ALICE IN MODERN WONDERLAND

(Draft)

A Short Film

By Kira Bronfain
INT. APARTMENT - BED - EARLY MORNING

ALISA wakes up, looks at the clock on the nightstand, smiles at the
thought of something. Alisa is twenty five years old, a mix of a pretty
librarian and a grunge kid? She grabs a handheld device (iPhone or
similar). There is an incoming text message from LUXMan37.

LuxMan37

Today is the day.

Alisa smiles joyfully confirmatively.

ALISA

Yes, today is the day.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM – MINUTES LATER

There is a happy anticipation and a feel motion in the air. The room’s
ambiance is high-tech with a laptop and other slick electronic devices.
The wall above her workspace features an MIT diploma.

Alisa moves around the room energetically. Passes a wall mirror and
glances at herself. Her glaze shifts to a large garment bag hanging on
a wooden hanger over the closet door next to the mirror. She looks at
the bag intensely for a long moment. We do not know what the
garment bag contains.

INT. APARTMENT – BATHROOM – MINUTES LATER

Alisa jumps into the shower, runs the water, soaps up, shaves,
exfoliates, while humming an undistinguishable song.

INT. APARTMENT – BATHROOM

She gets out of the shower, dries herself with a fluffy towel. In front of
the mirror, she begins carefully applying make up. The energetic beat
keeps playing in the background and from somewhere outside there is
a sound of birds singing.

A sudden beep is emitted from one of the devices in the bedroom.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM

Alisa runs to her laptop and reads a message popped-up on the screen.

LuxMan37:

I can’t wait. Is this a dream

come true?

She smiles, responds quickly:

Alisa:
Good to know it is for you...
I am still trying to decide.
Joke . Can’t wait.
This is everything I’ve ever wanted.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM

Alisa proceeds to finish her makeup. Then approaches the garment

bag. Holds her breath, unzips slowly. A puff of white silky fabric
glistens through the opening. She pushes the harsh plastic of the
garment bag down to reveal a modern wedding dress. Alisa looks at it
with emotion and takes it off the hanger. Steps into a pair of dressy
beige leather biker boots, then steps into a puff of fabric of a dress.
Buttons up, looks at herself in the mirror, and satisfied with her look as
a bride begins to twirl around the room…

She grabs the house keys, a small beaded purse and leaves the room,
the apartment, the building. Gets into a black limo waiting outside.

EXT. STREET – MORNING

Alisa gets out of a limo in front of a large monumental church and

proceeds up the wide stairs. Standing before the closed door, she
closes her eyes and envisions a number of guests greeting her inside
of a church.

INT. CHURCH – MORNING

She slowly opens the door to face a virtually empty cathedral except
for an OLD LADY who is getting up from the bench. There is a look of
shock on Alisa’s face. The Old Lady eyes her and looks a bit shocked
herself at the sight of a single girl in a wedding dress. The Old Lady
passes Alisa on her way out of the cathedral trying hard not to stare.
The only sounds in the church are the swishing of the lit candles and
the old lady’s stick hitting the stone floor.

Alisa surveys the open church, looks shocked and hurt.

ALISA
He didn’t come…
No one came..

She proceeds to sit down and looks at the glare of the candles for a
long moment.

CUT TO:

INT. NEWSROOM - DAY

NEWS ANCHOR:

Vroom.com corporation released a broad launch of

their long anticipated Imagina software (previously
available in Beta version only). The software is a
true breakthrough in technology and will once again
modify the way humans interact, with an ultimate
goal of making individuals feel happier and more
fulfilled. The core Imagina functionality is to allow an
individual to create and customize a net character
(friend/boyfriend/girlfriend) to interact with in the
most satisfactory manner via the web.

Here with us today is Mr. Swatson. He is Imagina’s

Global VP of Product Development and will
summarized the product’s key features for our
viewers.

MR. SWATSON

Throughout centuries, people have been facing an

issue desiring to tweak their human interactions,
change just that one annoying feature about a friend,
family member, a partner, or a spouse. We, at
Imagina are solving that core issue, enabling an
individual to customize their interactions to that,
which they desire.
 Each account holder is enabled to pick and choose
from various human characteristics, which will be
assigned to their net companion. That creates what
we call a “Character Fetus”. Then, as the interaction
between our customer and their self-created Net
Friend begins, this self-created character gains
intelligence and grows based on the interaction with
his/her creator. At its mature stage the Net
Character becomes a perfect interactive companion,
bringing enormous joy and satisfaction to its creator.
The opportunities are endless, it could be a friend, a
boyfriend, a parent, anything one desires.

Of course, the only limitation at this point, is that this

perfect creature lives in cyber space only, but we are
certain that with feature releases, there will be a shift
in bringing the net character closer to real form.

This product is truly revolutionary as will be solving

age old issue of imperfect interactions turning this
experience into positive ones. I would encourage
everyone to try this next best thing. Of course our
beta users can attest to the joy this product brings,
we have released it to a limited number of users
earlier this year, and they are reaping enormous
rewards, interacting with Net humans of their
dreams.

CUT TO:

EXT. CHURCH STEPS – MORNING

Alisa exits the church looking pale. As she is stepping down the stairs,
Alisa sees another girl by herself in a wedding dress running up the
stairs excitedly. Alisa looks puzzled, then with a glimpse of
understanding.

EXT/INT. ALISA’S BUILDING – EARLY AFTERNOON

Alisa runs up the stairs, rushing. Swings open the door in her
apartment and rushes to her laptop. Opens up “Vroom.com” site,
“Imagina” link, Imagina “Beta” page opens up. She logs in, and writes
a message to LuxMan37.

ALISA
You didn’t come
 LUXMan37
I got held up love, there is a new location
opening of uZbun Yogurt.
We’ll try again tomorrow.

ALISA
There is no tomorrow for weddings.

LUXMan37
Tomorrow…wedding…wedding…tomorrow...

The SYSTEM MESSAGE pops up on the screen triggered by the verbiage

in the communication.

SYSTEM MESSAGE
Please note, at this time our system is unable to
accommodate requests that require physical
presence of NET CHARACTER. Net Characters exist in
a virtual form only. Future enhancements are in
process. Please contact customer service if you have
questions.”

Alisa navigates to Net Character preferences menu on the Imagina site.

Preference Setup page is displayed.

Your customized NET CHARACTER preferences:

Net Companion Sex:

Male X

Characteristics:
Kind
Compassionate
Responsive
Empathetic

Social preferences:
Flexible
Wants family
Prefers church wedding

Work Field:
Entrepreneur: creative consumer products development.
Alisa goes pale as she fully comprehends the extent of her delusion.
She slaps down the computer and pushes it violently. The room
becomes black and white.
Alisa rushes to the outlet and pulls the universal plug that provides
electricity for all gadgets in the room. Multiple electronic lights fade
out.

ALISA
This isn’t real….
None of this is real.

SCREEN TURNS BLACK

A VELVETY, LOW VOICE (V.O.)

But what is?!

After 15 seconds, as the credits scroll up, numerous web pages are
flashed on the screen:

Google, Yahoo, Second Life, Text Messages, Microsoft Asheron (the role
playing game), MySpace, FaceBook. (Various examples of modern web
technology).

FADE TO BLACK