Film Opening Screenplay

 

Blog Post #16: Film Opening Screenplay

Published Date: January 22, 2026

Assignment Description 

For this part of the assignment, we had to write and upload our final screenplay for our 2-minute film opening. This meant taking our original concept and turning it into a real script with dialogue, character actions, and camera directions. We also had to explain the media language choices we used and reflect on the changes we made. I worked with Lujaina Said and Ella Netivi. My main contributions were helping write parts of the screenplay, especially Pedro’s character, adding his phone texting scene, and helping revise his behavior at the end to make him more suspicious and build suspense.

(Add a picture of your screenplay document here)

STEP 6: FINAL SCREENPLAY

Where the Road Ends
By Lujaina Said, Ella Netivi, Milan Thanath
Date: Jan 22, 2025
M.E.L. Productions
9401 Stirling Rd, Cooper City, FL 33328

SCENE 1

FADE IN:

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT

The CHATTER of people talking from the only lit house on the street.

HARMONY (18) and SELENA (16) walk on the sidewalk, wearing jackets to keep warm.

SELENA
(Skipping down the road)
(Sighs) Tonight is really chilly, thank God for our jackets right?

HARMONY
I know right. It’s better than whatever was happening in there, I could not stand being there any longer.

SELENA
Yeah, you’re right. How about we do something, you know, to keep our minds off of… that?

HARMONY
Like..?

SELENA
Oh! I know! A game of Hide and Seek? It’s fun and it’ll be hard with just the two of us!

HARMONY
Sounds great! I’ll seek. I’m gonna start counting down from 10 okay? Go hide!

Selena runs down the road and makes a sharp turn.

Harmony turns to face a large tree and starts counting.

HARMONY
(Quiet)
Ten… Nine… Eight…

The CAMERA SLOWLY CIRCLES her. The noises from the house fade.

Only her breathing and the crunch of gravel can be heard.

HARMONY
(Louder now)
Three… two… one…

She opens her eyes and turns around.

HARMONY
READY OR NOT HERE I—

A LOUD SCREAM fills the silence.

Harmony’s eyes widen. Her breathing becomes frantic.

HARMONY
(Yelling)
Selena…? SELENA?

CUT TO BLACK


SCENE 2

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET – LATER

FADE IN:

AMAYA (17) holds a flashlight.

The beam shakes aggressively.

AMAYA
Where could she be? There’s no way…

PEDRO (19) lingers behind silently.

HARMONY
(Speed walking)
We have to find her.

Pedro shrugs, trying to hide his smirk.

PEDRO
Confidently
Surely she has to be pranking us right? I’m sure everything is fine.

Amaya gives him a disgusted look.

AMAYA
Are you serious? There is no way this could be a prank.

Pedro pulls out his phone. The light shines on his face as he types.

Amaya’s flashlight shines on something.

A wet, red SPLATTER.

Blood.

HARMONY
No way… It can’t be blood right…? It’s right where the road ends.

Harmony gasps.

Pedro puts his phone away.

His eyes widen.

His hands fidget.

His breathing becomes uneven.

The CAMERA PUSHES IN on the blood.

A SYMBOL is visible.

A circle with a line slashed through it.

Pedro pulls his phone back out and starts typing frantically.

PEDRO
That wasn’t there before.

CLOSE UP on Pedro’s face.

Half in light.

Half in shadow.

CUT TO BLACK

Harmony and Amaya’s voices are heard.

HARMONY (V.O.)
Is she dead?

AMAYA (V.O.)
Where is she?

SILENCE.

TITLE CARD IN BOLD RED LETTERS:

Where the Road Ends


My contribution:
I helped write Pedro’s suspicious actions, including him texting on his phone, smirking, and acting nervous when the blood was found. I also helped with the ending to make the blood and title reveal more suspenseful and important.

STEP 7: MEDIA LANGUAGE CHOICES

Sound: Silence and breathing

We made the background party sounds fade away while Harmony was counting so only her breathing could be heard. This builds tension and makes the scream more shocking.

Camera zoom on the blood

The camera slowly pushes in on the blood so the audience focuses on it. This shows it is important and creates mystery.

Close-up on Pedro

We used a close-up of Pedro’s face in shadow to make him look suspicious and hint that he could be the killer.

My contribution:
I suggested adding Pedro’s phone texting and his nervous reaction to make him seem more suspicious.

STEP 8: REFLECT & REVISE

Beginning with hide and seek worked well because it made the scream more unexpected.

Originally, Pedro stayed calm the whole time. I suggested adding changes like him smirking, texting on his phone, and then acting nervous when the blood was found.

This made him more suspicious and improved the foreshadowing.

I also helped improve the ending by focusing more on the blood and adding the dramatic title reveal.

Overall, I learned that small character actions and camera choices can make a big difference in creating suspense.

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