Tadgh Sheehan, Off the Record

Transcript

A vinyl record spins. Its circular central sticker form the first letter of the title: "Off the Record'.

Gliding downwards into a tract of countryside. In the distance, the tall buildings that make up the city skyline prod the white fluffy clouds above.

A boy cycles along a shallow grass-covered ditch that runs straight, like the path of a former rail track. Tall, sun-bleached grasses sway in a breeze. Now the boy weaves his bike around the weeds that dot an asphalt trail. As grass-covered, man-made slope rises to his right.

The boy's brown curly hair dances in the moving air. His pale cheeks are flushed red. He stops beside a culvert. On the ground beside the culvert's yawning entrance way is a turquoise-coloured plastic crate. 

The boy dismounts from his bike, leans it against a clump of grass, then approaches the crate. He pulls a vinyl record from the crate, studies its circular central label with a frown, then retrieves his bike. Still holding the record, the boy wheels his bicycle away.

Back on his bike, the boy cycles across a wide puddle, then pushes his bike across a grass-carpeted rise.

Now, the boy abandons his bike on the nature strip outside a suburban home. He carries the record through the grey-painted entrance way that joins the sides of a fence, then up a path and onto the porch towards the front door.

Inside the house, the boy enters a cream-coloured room that's lined with pine-furniture. He places the record's central hole onto the spike of a wood-mounted turntable. 

He starts the turntable's steady rotation. With the needle hovering over the record's grooves, the boy steps back.

The tonearm lowers the needle onto the record. The needle slides off the record's smooth perimeter and into the outermost groove.

Outside, the blue sky of day fades to a twilit purple. Now in pajamas, the boy sits on his bed, nodding his head to the music's rhythm.

The boy gets up off the bed and approaches the turntable. The shadow of his hand glances over the turntable's wooden mount as he switches it off.

The record slows to a stop.

His bedroom light flicks off. Bathed in a blue glow, the turntable shudders then reactivates.

The boy lies in bed with his eyes closed, one arm at his side, the other bent behind his head. His face reflects an eerie pink light. His eyes twitch beneath his eyelids.

His eyes open. A glimpse of the boy stumbling backwards as a black-clad creature with fiery eyes and a wide mouth looms over him. The boy sits up with a gasp. In the distance, lights from the city centre freckle the night sky. The boy jumps up.

He looks back over his shoulder. Turning, he marches towards the culvert, which now emits a fuchsia-pink glow and swirling smoke.

The record continues to turn. Its circular-form gives way to a slowly rotating view of the *culvert's* circular opening. The boy stares into the culvert

The creature's eyes glow red, their pupils a black vertical strip. A flickering light revels the jagged teeth within the creature's opening mouth. It looms out of the culvert. His eyes fixed on the creature in front of him, the boy retreats backwards then drops to the ground. 

The creature bends down to the boy. The record's needle reaches the disc's un-grooved centre. The creature draws back from the boy, then lunges towards him.

The boy jerks awake in his bed. He sits upright. His blue eyes turn a milky-white.

The boy leaves his bedroom past the motionless record player.

Still in his pajamas, the boy emerges from the house into the pale early morning light. Ignoring his bike, which is now propped against a lamp post on the nature strip, he marches down the pavement away from the house.

The boy strides, trancelike, past swaying grass in a breeze. 

Now he stands facing the culvert.

As he blinks, his eyes switch between their natural blue and a pupilless-milky white. He heads, barefoot, into the culvert.

A young girl approaches the culvert with a skateboard. She takes a record from the turquoise plastic crate beside it, then studies the disc's central sticker. In the darkness of the culvert, two eye glow red, their pupils a black vertical strip.

Credits roll. Off the Record. Director, Tadhg Sheehan [TAD-ug SHE-yun].Cast. Child #1 (Max), Max Hall. Child # 2, Tate Giles. Additional Voices, Taylah Fynney [TAY-lar FIN-ee]. Tadhg Sheehan.

Camera Operator, Kamil Rawdonowicz [KA-mill RAW-doh-noh-vitch]. Lighting Specialist and Audio Technician, Sam Hall. Editor, Animator, Special Effects Technician and Sound Foley Designer, Tadhg Sheehan. Eye asset {QUERY - SHOULD THIS BE 'ASSET'?} - Tinynocky. 

Original score, Tadhg Sheehan. "Howler", written and performed by Cookin on 3 Burners, courtesy of Soul Messin'. Special thanks to family, friends and teachers.