Impacts of Social Media

By Laura Dalaimo
EXT- BENCH- DAYTIME

BECKY sits on the bench in the middle of town, she wears a

yellow hoodie. BECKY has long, blonde hair, and rosy red
cheeks due to the cold weather. She looks out in front of
her for about ten seconds, then her phone beeps

BECKY opens up the notification, showing that she got a

message from someone else. The message reads ‘you should
delete that picture, no one is going to like it’. BECKY
puts takes off her jumper, revealing a blue top.

BECKY (V.O)
That is Sabrina, she is the popular girl around here.
All the boys like her, and all the girls want to be
her. Including me.

BECKY looks at her social media, and comes across a video

of Sabrina exercising.

EXT- OUTSIDE HOUSE- AFTERNOON

BECKY comes out of her house, leans down and ties up her
shoelaces, she wears gym clothes. She wears her hair up in
a ponytail. BECKY proceeds to stretch, before starting off
on a run.

EXT-PARK- AFTERNOON

There is a video montage of BECKY exercising. This happens

to motivational music, which becomes quiet as BECKY takes
out her headphones. BECKY takes her phone out of her
pocket, and takes a selfie, uploading it to social media.

She gets up and starts to walk down the street, leaving

the park, and walking down the path towards her house. She
opens her backpack, takes out a banana (or any food) and
throws it in the bin. As she walks, she takes her yellow
phone out of her pocket, and walks along the street
holding it. She gets another notification, which is a
second message from Sabrina. This message reads ‘keep
trying all you like, but you’ll never be like me’. As
BECKY walks down the street, she looks through other
videos of people with the ‘ideal’ figure on social media.

INT- HALLWAY- AFTERNOON

The camera pans around the corner, showing BECKY looking

at herself in the mirror, she looks visibly unhappy. The
door slowly closes in front of the camera.
EXT- BENCH- AFTERNOON
BECKY is sits on the same bench as before, she is opens up
the app, Airbrush, and begins to distort her look, making
herself seem thinner. The camera pans past BECKY’s face,
she looks pale, with red eyes, no makeup.

BECKY (V.O)
Truth is, the more that Sabrina tells me that I’m not
good enough, the more I am going to try and change.
There is no other option.

Camera pans around the bench, behind BECKY’s head, and the
scene changes to early evening.

EXT-BENCH- EARLY EVENING

BECKY still sits on the bench; a figure walks past her. It

is difficult to see who, until the camera moves closer. It
is SABRINA, she wears a puffy black coat, with glasses and
her hair up in a messy bun. She doesn’t acknowledge BECKY,
continuing to walk past.

BECKY (V.O)
There’s Sabrina, except she doesn’t look how she
usually does. She doesn’t look the same as she does
on social media. It doesn’t make sense to me, why
would she change her looks.

SABRINA smiles in BECKY’S direction, and continues to walk

past. BECKY takes her phone out of her pocket. She opens
social media.

BECKY (V.O)
I guess that she doesn’t actually look like this in
real life. Why would she change the way she looks
just to please other people?

BECKY realises, she picks her backpack up off the floor,

and picks out a piece of food. She either unwraps it, and
then takes a bite, or takes a bite straight away. BECKY
gets up, smiles and starts walking home. Whilst walking,
BECKY does not look at her social media, like she did
before. Instead, she puts her headphones, in, skipping
past two sad songs, and playing the song ‘Happy’ by
Pharrell Williams.

The camera goes behind a car, and comes out the other
side. BECKY is still walking, except it is now light.

EXT-STREET- DAYTIME
BECKY is still walking down the road, she wears the
original yellow jumper (to symbolise her happiness), she
takes out her phone, and uploads a new picture to social
media. She writes the caption ‘don’t become the person
that everyone else thinks is the ideal version of you, be
the version of you that makes YOU happy. Please call the
number 0800 068 41 41 to contact Hopeline if you are
struggling’

Screen fades to black, but displays the number on the

screen for roughly 10 seconds.