Fissure of the Damned

Full short film script-Written with Final Draft 22
Trapped in a sci-fi prison, 920746 tries to pursue their curiosity and self expression despite the growing tensions around them.

Transcript

1. EXT. BOTTOM OF THE PIT-DAY The yard’s dirt is barren and sandy, at the bottom of a giant mine pit with prison buildings at the surface. The sky is obscured by clouds, all light is artificial. Two rows of prisoners stand facing each other, surrounded by guards wearing helmets. Circling the prisoners and standing taller than anyone else, THE WARDEN. A spotlight in the Warden’s helmet harshly lights the rows. WARDEN Not so rowdy now, are we? The prisoners all stand straight with their arms glued to their sides and their feet together. They shiver but metal bands on each limb, their waist, and neck keep them still. One prisoner struggles enough that despite their bindings they tip over and fall. The Warden simply pauses by them and picks them up. The Warden stands between the rows and holds the prisoner up. The others flinch as the Warden drops them. The Warden’s hand comes to the control panel on their belt. WARDEN (CONT’D) No mercy to be found down there. The prisoners are pulled to the center, towards the same spot by their cuffs. All of the prisoners drop down the center. The prisoners have dropped through a crack in the ground they couldn’t possibly fit into. The Fissure’s space beyond the crack is not visible from the surface. WARDEN (CONT’D) Vermin like you aren’t worth the cost of the bullet. The Warden turns to face the barrier of guards and the crowd of prisoners behind them. The prisoners flinch as the spotlight moves across the crowd, but there’s no uproar. WARDEN (CONT’D) The Fissure will have you all if you do not recognize your place. Near the back of the crowd so light does not reach them, 920746(PROTAG) doesn’t watch the execution, rather looking up to the sky. 920746 is dark skinned, with a cloud of wild hair As the guards push them, the prisoners climb back up the pit. 920746 looks up to the sky as they climb. It’s dark and choked with thick smoke.
2. 2. INT. PRISON CELL-DAY The cell is cramped, the bars being hard light projections and dangerous to touch. The edges of everything are sharp. 920746 is not asleep on the slab attached to the wall, rather they are underneath carving into the underside. The carvings all depict fantastical images of what the sky would be like if the smog didn’t block it from view. 920746 faces the other end of the bed slab, frowning at the realization that they’re running out of carving space. Staring at the little empty space they have, they struggle to think of what to carve. Looking to what they’ve carved already their expression grows resentful. So they carve an image of the Fissure, an eye placed in the crack and projecting lines of light to the remaining space. Staring at the new drawing anxiously, they’re taken by surprise as the morning alarm goes off. 920746 rolls out from underneath the bed slab and stands at the bars. Messing with their hair as they wait to be let out. When it deactivates, 920746 is the first out in the hall. INT. ASSEMBLY WORKSHOP-DAY The Assembly area is an open space with long tables, on one end are giant troughs with crystals. At the other end is a smaller area with devices built from the crystals, a magnifying glass that is part of the facility’s lights. A few other prisoners arrive to the workshop at the same time as 920746, but they rush for certain positions in the tables. Calm resumes when guards slide down the poles from the grate above and prisoners cower. 920746 hurries past the workshop as the larger group of prisoners claim the limited assembly space. EXT. PRISON MINES-DAY At the center of the prison complex is the open-air mine that leads to the Fissure below. There are racks of tools by the pit’s edge. The paths going down are thin and rough. 920746 looks up to the sky again but their expression falls after a while. Their eyes fall to the ground as they ignore the tool walls, jogging straight for the pit. 2.
3. 3. Looking down the path, the Fissure catches their attention. The pit of the mine goes deep, and there are tunnels that branch off from the main pit. 920746 takes one of these tunnels into the darker portions of the mine, ducking under hard light yellow tape to go in. As the light from the surface goes out entirely, the crystals in the walls produce the light that guides 920746 forwards. The tunnels gets thinner and thinner until 920746 has to crawl through a crack. INT. SECRET CREVICE-DAY The crack opens up into a small crevice with enough room for 920746 to stand again. There are some bent and broken bits of metal and junk that are scattered in the space. Some of the junk are single pieces while others are put together into makeshift devices. 920746 picks up one piece that is bent to function like a comb. 920746 splits their hair into chunks and uses the junk to do their hair. It’s tough and messy but it brings a smile. There are drawings of the sky in the dirt here too, 920746 erases them by wiping the dirt and picks a shard to draw with A new interpretation of the Fissure, this time with teeth. 920746 frowns, taking a different direction for the next few drawings. They get frustrated and wipes all of them. 920746 goes to try again but pauses and sets the shard down. Picking up an incomplete telescope as they stand. They turn to leave the crevice. As they crawl out into the mine, they’re slower and careful of their hair. EXT. PRISON MINES-DAY 920746 turns to go deeper into the pit. More prisoners have descended into the pit, but they stick close to the surface. Approaching the Fissure area, 920746 hesitates. They’re careful as they draw closer, craning to get a look inside. 920746 can’t get a good look in with how far they are from the Fissure, so instead they turn to the cliffs of the pit. Nearing the top, another prisoner hooks a crate of crystals up to a pulley and crane. 920746 hops onto the crate as it lifts up towards the surface of the pit. 3.
4. 4. INT. ASSEMBLY WORKSHOP-DAY 920746 rushes into the Assembly workshop, taking their crate to the pile of crystals. 920746 stares at the magnifying devices on the other side. A prisoner working on the assembly tables jumps from their seat as they injure their hand. They try to steady themselves to no avail, looking at their mangled hands. Sitting again, they can barely get their hands to grip the device. The prisoner freezes, head down and eyes unfocused. A guard pulls them out of their seat, threatening the prisoner. Most of the prisoners working at the fringes of the assembly rush over to the commotion to take the spot. Suddenly swarmed with prisoners, the guard panics and knocks the closest one hard against the next table. All the prisoners freeze in their work, the lone guard looks around at the crowd of workers nervously. The guards at the perimeter of the room encroach on the prisoners and panic erupts in the workers. 920746 throws their crate aside, ducking under tables to get to the device area with the struggle as a cover. Grabbing a magnifying device, they scramble for the poles. EXT. PRISON YARD-DAY The chaos of the Assembly Workshop spills out into the yard just outside, 920746 is alone above the grating as most of the guards have gone down to deal with the crowd. As they run, 920746 puts the device into the telescope. 920746’s gaze is locked on a nearby light fixtures. Without hesitation, 920746 pulls themself up. 920746 struggles to get atop the fixture but pulls up the telescope to look through. The Fissure below gets clearer through the telescope, 920746 barely has time to register what can be seen within when their view shakes and drops. They’re being pulled back by their hair and the telescope falls apart through the grate floor. 920746 whips around, The Warden has grabbed them. WARDEN Mistaken your place so easily? 920746 struggles against the Warden’s grip to no avail, their expression grows angry. 4.
5. 5. 920746 raises the piece to their hair. Eyes closed as they cut their hair to be let go. Warden is shocked as they stumble back, 920746 is already sprinting for the ledge of the mine. 920746 leaps onto the pulley system at the edge of the pit, and the momentum of their leap swings the crane to launch 920746 to the center of the mine so they fall to the Fissure. INT. THE FISSURE As they pass through, 920746 takes an abstract from. Their form is black against the white void. Mangled humanoid forms reach out to 920746 from the edges. At first 920746 is terrified by them but 920746 slips into content as the hands get closer and the forms merge together. EXT. PRISON YARD-DAY Everyone in the yard above has gone quiet with surprise. The Warden is unfazed, walking towards the mine’s edge. 920746 isn’t visible from the surface, the pit is calm. The Warden laughs as they turn away, waving their hand dismissively. WARDEN The Fissure will gladly take you life as you didn’t value it. The Warden turns away, not seeing the cracks in the ground that resemble hands following them. Screams ring out that draw the Warden’s attention back to the pit, a section of the pit’s surface collapses into the pit. When the ground is calm again, the section the Warden stands on is the last one. The Fissure erupts, sending debris high above the surface. Cracks rocket up the sides into the prison yard. What people remain stumble away in panic as rumble crashes back down. The ground beneath the Warden sinks and they fall through. INT. THE FISSURE The mangled figures surround the Warden and pull them down. 5.
6. 6. 920746’s figure appears in the abstract crowd, their form more stable than the rest. When the crowd parts, other figures curled up in a fetus position are protected by the ring of distorted figures. 920746 stands calmly before the Warden as they attempt to strike them with the distorted figures holding them back. 920746 grabs the Warden’s face and forces them to look up as the curled up figures float back up out of the abstract space EXT. RUIN OF THE PIT-DAY The prison lay in ruin, the pit shaft has become a wide crater. The smog has been blasted away by the explosion. Prisoners start climbing back out of the pit, reborn. They look up at the clear sky as they scale the new pit. The prisoners are quiet and the prison itself is still. 920746 is not among the prisoners. 6.