Writing a Twist

 

Writing a Twist

24 Hours.

The local fuel station, open 24 hours, was deserted due to the late hours of the night. There were no clients around. It was too late for anyone to stop to get a refill and too early for our usual drivers to stop by to have their usual breakfast. Either way, there he was, half asleep behind the register at 3 a.m., waiting for his shift to end so he could go home. He was sitting in an uncomfortable position until the entrance door was opened and the small bell rang. He quickly recovered, not wanting to get another warning from his boss for sleeping at work, and was ready to assist whoever decided to pull over at the station this early. At first he thought that he might have imagined it and that there was in fact no one around as he did not see anyone, but he could have sworn he had heard the bell. “Hello?” He had asked, but received no answer. Feeling a little bit weird he glanced to the upper corner, where he saw the security camera recording in case someone decided to rob them. He tried to see something over the racks, but once again saw nothing. He was feeling uneasy but convinced himself that it had been his imagination due to the lack of sleep. He tried to sit in that uncomfortable position that he was getting used to once again, but the bell rang and this time he was sure he had not imagined it. “Who's there?” He asked, this time more aggressively but once again did not receive an answer. Even though he knew this was not the smartest thing to do, he decided to confront whoever was messing with him and trying to scare him. He left his position in the cash register to get to the door and still saw no one around. “This isn’t funny!” he shouted. Nothing was out of place and if anyone saw the situation they would think that he was imagining things, but he really had felt someone behind him right in that moment. He quickly turned around to face whoever it was but saw nothing. He thought to himself if he was losing his mind and decided to call his replacement to come earlier. He was trying to figure out what to say to his co-worker to convince him to take his shift earlier, but as he reached for his phone he felt a hand press on his shoulder. Instinctively, he jumped and tried to hit whoever that was, but soon realises he had just woken up and was currently seeing the angry face of his boss. He does not look happy, and the boy knows he has messed up. “I warned you.” Says his boss. “You’re fired”.

• What inspiration would you take from the films we have studied in order to make your film? 

The twist of 24 Hours was influenced mainly by the narrative structure of the short film Portals but has as well something that could resemble to High Maintenance. The location of this twist is in a regular place where something horrible would be expected to happen in this context and it does not help the fact that is past midnight with no one around, generating a gloomy atmosphere. This already gives the spectator a hint of what to expect of the story and come up with an idea of what could happen next. Even though the twist is cliche and has been used way too many times, it still impacts in a different way because of how it ends. It is not like the main character realises that it was all just a dream and there are no repercussions for his actions. When he says that he cannot be seen sleeping again it explains that he has already been warned (a pattern), so it is not the first time that this has happened which gives the end an explanation. 

Just as in Portals the enemy is never shown because there may have never been a real one. His consciousness could be considered the antagonist of the story because of the way it tricks him into thinking that he is being watched or hunted by someone that he cannot see, but there is no physical or recognisable character to consider as the “bad guy”. Also inspired in Portals is the small fact that there are no names at all.