Presents case histories of three accidents. Explains ways community groups can promote safety. Anyone at All: Safety in the Community; Producer: John Barnes.
Man falls down stairs. Child on tricycle rides into path of car. Blind man leaving hospital with woman.
(00:03:06- 00:14:01); NEAR MISSES / LITTLE BOYS (S.S.); EXT. DAY Great image of shadow of little boy on tricycle (it rocks back and forth). Cut to the boy riding his tricycle down driveway quickly – he grins. Cut to his POV as he rapidly approaches street. A car comes into the frame and brakes screech.
(00:31:12- 00:40:04); ACCIDENTS (S.S.); EXT. DAY Man walks out back door with basket. He trips and falls down steps. He lies on back motionless with empty basket in front of him. (good dramatic music)
(00:50:00- 01:02:03); ACCIDENTS / SURREALISM (S.S.); EXT. DAY Reversal of man falling down steps – slow mo as his body tumbles back up – the things he dropped shoot back at him (very cool looking). DEATH (TEENS)
(02:37:26- 04:09:15); INT. LIVING ROOM Teens (and family) hide in order to surprise their friend on his birthday (festive mood / music). Little boy opens door slowly, but from the dark there appears a policeman, not the young man. Everyone yells “surprise!” and the cop looks somber. He looks up at the parents (standing on stairs) and says, “Mr. Brooks…could I – uh – talk to you and your wife alone…it’s about your boy.” Camera zooms into ECU of worried mother – she bows her head to the side. Cut to teens leaving the Brooks house somberly. Narrator (brother): “There’d been an accident. Larry Brooks had been killed.” Cut to CU of Larry’s brother (also a teenager) in his family’s living room. Narrator: “It just didn’t make any sense. A wonderful guy like Larry…dead. Why? Where could you find the answer?” (the boy leans his head on the mantle) “It wasn’t even his fault, as we found out the next day at the police station.” (cut to the station — slow pan into Mom, Dad, and brother sitting at chief’s desk) “It was one of those accidents with so many things to blame that it just couldn’t be pinned down to any one cause.” (Mom cries into her handkerchief)
(04:10:22- 05:02:01); CAR CRASHES / MORALIZING; EXT. DAY ECU wrecked 4-way stop sign – it’s lies on the shoulder of the road. Pan up to car driving along the road (looks like Kansas – flat and desolate). Cut to car crashing – screeching brakes, boy’s foot on brakes, dizzying images of the road from the car’s window, and finally the car on its side w/ tire still spinning. Narrator: “No one thing to blame…except public indifference? Not even that ’cause people aren’t indifferent about things like this. Mother and Father certainly weren’t indifferent. (Cut to mourning mother sitting in living room and father descending stairs)
(05:03:00- 05:33:17)); MORALIZING (TEENS) ; INT. DEN Albert’s friends (teens) sit around glumly talking about who’s fault the accident was – the brother points out that it’s no one’s fault. Another boy suggests they create a safety club at school.
(07:07:18- 07:15:03); COPS / TRAFFIC (S.S.); Nice image of cop directing traffic on Main Street.
(08:12:12- 8:24:24); SAFETY GEEKS (TEENS) (S.S.); CU safety magazines (“Accident Facts,” “Safety News” etc.). Camera pulls back to show teens going through the pile (in deep concentration).
(08:37:00- 08:43:12)); SAFETY GEEKS (TEENS) (S.S.); Teen safety leaders unroll banner stating “Join Teenage Safety Committee: Put Over Driver Education Course” above wrecked car.
(10:17:00- 11:07:24); SAFETY LECTURES; Mayor gives speech at high school safety rally: “And while there is no bronze tablet here to record it, what we have just seen is, in effect, a memorial to a graduate of this school, Larry Brooks. A boy of great promise, for whose death, I’m afraid, each one of us is a little to blame.” (cut to image of parents in the audience) “For it has been rightly said that accidents don’t just happen, nor does safety just happen. Safety must be planned for…and worked for.” The audience claps. Pan to CU of teenage boy (Larry’s brother).
(11:31:07- 11:44:10); INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS (S.S.); Worker looks at metal grinder without his visor over his face (it sits upon his head) and shards of metal fly into his eyes. He covers and rubs his eyes and exclaims in pain, “My eyes, my eyes!”
(11:45:14- 12:10:17); INJURIES (BLINDNESS) (S.S.); Doctor uncovers bandages from worker’s eyes as wife looks on. Camera slowly pans into his face after the doctor removes bandages. He looks confused (music swells). He moves hands in front of face to indicate that he sees nothing. He shakes his head and outs his head in his hand.
(14:32:17- 14:52:05); NEAR MISSES (INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS) (S.S.); Great image of man working on heavy machinery (sparks are flying). Rod slips out of man’s hands (we view him from behind) and his face thrusts forward into sparks. He turns towards camera slowly, and we see that one side of his super safety goggles is shattered (but his eye is still protected). He pulls the goggles up onto his head, looks up at the camera, and smiles and winks (cockily).
(15:28:11- 15:46:17); ACCIDENTS (S.S.); Farmer carrying load on his shoulder walks towards ladder leaning against barn. Beautiful mare stands near him (she looks at the camera). He climbs ladder – we see his shadow on the ground as he climbs. He falls and drops his load. Cut to him lying at the bottom of the ladder, and then to the horse who recoils and then runs in fear.
(16:53:09- 17:09:26); SAFETY LECTURE / MORALIZING (DIRECT ADDRESS); Excellent image of older, wealthy woman (in fur) addressing the camera directly about the teen safety campaign. An adorable baby (with a very large head) looks directly into the camera with a funny expression as she speaks. She says, “Yes, I must say their enthusiasm reached us too – the mothers and wives of our town. We often hear about the lives lost in accidents, and these are terrible certainly, but just as tragic is the heartbreak and suffering in families and friends go through.”
(17:45:19- 18:03:07); ACCIDENTS (S.S.); Camera pans from open front door to knocked over tricycle and onto an ECU of a dropped purse with contents spilling out (clearly a woman tripped over the tricycle).
(18:13:05- 19:18:10); INJURIES (WOMEN); Group of young adults hang out in the living room drinking and talking. One woman stands and muses about good times stating, “Remember the summer we all went riding at Point Pleasant? That was such fun.” Off-screen we hear another woman’s voice which causes the muse to turn with upset expression. She says, “It was such fun, wasn’t it? Such fun…” Pan to the woman speaking who sits in a wheelchair. She continues as the camera pans towards her, “Such fun to ride, swim, dance…” Her husband cuts in, “Laura, doll, Pam doesn’t mean anything.” Laura: “Of course not. Nobody means anything ever. You all say Laura’s so brave, she’s holding up so well…and Jim, he’s so wonderful. We must all try to make believe it didn’t happen. Well it did happen. It did happen! Can’t you understand? And I’m not brave, I’m not brave at all!!” She cries into her hands. Her friends file out of the room to give them privacy. “I can’t help it, Jim, I just can’t help it!”
(21:26:06- 21:50:23); WHEELCHAIRS / SURREALISM (S.S.); Bizarre and spooky image of woman in wheelchair in the middle of dark room. Her voice echoes and the camera pans away from her. “It won’t happen to me. It’ll be someone else, but the truth is it may be you…anyone, anyone at all, might be in my place right now…” (Cut to image of empty wheelchair. Her voice continues) “Anyone at all…anyone at all.” A shadow overtakes the wheelchair.