Ways to critically injure someone

[TheVoiceOfNick]

I'm writing a script for an upcoming short film project, and i'm having trouble figuring out how to critically injure someone... i was thinking of having them be hit be a car, but does anyone have any ideas? maybe something that happens in an INT rather than an EXT? thanks for your input.


Nick

[Pubrick]

how do u mean critically injure, like break their neck?

then all u need is a banana peel.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

Sorry, let me elaborate... this is a drama, so no slapstick. The issue is that the character must choose an action, and because of that action, she is critically injured. Like let's say, she chooses to eat ice cream... should she eat the sherbert or the frozen yogurt... she chooses the frozen yogurt and it turns out to be bad, so she now has food poisoning... something like that...


Nick

[Raikus]

Mugging gone wrong.
Something falling from construction zone (or person committing suicide).
(speaking from personal experience) Skiing.
Embolism.
Crossfire.
Drive-by.
Blue Ice.
Open manhole.
Lightning.
Elevator fall.
Electric shock.

[Pubrick]

just let me get this reference out of the way:

from episode Treehouse of Horrors III(s.4)
[Homer is buying a Krusty Doll for Bart in an Evil Shop where Frozen Yogurt = Frogurt.]

Owner: Take this object, but beware it carries a terrible curse!
Homer: [worried] Ooooh, that's bad.
Owner: But it comes with a free Frogurt!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The Frogurt is also cursed.
Homer: [worried] That's bad.
Owner: But you get your choice of topping!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The toppings contain Potassium Benzoate.
Homer: [stares]
Owner: That's bad.
Homer: Can I go now?

--
so, she's in the house.. and she has to reach sumthing that is high (maybe a secret stash of her boyfriend's loveletters to or from other sluts), so she should get a ladder that is outside but opts for just using the crappy chair she's on, which breaks obviously and gives her whatever injury u desire. how's that?

[MacGuffin]

Like let's say, she chooses to eat ice cream... should she eat the sherbert or the frozen yogurt... she chooses the frozen yogurt and it turns out to be bad, so she now has food poisoning... something like that...

Just sayin', with an example like that, no wonder you need help.

If you want to go with the 'hit by car' scenario, she crosses against the street light because she's in a hurry (maybe even dropping something in the crosswalk that she has to pick up because it would make her lower than a driver's eyeline) and pays for her tardiness.

Or rather than make two trips, she carries a huge load of laundry or boxes up a flight of stairs, and doesn't see a kid toy on the stair (or maybe trips on a sheet that has come unfolded) and takes a nasty tumble back down.

[markums2k]

There's the real-life example of a motorist stopping to wave someone across the street, while in the other lane of traffic (which is going the same way), a speeding car comes along and... well, there's your critical injury.

EDIT: I think anyone can relate to that situation.  We've all been waved, and probably have done the waving.  If you aren't paying attention, an act of common courtesy could turn into something very tragic.  In this case, your character would be choosing to trust the driver waving them on, instead of evaluating the conditions on their own.

I'm also a fan of injuries I know nothing about, and have to research.  Like, in one of my scripts, I have a character get stabbed in the back of their neck with an umbrella.  I wrote that out before I even knew what would happened, and then I read up on it.

Effects of spinal cord injuries are usually delayed... slowly disabling body functions.  And normally, the 'higher' along the spinal cord the injury is, the greater the disability.  The victim may eventually lose feeling in their arms, legs, whatever, or they may not.  It's one of those things you can play around with, at the convenience of telling the story, and still have it be realistic and accurate.

But food poisoning, much like eating, doesn't really lend itself to being a great dramatic and/or cinematic situation.

[prophet]

hit by inner city bus (i need to stop giving away my ideas)

[picolas]

hit by inner city bus (i need to stop giving away my ideas)

SO THAT WAS YOUR IDEA?!!

AS SOON AS THIS CAST GETS OFF I'M COMING YOUR WAY!!!
(and i'm bringing a banana peel)

[Ghostboy]

There's the real-life example of a motorist stopping to wave someone across the street, while in the other lane of traffic (which is going the same way), a speeding car comes along and... well, there's your critical injury.

This exact thing happened to me! It was crazy. All I remember was the car coming towards me, and hitting me, and the all I saw was sky for a few seconds and then I hit concrete with a sort of soft thud and I had landed in a parking lot about fifteen feet away. An old lady had been driving the car that hit me and she was freaking out, but all I got was a really deep cut on my left pinky finger. I was real dizzy for a while, though.

[Pwaybloe]

But food poisoning, much like eating, doesn't really lend itself to being a great dramatic and/or cinematic situation.

I was thinking the same.  If you want to "critically" injure someone, death is imminent, but not instantaneous.  

Nick, are you trying to setup a dramatic scene where the hero has a typical death scene where he/she has a speech, resolution, etc. they have to make before they die, or do you just want to prolong the inevitiable so the audience is counting down in their heads before the hero dies?  Or, as a matter of fact, is the afflicted the hero at all?  Is he/she a minor character that's not really integral to the overall plot?

I guess I need your help in filling in the gaps for me.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

This exact thing happened to me! It was crazy. All I remember was the car coming towards me, and hitting me, and the all I saw was sky for a few seconds and then I hit concrete with a sort of soft thud and I had landed in a parking lot about fifteen feet away. An old lady had been driving the car that hit me and she was freaking out, but all I got was a really deep cut on my left pinky finger. I was real dizzy for a while, though.

Is this how you financed your movies? With settlement money? Hehe...


Nick

[jasper_window]

In the last 2 years, in the area I live in, 2 different old ladies have rammed their cars through the front of a Dunkin Donuts.  Different Dunkin' Donuts.  Maybe your charcter normally makes coffee at home and the night before a malfunctioning stove, not only ruined the stove but the coffee maker next to it so the next morning she hit the local dunkin donuts and KA-BLAMMO!  A poor confused old lady hit the gas instead of the brake (the reason both of these old ladies gave for ramming the dunkin donuts) and smashed through the front of dunkin donuts, killing your character.

[markums2k]

Maybe Ghostboy only THOUGHT he escaped with a small scratch... when in fact, he continues to post his thoughts and write movie reviews from (cue ominous music) the great beyond.

Spooky.  

[jokerspath]

In the last 2 years, in the area I live in, 2 different old ladies have rammed their cars through the front of a Dunkin Donuts.  Different Dunkin' Donuts.

Speaking of people continually doing dumb things: as the highway ends and you enter my town, there is a sharp left.  If you only veer a little left, you end up in a pond.  If you don't turn at all, you drive into this grassy little valley thing.  Two years ago, when I was working at a local newspaper, two people ended up in the drink and one went through the little grassy valley thing, across another road, and into a hotel.  I wrote each incident up with an underlying tone of contempt...

aw