cut to Charlie walking down his road; he gets to his house and puts his key in the back door. [interior - Charlies house, kitchen] We cut to a shot in the kitchen of Charlies house, as he lets himself in. The door is stuck for a few seconds, then he yanks it open. He walks in and unloads his bag on the kitchen counter, then closes the back door. He calls out to his parents; CHARLIE (casual call): Im home! Charlie pulls up a stall to the kitchen counter and pushes his bag to one side. He casually grabs a newspaper and sits down on the stall at the counter, like someone sitting at a bar. He quietly reads the newspaper for several seconds until footsteps are heard from the stairs. He looks up to see his dad come into the kitchen; he steps in almost explosively, whilst eating a sandwich. CHARLIES DAD (alternating between a full mouth and a clear one): Alright, son? How was your weekend? CHARLIE: Yeah, it was good, dad. Same as usual... CHARLIES DAD: Oh well, thats awesome-sauce as you say...! Charlie puts his hand over his eyes in mock-embarrassment. CHARLIE (laughing): Oh, God, never do that again! CHARLIES DAD: U mad bro? CHARLIE: Dont do that! CHARLIES DAD: LOL, am I trolling you, IRL? CHARLIE (mock-begging): Please stop! My embarrassment metre is going off the rails! Charlies dad laughs in a mock-devious way and backs out of the kitchen in a taunt. Before completely exiting through the doorway, he places one last verbal assault. CHARLIES DAD: Soz, bro, LOL!

CHARLIE (mock-dramatic): Im scarred for life! Charlies dad takes playful pride and success out of embarrassing his son, and leaves the kitchen and walks up the stairs (P.O.V. remaining on Charlie). Charlie picks up the newspaper again and resumes reading, whilst silently chuckling to himself. He reaches his hand to the fruit bowl at the far end of the counter, his eyes still fixed on the newspaper, feels around for a while and takes an apple. He takes a few bites from the apple whilst reading, but then Charlies dad calls to him down the stairs. CHARLIES DAD (O.C.): Oh, Charlie, your mother said she wanted a word with you. Speak to her as soon as she can be bothered to get out of bed! Charlies mother calls out as well. CHARLIES MUM (O.C.) (lazily, muffled from behind door): Im getting dressed as we speak! It is a Sunday! Charlie realises that he wont get a moment alone with the newspaper for the time being. He lays it down on the kitchen counter for later and gets off the stall. Still holding the apple in one hand, he walks out of the kitchen and goes up the stairs to see his mother. He continues rambling loudly as he travels through his house. CHARLIES MUM (O.C.) (muffled from behind door): I dont see why I need to wake up early when I dont need to. If this so-called God wanted us to relax on Sundays, surely that includes the part when Im sleeping also... Charlie gets to the stop of the stairs and stands outside his parents bedroom. His mother is behind a closed door still droning. His father walks out into the corridor from the spare room, holding a laundry basket full of mixed clothing. He looks at the closed door, listening to his wifes typical chattering, looks at Charlie and rolls his eyes in a semi tut. CHARLIES MUM (O.C.) (muffled from behind door): This isnt laziness, David [Charlies dad], this is what a weekend is meant to be spent doing! I mean to anyone who has the energy to do otherwise, congratulations to you. But I for one am nowhere near as hardworking as you. The bedroom door opens to reveal his mother, who is just finishing fitting on her top. CHARLIES MUM: Oh, Charlie, nice to see you awaiting my grand appearance (!) And dont think I didnt sense your father rolling his eyes. Ive got increased senses of sight, hearing and radar! Its just a good thing I turn em off in the night; I dread to think what Ill pick up around then!

Charlie and his father are both silently shocked for a few seconds, until he changes the subject. CHARLIE (hesitantly): You wanted to speak to me about something, mum? David, eager to escape, brings the laundry basket downstairs. CHARLIES MUM: Oh, thats right! Next week is mine and your fathers wedding anniversary. Its been 15 long, interesting and very long years, and we wondered if you could put something together for it? We just thought, as youre good at the old Photoshop thing, you could whip something up? CHARLIE: Okay! Ill see what I can do. I could have a green screen photo of the both of you with a fancy background. I might need a model artist to base it off... CHARLIES MUM (joking): Hieronymus Bosch? She begins to walk down the stairs. CHARLIES MUM: Im sure youll think of something; just... make it appropriate. This is my marriage were talking about. Once she goes off-camera down the stairs, Charlie walks in the opposite direction down the upstairs corridor. He gets to the door of his bedroom, and flips a homemade sign entitled Charlie is currently... from Unavailable to Available. He opens the door and walks in, closing the door behind him. [in Charlies room] We cut to shots around his room, showing his 3D model work, printed portraits of photo manipulations, and handfuls of electronic gadgets from all different ages; these are all located either at his work desk, his computer desk or on the floor. He casually takes off his jacket and slings it over the bedpost. Still taking bites out of the apple every now and then, he strolls over to the window and opens the half drawn blinds that are letting in only half of the light from outside. Now that the room is now fully lit from the noon sunlight, he takes a few small, aimless steps around the open floor, looking around the room surveying his sanctuarary. He exhales in an upbeat nothing to do manner and lets himself fall backwards onto his bed. He moves into a casual postion with one hand underneath his head and the other (holding the apple) outstretched to one side across the bed. He gazes upwards, staring into space as he relaxes. After taking a final bite from the now finished apple, he tosses the core into the bin at the foot of the bed. He then leans down the side of the bed hes closest to and snatches a magazine from the floor; he folds his legs in to act as a holder, opens the magazine to a preferred page and sets it against his legs. Now that both

his hands are free, he puts them both behind his neck and starts reading.

SCENE 3
[still in Charlies room - early evening] We then cut to several hours later, and Charlie is sitting at his desktop computer playing a video game. Through every major action or happening in the game, he will twitch slightly or grunt with adrenaline as ironic self entertainment. CHARLIE (under his breath): Ill give these buggers a piece of my mind! After he says the above line, his mother (Carren) opens the door (without knocking) and comes in. She takes a few steps in and stops a few metres away from Charlie. CARREN: Charlie! CHARLIE (frustratedly): Hang on a second...! He drastically presses several buttons on the keyboard, indicating that he is in a bad situation in the game. Nontheless, an explosion is heard/seen and the Game Over window comes up. He pushes the keyboard several inches away from him to make room for his head which he brings crashing down on the desk in ironic despair. CARREN: Are you finished? He quickly brings his head up and turns it to his mother. CHARLIE: Yeeeeeees? Do you have an appointment? CARREN: I dont need an appointment, I run this household! You wouldnt see Alan Sugar needing to book an appointment with his less senior staff. He doesnt need to go through that unnecessary rubbish and neither do I! CHARLIE: Do you wish to say something? CARREN: Oh yes, are you planning on having a shower tonight? CHARLIE (false drama): Well I would, but Ive gotten really sleepy in the last hour. I took a headache tablet a while ago and I think its starting to kick in...

CARREN: Thats no excuse, come on! CHARLIE: You cant tell me what to do... In fact I might go to bed soon anyway. CARREN: Youre good with 3D designs arent you? Do you reckon you could build a giant pair of tweezers? Ill use em to pick you off that ancient seat of yours and into that bathroom! Charlie lets out an annoyed sigh and turns back to his computer. CHARLIE (under his breath): Theyre also used for picking things out... CARREN: Excuse me? CHARLIE (forced reassuring): Nothing, dont worry. Carren smiles in a way that indicates that she heard what he said and sees him as a little devil. CARREN: I heard what you said, you cheeky sod! She shows that she is disappointed but in a humorous way, and that she hugely adores her son. CARREN: Alright, well, youve got college tomorrow. Whatever projects you might be working on tonight, theyre bound to make you sweat like a pig. Charlie turns back to her in mock offence. CHARLIE: Are you saying Im a pig?! CARREN: Im saying you smell like one after a day of hard working. The hair in my nostrils practically burnt away when you came through the door this morning! That smell of teen spirit brings the house down every time! CHARLIE (curious and slightly worried): Really...? Charlie sniffs his armpit. CARREN (slightly disgusted): Yes! [in normal tone:] Well, if you go into college like that tomorrow, everyones gonna avoid you! Charlie pauses for a few seconds, his face suddenly slightly sad.

CHARLIE (hesitantly): They... kind of already do. CARREN (sympathetic): Charlie...! CHARLIE: Its fine, really! I dont care! Education and my work are more important than having lots of friends. Carren shows a look of uneasy acceptance.

SCENE 4
[interior - Ellies bedroom - early night] We pan across Ellies room to see her sitting cross-legged on her bed with her laptop. The laptop is wired up to the recording microphone, which is standing on the bedside table next to her. On the laptop screen is the music program, with the track project file that they were making that morning. Preparing the sheet of paper with the lyrics on them, she clicks on the Record Vocals button and sings into the microphone. She sings slowly and slides between octaves very fluidly. ELLIE (singing): When were lost and far, with no sight of distance, we can never find what we really want, though we may hide in caves, its not the same... As she sings more, we cut to more dramatic shots of her and the laptop and various paintings around the room that she has made. ELLIE (singing): When we know it cant be done, and our minds will slowly erode, all we can do is wonder why, we never tried... She then switches to simple vocalising. When she does this we then cut to a brief montage with Ellies singing as the half-diegetic background music. [in Charlies room - still early night] Charlie is sitting at his work desk, slouching over to concentrate on what he is doing. The desk lamp is lighting up the workspace, while the rest of the room is dimly lit. He is building wireframe body parts for his latest plasticine model; he bends the wires around with a pair of pliers to twist them into cleverly designed positions. We alternate from shots of Charlie at work in his room to shots of Ellie singing in her room. In the next Charlie shot, he is sitting on his bed playing his bass guitar and taking down notes (supposedly for a new song). [Charlies room - full night] In the next one (after a shot of Ellie singing), we see him sitting at his computer using a graphics

tablet to draw on Photoshop. The rooms lights are all switched off and the only light is emitting from the monitor. We cut to a shot of the monitor itself and observe Charlies work in progress; he is drawing and colouring a detailed original Anime-inspired character. [Ellies room] We then cut to Ellies face as she slowly stops vocalising. After a couple of seconds of silence, she starts to sing lyrics again, only in a faster tempo. ELLIE (singing): Na mi no na, seh mi yo na-ma, seh ye na... [Charlies room] The montage then becomes more uplifting as the singing and music tempo increases. With Ellies singing still heard, we cut to Charlie sitting at his work desk, molding plasticine over the wireframes and copying from a design on his sketchpad. ELLIE (singing) (O.S): Na-ma-shi no, ma ya, ha-ni-yi-mi deh. Heh bi ya, na-mi sho, ni-mi-yo-no seh. Ah shi ni, ba kai no, ha be yi-mi-sha. Heh na ya, heh di ya, na mi sho, ha be sha! [Ellies home computer] We cut to a shot of the display on the monitor of Ellies home computer, as it plays a piece of animation depicting a plasticine figurine running on the spot then performing a forward somersault, in front of a spacey background. ELLIE (singing, building to crescendo) (O.S.): Ha mi yo, na mi ya, neh ha seh, na mi ya! [fast montage] Ellie holds the last syllable (ya) for several seconds; when we hear this we see several flashing clips of their work. We see paintings, sketches, designs, musical equipment, guitars, two violins, plasticine models, the miniature green screen studio set, electrical equipment, computers with several creative softwares on the screens, and clips of animation. All of these clips last for a fraction of a second and are in no particular order. [Ellies room] We cut to around an hour later (the montage still in motion, now only with music), and we see Ellie sitting at her desk (the miniature studio set now partially taken down) with her sketchpad. She is drawing a detailed black and white pencil sketch of a bright celestial object similar to a quasar, with numerous planets orbiting it. [computer screen] We cut to a shot of a display on a computer screen, which is browsing the Rene and Hawkins website as it scrolls down the main page. [Charlies room - late night] We cut to a low angle mugshot of Charlie at his desk, looking down at an unseen piece of work (behind the camera) as he is building it. He looks weary and at one point rubs his eyes with one

hand. [Ellies room] We crossfade to a level mugshot of Ellie as she is painting on a canvas (behind the camera). She too looks tired; at one point she takes her glasses off and rubs her eyes with her index finger and thumb. [fast montage] We then cut to the same clips of their work as seen before, only faster and with less clips. [effect] We see both Charlie and Ellie in the same mugshots as before, but faded into each other and with one next to the other. This clip lasts for a few seconds as the music begins to fade out. [Charlies room] We then cut to regular shots of Charlie sitting at the desk (as in the mugshot), looking very tired. His mother comes in and brings the hallway light into the dark bedroom. CARREN (gently): Cmon, Charlie, its gone past midnight. Youve got college tomorrow! Charlie lets out a tired groan as he turns in his seat. CHARLIE (half asleep): Youre right. Alright, gnight... CARREN: See you tomorrow, genius... [Ellies room] We cut to regular shots of Ellie painting on the canvas, when her mother comes in. TERRI: You see the time? Ellie looks at the digital clock on her bedside table across the room, displaying 12:55. ELLIE: Ohh, God... Alright, bed! TERRI: You need some rest for college... Ellie gets out of her painting chair and walks over to the doorway where her mum is standing. ELLIE: Alright, good night, mum. TERRI: Night, darling... [Charlies room]

We cut to Charlie collapsing onto his bed in his boxers with the blanket half-retracted. [Ellies room] We cut to Ellie wearing standard summer night clothes, as she takes off her glasses and puts them on the bedside table and slips into bed. She switches off the bedside lamp and the darkness ends the scene.

ACT 2 SCENE 1
[exterior - Charlies neighborhood - morning - cloudy, damp weather, sun just peeking out] We cut to shots around Charlies neighborhood on Monday morning. We see close up shots of parts of nature to demonstrate serenity; bushes, leaves dewy grass, etc. The next shots involve artificial objects, including park swings, a bicycle, and a bird bath with water dripping into it from an O.C. above source, causing small ripples in the pool. A pigeon perches itself onto the edge of the bird bath and takes a few sips from the water, then flutters its wings and flies upwards. The camera follows it, panning up and stops at the bedroom window on the second floor of the house where the bath is located (Charlies house and room). [interior - Charlies room] We cut to a shot of the digital alarm clock on Charlies bedside table as it chimes at 8:00. He lazily slaps the snooze button to stop the beeping.We cut to shots of him as he rises and sits over the side of the bed. He rests his face in his hands for a few seconds as he prepares himself for the day. Standing up and taking heavy movements, he plods over to the bedpost and grabs his Japanese silk robe.