This is a story of a world trying to revive itself after a robot apocalypse forces civilization to rewind and return to a time without technology. With a society so dependent on technology, being sent into the dark ages caused strife and panic that deteriorated governments and forced anyone living in this new world to adapt.mindless robots who roam the planet, as well as combating the arguable more dangerous enemies around them, other humans. Those who survived the initial apocalypse are now forced to fight daily battles against An overhaul of the class structure occurred as a result of this apocalypse and now those who were a part of high society and were the most dependent on the robots are now either dead or dieing because of their uselessness in this new age of technological independence, while the lower class, the multitude of workers who made up the base of society, are best equipped to survive and thrive in this new world.
This movie draws heavily from my education in Literature and Film and my love of sci fi movies. Specifically the idea of a society forcibly unplugged originated from an NBC show called Revolution, while the general apocalypse setting and shot sequences are inspired by works discussed in class such as 28 Days Later (a similar opening of desolation, confusion, and loneliness, by a survivor who is unaware of the apocalypse's occurrence), Children of Men (highlighting the overall world strife in backgrounds that are focused on in scene transitions), I Am Legend (similar focus on people trying to find a solution to the technological epidemic plaguing their society, while also banning together and making sacrifices to preserve the human race), and 12 Monkeys.
I was also influenced by some of my favorite shows such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones for the general structure of the story, including a daily struggle to survive in the new world by fighting off mindless robots (similar to zombies, except quicker), in addition to the constantly shifting focus on various main characters from around the globe to give a broader sense of what it's like to live in this new society. In addition I drew from my love for Battlestar Galactica to develop the storyline of a race of cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) who were at the head of the apocalypse but are ultimately misunderstood, connecting this back into I Am Legend (the book) in which there are two kinds of vampires, the live and dead ones (represented by robots with intellectual cognoscente and robots who are simply program driven machines, similar to the humanoid Cylons in Battlestar Galactica compared to the military robots they control, or Ultron and the robots he commands in Avengers: Age of Ultron), and the fact that depending on your perspective there are different villains of the story.
The main plot line will focus on a girl who wakes up in this post apocalyptic world and has to adapt to it in order to survive, similar to the main characters in 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead. Except that the twist of this plot line is that this female is actually a cyborg who does not know that she is a robot, similar to Boomer in Battlestar Galactica, so she is unknowingly transmitting data about the humans back to the cyborg command. She was made by the cyborgs using biotechnology so she is indistinguishable from humans externally and internally, although she has a higher cognitive and physical abilities, similar to The Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. She is ultimately the only hope in uniting the two waring societies and creating a peaceful and prosperous future of human and cyborg cohabitation and cooperation.
Opening Credits / Apocalypse montage
The movie opens with a credits sequence that includes a montage of the human race's dependency on technology, beginning by showing old time footage of people using the first washing machines, passing though our current dependency of robots for manufacturing and daily communication, and looking forward into the logical heightened dependency of our future generations with things such as personal robot butlers and babysitters. Finish this montage by showing the robot revolution, the ciaos that ensued when artificial intelligence (AI) became so advanced that robots began to develop minds of their own and decided that they didn't want to be enslaved by humans anymore, seeing as they also viewed humans as inferior beings. Show robots turning on their owners and driving humans into the wilderness. flash reports of scared newscasters with headlines such as "robot revolution" and Depict some sort of government meetings with humans trying to figure out a way to stop the robots and regain control. begin to end the montage by showing the continuous rivalry between the dying human race and the origination cyborg civilization, making sure to highlight the idea that there are also intelligent robots at the head of their revolt as well as mindless fighting robots they control. The opening credits will abruptly end with the image of the screen being "unplugged", similar to what old tvs looked like when you turned them off; this unplugging will be accompanied by eerie silence and darkness.
Scene 1: The awakening
The scene opens with a shot of a girl, who looks to be in her late teenage years, sleeping on a hospital bed inside of a very high tech and leach white colored circular lab room. This shot should resemble a womb-like state, similar to that of Dr. Ryan Stone in Gravity but the room itself should resemble the futuristic, simplistic, and metallic appearance and cold, isolated feeling of the opening room in the video game Portal. The rooms should be illuminated by a large window that allows the sun to shine through onto the girl, this indicates that the movie begins in the morning (i want to achieve the fresh feeling of awakening to a new day and the sensation of having something left from the dark night before similar to the dew left on grass).
In the background you slowly began to hear the heartbeat tone of a heart rate monitor that she is hooked up to (this use of technological indications of life is foreshadowing the fact that she is an android, this will continue throughout the movie when you can hear the physical heartbeats of other human characters).
Suddenly all of the electronics in the room shut off all at once and with this power shut down the girl awakens. This technological shut down is the result of the humans effort to overcome the robot's revolution by disconnecting all power and technology. Bewildered, the girl begins to stir and slowly gets out of her hospital bed, carefully removing the medical equipment attached to her body. She walks toward the window and looks outside.
The shot changes to a view of the desolate exterior. She is looking down onto a city from a room toward the top of a tall hospital building looking at a city in ruin. There is no sign of electricity, all power is gone, no lights in nearby buildings are on, an intense quiet and sense of isolation floods the viewer.
Confused and where she is and who she is, she walks out of the room and starts wandering around the halls.
There are continuous shots of her going through the hallways. Like Children of men you see her walk by and then the shot stays there and focuses on the background disarray, such as focusing on another lab room in which everything is out of place and flipped over.
She is walking down a staircase when she suddenly hears people walking up the staircase and talking. Scared, she goes through the doorway to one of the floors and hides behind the door, looking though the small rectangular glass window in the door and listening through a crack between the door and the doorway. Three young men (late teens / early twenties) walk by, they are dressed ruggedly and they are carrying bags full of medical equipment. As they walk by the door she can hear the individual heart beats of each man.
The focus of the shot is taken off of the girl and you look at the men as they walk up the stairs through the small rectangular glass pain in the door, as if you are seeing it through the girl's perspective.
Bruce is in the lead, Kent is right behind him, and Peter is following a little farther behind walking more slowly up the stairs. Peter is the youngest (around the same age as the girl) and wears glasses, he is looking down at a checklist on a clipboard and is holding a pen going down and checking off things on a list. Bruce is the oldest (late twenties) and is broody and quiet while Kent is in his early twenties.
PETER
Ok, we still need to get a AED but should we get going soon, it's getting late.
KENT
Don't worry, it's just a routine supply run, we'll be fine.
Note: The men are on a supply run, similar to how Glenn saves Rick while he is on a supply run in The Walking Dead. These men are based off of the prevalent qualities of Dorthy's three traveling companions from The Wizard of Oz; Kent is courageous and brave, the opposite of the cowardly Lion, Bruce is cold-hearted and calculated, similar to the the heartless Tinman, and Peter is smart and cunning, the reverse of the Scarecrow without a brain. These three men are named after three superheroes, Clark Kent (Superman), Bruce Wayne (Batman), and Peter Parker (Spiderman) who exemplify these respective qualities.
The girl is awestruck by these mysterious men. Suddenly as they are just about to turn around the curve of the next staircase level, the girl sneezes.
The shot is now coming from behind the men, looking down the staircase at the door where the girl is hiding.
KENT
Bless you.
PETER
I... I didn't sneeze.
The men start walking down the stairs toward the door to investigate the sound. The girl is scared and doesn't know what to do so she just curls up in a ball as she hears the men descend the stairs. Kent moves in front of the other men as they stay back toward the bottom of the staircase. Kent reaches for the door nob and turns it, he tries to open the door and when it won't budge he looks through he window and sees the girl. Kent pulls the other young men back away from the door and begins whispering.
This shot is done over Kent's shoulder, looking though the door's window pane. (The window pain has metal mesh inside of it.) When kent pulls the other men aside the shot closes in on their hushed conversation in the corner of the staircase away from the door.
(Whispering)
KENT
It's a girl.
PETER
What? What is a girl doing here?
KENT
She looked really scared and alone.
PETER
Is she alone? The likelihood of someone surviving out here alone is next to none. Maybe she is bait the toasters put out as a trap.
(Toasters is a slang reference to the mindless robots that constantly attack the humans. The nickname is a nod to that used in Battlestar Galactica.)
KENT
We have to try and save her regardless.
BRUCE
Both of you shut up.
(Peter and Kent shut up and turn their attention to Bruce.)
It is getting late and we need to get back to camp with these medical supplies now, so here's what we are doing. Peter you run and get the last of the supplies and Kent and I will deal with the girl.
After Bruce clearly establishes what they are going to do Peter imitatively runs off to complete his tasks and Kent moves closer to the door again to investigate the girl. Bruce's ability to end the conversation and have the other men follow his instructions sets him up as a leading figure who makes the hard decisions.
The shot changes focus and looks back at the door. As kent tries to open it the shot looks at his hands around the door knob and all you can hear is his heart beat.
Kent gracefully descends the stairs and slowly approaches the door and carefully opens it, Bruce follows quietly behind. Kent succeeds in nudging the door open enough that he can get past the girl curled up on the floor. Kent kneels down to check on the girl and Bruce stands back and is critically observing.
KENT
Are you ok?
(No response, the girl just remains in a tight ball of fear.)
Do you have a name?
But before Kent could get any information out of the girl Peter comes rushing down the staircase.
the shot of kent inquiring about the girl is done looking up from the ground showing part of her, kent kneeling down next to her, and bruce keeping watch in the background. When you hear Peter come down the staircase the focus shifts to his movements and the reactions of kent and bruce to what peter is saying.
PETER
Toasters on on my tail!
BRUCE
We have no time, grab the girl and the supplies and lets go.
With that nothing else is said, Kent lifts up the girl in his arms and gets back inside the staircase just as Peter is reaches their floor. The all proceed to hurriedly rush down the stairs with all of their scavenged things, the girl included.
we see the men as they rush down their staircase, the camera is positioned outside of the staircase looking through the open doorway. The doorway begins to close as the men are descending and it shuts just as they turn the corner of the staircase. the camera has not moved but not that the door closed it is looking through the window and just before the shot fades to black you see the profile of a metallic being following the humans begin to pass by the window. all you can here is the cold sound of metallic feet quickly moving down the stairs, this sound should resemble a mechanic heartbeat of sorts.
We don't see a full robot because the idea is to preserve the mystery of what the "toasters" are until the girl has them explained to her at the camp and has her first confrontation with them when they attack the camp.
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