Hallie's Cheating
From Rom Com
ALSO KNOWN AS "THE SPLIT SCREEN GIMMICK SCENE"
This takes place in Rackham.
Okay. So here's how I envision it, feel free to totally tear it apart if you want; this is merely one idea for the plot. Right?
So Hallie and Nick are in a compromising position at the party and they've left.
EXT. House. Night.
Establishing shot of the house.
POV shot of Hallie and Nick. They are on foot and slightly drunk, getting out of the door. The noise of the party is quite loud, but they themselves are quiet. It is as if they are sharing a private joke. Crickets chirp.
Tracking shot. Hallie and Nick walking to the car.
Medium shot. Hallie and Nick from the front, close together.
Do you think anybody saw?
They won't miss us.
Close up. Hallie in profile, looking up at Nick. She's smiling.
Yes, but do you think anybody saw?
Medium shot from the front of the car. Hallie and Nick are both trying to open the driver's seat door. Medium shot from the side of the car. Hallie's opened the door.
I've got it.
Are you sure?
Medium shot from inside the car. Hallie is getting into the driver's seat.
I'm not drunk. (She laughs.) I'm not very drunk.
This must all be quite serious, not theatrical at all.
Here, let me get that.
Over-the-shoulder shot from outside the car. Nick adjusts the seat.
Over-the-shoulder shot from inside the car. We can not quite see Hallie's expression. She and Nick are quite close, as he is adjusting the seat for her.
Over-the-shoulder shot from behind Nick as he reaches across Hallie to adjust the rearview mirror. There is a brief moment of tension as Hallie reaches up to adjust it as well. We see his profile.
Medium interior shot from the front of the car. The door shuts. Hallie has a faint smile on her face.
Slightly farther interior shot from the back of the car, behind Hallie and Nick. Nick gets into the car and slams the door. (As soon as he slams the door, "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers starts to play on the soundtrack.)
The car starts up. (this roughly corresponds with "coming out of my cage")
Tracking shot. The back of the car.
Tracking shot. The side of the car. ("and I've been doing just fine")
Tracking shot. The back of the car. ("gotta, gotta be down, because I want it all")
Close shot. Interior of the car. I'm not exactly sure about how this shot is going to be, but I know I want it to be interior and focusing on Hallie and Nick in some way. ("it started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this, it was only a kiss, it was only a kiss") CUT TO
INT. House. Night
Medium shot. Dylan. He looks isolated and has just gotten in the door of the party. (this should roughly coincide with the lyrics "now I'm falling asleep", by the way)
Over-the-shoulder shot, of Dylan searching the party. Choppy camerawork, fast movements, dim yellowish light. He opens a door on a couple making out on a bed. Etc. etc.
As soon as the music reaches "she's touching his chest, now, he takes off her dress, now", the screen splits in two. DYLAN is on the left, HALLIE and NICK on the right.
DYLAN's side of the screen follows him (POV or over-the-shoulder) as he searches through the party.
HALLIE and NICK's side has close shots of them in the car, close, not necessarily embracing but certainly being very "into" each other.
As soon as the music reaches "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea". Dylan's side of the screen takes over the entire screen, revealing Kati on the right side.
INT. House. Night.
DYLAN at the party. He comes across Kati. He tries to yell something to her, but she doesn't hear. He gets out a piece of paper and writes "Where's Hallie?". Kati bends over and scribbles "GONE" on the piece of paper.
As soon as the music reaches "I'm Mr. Brightside" and goes into the instrumental, CUT TO
EXT. Rackham. Night.
Extremely far establishing shot. The car pulls up. As soon as the instrumental ends ("I'm coming out of my cage") the screen splits in two again. Yet again, Dylan is on the left while Hallie and Nick are on the right. Hallie and Nick are stumbling through dim lighting in the reading rooms of Rackham. Dylan leaves. The camera tracks his progress as he walks through the neighborhood. He gets out his phone and tries to call Hallie, but there is obviously no answer. On the other end, Hallie takes her phone out of her pocket, looks at it, and turns it off.
The split-screen ends when the song is nearly over, and we see Dylan standing in front of Rackham where he sees Nick's car. Pan to him looking up at Rackham.
Far shot of him climbing the steps.
Close shot of him opening the door. Around this point the song should fade out. CUT TO
INT. Rackham. Night.
It is deserted. Tracking shot of Dylan climbing interior stairs.
Medium shot from the front of the same.
Far shot of him wandering through Rackham. He looks very small in comparison.
Over-the-shoulder shot of Dylan in front of the Horace Rackham statue plaque thingy.
Far shot, wandering through Rackham still.
Medium shot of Dylan from the front. He is dialing Nick's number. He looks up, stationary, obviously seeing something.
Far shot of the interior window of one of the reading rooms. Half of Nick is visible. He is leaning over, kissing (presumably) some girl. It is impossible to see her from the vantage point. He is momentarily obscured.
Close up. Dylan. An unknown emotion on his face.
Close shot of Dylan holding the cell phone and raising it to his ear. He keeps watching. CUT TO
INT. Reading room. Night.
Far-to-medium shot. Nick's phone rings. He breaks away from Hallie and answers it.
Hello?
Far shot. The exterior of the reading room. Nick is visible through the window, preoccupied, on his phone.
Close-to-medium shot. Dylan on the phone, staring.
Hi, where are you?
I left the party. Where are you?
Medium shot. Nick on the phone, leaning towards Hallie again.
I'm at Rackham.
Close up. Dylan, slightly amused.
Medium shot. Nick jumps. He motions towards Hallie, covers the phone, whispers "Hide!".
Close-to-medium shot. Hallie is confused.
Far shot. The exterior. We can see Nick through the window, looking agitated.
Medium shot. Hallie gets under the table.
Hello?
Hi.
Medium shot of Nick.
Sorry, I thought you'd hung up for a minute...
No, no. I'm here. (Long pause.)
What are you doing?
Um, actually, I'm a little preoccupied...I'll meet you outside of Rackham in a couple of minutes.
No need.
Far shot. He comes through the door. A long, tense pause.
So where's the girl?
What?
The girl you were with.
She, um, left.
Far shot. The two of them are stationary, and there is a tense pause. Then Dylan and Nick start to walk out the door. Dylan stops to turn out the lights.
Did you take Hallie home?
Far shot. Exterior of the doors. They are walking.
No. I think she's still at the party.
Dylan shrugs it off and moves on.
Oh, so I was thinking about the two things game.
(looks somewhat preoccupied; Dylan doesn't really notice)
French New Wave and German Expressionism.
(irritated tone) I can't say I know anything about the French or German cinema.
OK. I think I'd be German Expressionism because for me, a perfect picture is a room in which everything is slightly askew. I'd probably associate myself more with the extreme non-realism movement, which was ahead of its time and short lived.
Well, I guess I'm French New Wave, then.
OK.
Nick and Dylan stare somewhat awkwardly at one another. Dylan makes a gesture with his hands as though he is going to speak, but resolves not to, and violently places his arm at his side. Nick, meanwhile, looks back towards Rackham.
(he asks the following with such a dreary tone as to imply what the answer should be) Do you need a ride?
No, I can see that you're busy.
Dylan turns from Nick and walks in the direction of the party. The song "Kiss the Sky", by Shawn Lee, begins to play. Camera follows in front of Dylan. For the first few seconds Dylan is in focus, then, as the beat of "Kiss the Sky" starts, the focus switches to Nick, who slowly turns and walks back towards Rackham. (At this point he assumes Hallie has come out of hiding, but she has left.) The song continues as Dylan walks ahead of the camera. The camera makes a 180-degree rotation to catch up with him; by this time he is walking briskly about 15 feet ahead of the camera, and now we follow Dylan from behind. At one point during his walk back to the party, he stops next to a Ford Tauras and starts rhythmically tapping it. The song abruptly stops. Tap tap tap. Pause. Tap tap tap. Pause. At this point it is apparent that Dylan suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A woman walks up to the Tauras. Camera pans to the bewildered woman by the driver's side, staring at Dylan.
May I help you?
I'm almost done.
Please step away from my car!
With a distraught expression on his face, Dylan walks away from the Tauras. It pains him to do so. The song starts up again. The camera follows Dylan from the side as he removes his cell phone to call Hallie. He dials the number.
INT. Hallie's room
She looks at the number, and ignores the call.
