Susie+Barbosa


 * __ Life As a Child- Script __**

By: Susie Barbosa

INT. SCHOOL- DAY

John is in his classroom listening to his teacher. He is learning his multiplication tables. The classroom is very bright, full of different colours and posters on the wall. Low, calm music is playing in the background.

TEACHER

So, if Sally has 3 baskets, with 2 apples in each, how many does she have?

Some kids raise their hands.

TEACHER

Yes John?

JOHN

She has 6 apples.

TEACHER (enthusiastically) Very good John!

Bell rings. All the kids yell and run out the door to go home. We see John walking away from the camera with his backpack on.

TEACHER (as she waves to the kids) Bye kids!

EXT. ON THE STREET- DAY then INT. JOHN’S HOUSE - DAY

John is walking on the street, up the stairs of his house. His mom is making dinner when he walks into the house. The mom embraces her son, and he runs into the living room to watch a little t.v. He sits down and watches. Show on child soldiers comes on. On the t.v it says “Child Soldiers- The Horrors of Real Life”. White writing on black background. Zoom into t.v so that the viewer is watching t.v.

EXT. POOR VILLAGE IN SOMALIA- DAY

A little boy walks into a bus, which brings him to the war zone. You hear random gun shots. You see the back of the young boy, carrying a gun on his back. He walks into a building, into a room similar to John’s classroom, but it is grey, with no colour and a bunch of desks with a few kids sitting. A big table is at the front of the room. The boy sits down in a chair in the front of the room. No music playing. There’s a big man at the front of the room with a scared little boy, blindfolded.

MAN (loud and harshly) THIS is how you shoot someone.

He grabs his gun from on top of the table.

MAN (still loud) You push this back,

He cocks the gun.

MAN You aim at your target.

He aims at the boy.

MAN

Then you pull the trigger.

He shoots the boy. When he shoots, the screen goes black. Fade into the next scene.

EXT. WAR ZONE - DAY

It is a grey day. We are in a torn down village, with houses burned to rubble and blood everywhere. We see the same boy hiding behind a bunch of wooden boxes, while we still hear gun shots from time to time. He is sitting facing the camera with a gun in his hand. We see parts of the background as well. Zoom into his upper body. He has a few scrapes on his face. He is bleeding a bit. He is breathing heavily. Camera zooms out and the boy turns around, stands up, and starts shooting. We hear his gun shots, as well as others. Then all of a sudden the boy falls and starts grunting.

BOY (with pain) Mmmm…owww…

He instinctively brings his right hand to the left side of his chest. He removes it and finds that he is bleeding heavily. He remembers what the man said to him about getting hurt.

MAN

IF YOU GET HURT, YOU CONTINUE TO SHOOT! YOU HEAR ME?! IF YOU DON’T, I WILL SHOOT YOU INSTEAD!

He gets up, and continues to shoot with tears blurring his vision. Fade slowly to black.

INT. SMALL HOME- NIGHT

Fade in to the boy sleeping on the cold ground on his side. We see a big red stain on his chest, covering most of the right side of his chest. He falls asleep with a gun wrapped in his arms. Tears fall onto the gun. Fade out to black.

EXT. TRAINING AREA- DAY

We see the boy behind a bunch of wooden boxes learning how to shoot, training. Zoom into his face. He is in pain because of his wound, but won’t dare tell the man. He aims and shoots at the targets, but misses.

MAN (very harshly)

WHAT WAS THAT!? YOU DIDN’T EVEN AIM!

He comes in right beside the boy. Slaps him hard in the face. The boy falls to the ground, but doesn’t cry, for fear of getting slapped even more.

MAN

GET UP! You’re wasting my time. He walks away, leaving the boy struggling to get up because of his wound.

INT. SMALL HOME- NIGHT

We see the boy getting ready to go to bed, he takes off his shirt to reveal the wound badly infected and black. He lies down on his side, trying to avoid moving his arm to harm the wound even more. Fade black.

INT. JOHN’S HOME- DAY

John is sitting on the couch with the t.v. on. White writing on black background again.

T.V.

We will be right back to “Child Soldiers- The Horrors of Real Life”.

The sounds of the t.v are muffled. Zoom into John’s face, who is expressionless and crying. The t.v shows a commercial for part 2 of the show. John’s mom walks in.

MOM

JOHN! WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING!? You shouldn’t be watching this.

She turns off the t.v.

MOM

Why don’t you go help your father with the garden.

She walks away. He is left there, still expressionless. A boy’s voice starts talking.

VOICE

I need to help in some way. That could’ve been me.

Shows a calendar with years going by. After 15 years, we see an older version of John.

EXT. VILLAGE IN SOMALIA- DAY

John is there with other young adults his age, teaching children in the same room where the man was yelling at the kids. He is teaching them the same thing his teacher was teaching them. John has two children beside him at the front of the class.

JOHN

If Madou has 3 baskets,

He has three baskets on the table in front of him, with a bunch of apples beside the baskets.

JOHN

And Soma has 2 apples to put in each of the three baskets, how many apples does she have?

MADOU (smiling) SIX!

JOHN (smiling)

Yes! Good job Madou!

John keeps on teaching the kids, but all the sounds are muffled. John is teaching them the rest of the time tables on a chalk board. This scene is in the background and something pops up on the scene. “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.” A strong voice comes on.

VOICE

“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.” This is a basic human right. Yet, many people in the world are not even close to having this right. Child soldiers are among the great number of people who have had their rights taken away from them. Please help. There are many ways to help. You can donate to War Child, an organization committed to achieving a world where no child knows war, you can volunteer, like John, to help teach these children essential skills such as math and language, or even fundraise, to help gives these children a chance at a good life.

// Fade out to black, with the war child website in the middle, as well as the phone number. //

VOICE

Please help. These children deserve a better life.

__ Work Log __
wow, susie... i'm feeling an impact just from reading the script... i can only imagine the effect with visuals. nice job on this. okay.. . clarify some things... at the end, the summarizing voice mentions the right to work and favorable conditions (this is for adults)... yes, child soldiers have right taken away from them ....which ones? these are really the ones your video is about. : ) i'll check back with you.