The camera is aiming at the ceiling. It’s a hotel room ceiling, one of those textured ones that look sort of like a mountain range. There’s a scuffling sound.
AJ: “Move it down a lil bit.”
NICK: “I am… I am… hold on…”
The camera shifts and lowers, slowly revealing a green sofa with a gaudy floral print on it so common in hotels. The expanse of wall behind it is blank white. The sofa is pulled out from the wall about four feet.
AJ: “Too low, too low!”
BRIAN: “Guys, hurry up!”
NICK: “I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying…”
It swivels up a little bit, cutting the sofa out altogether, resting on just a blank expanse of wall.
AJ: “Maybe a little to the left?”
NICK: “Shhh.. It’s running!”
AJ: “It’s been running, dumbass…”
NICK: “What? No…”
AJ: “Yeah… this little light here…”
The camera shudders ever so slightly.
NICK: “Don’t touch it you dildo, you’re gonna change the angle.”
AJ: “My bad.”
NICK: “Okay let’s do this.”
Again, there’s a general shuffling sound, then heavier sounds of fabric scraping against fabric.
BRIAN: “Took you long enough.”
NICK: “Shhh.. it’s running.”
HOWIE: “Ow, that’s my foot.”
NICK: “Sorry. Its dark man.”
AJ: “Shh, it’s running.”
NICK: “That’s what I’m supposed to say!”
BRIAN: “You aren’t supposed to say anything yet.”
NICK: “As the director of this video---“
ALL: “SHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The blank wall is still all that’s visible.
BRIAN: “Okay. Ready?”
NICK: “Ready.”
HOWIE: “Yes.”
AJ: “Go, B, you’re on.”
A piece of paper slowly rises into the shot against the blank wall. Brian’s fingertips are just barely visible holding onto the bottom corner of it. Written on it in Brian’s messy handwriting is: “Welcome to BackstreetBoys.com!”
Another piece of paper rises slowly. This one is clutched by Nick’s gamers’ fingers. He holds it in front of Brian’s, and Brian’s drops behind it. This one is written in Nick’s chicken-scratch. “The official website of the Backstreet Boys!”
Again, another paper exchange is made – Nick’s for Howie’s. The writing is neater in Howie’s script, all the i’s dotted with smiley faces. “The following presentation is entitled…”
Now AJ’s paper rises. He’s gone all out, using colored markers and writing in a fancy calligraphy. “The official website hand ballet.”
BRIAN: - giggles -
NICK: “Shhhh!! Oh.. Howie.. hit the music.”
BRIAN: “Shhh.”
HOWIE: “Okay.”
Shuffling sounds; then clicking. AJ’s sign starts to wobble.
AJ: “Hurry up, my arms getting’ tired man.”
HOWIE: “You didn’t label the CDs Nick.”
NICK: “Dammit I knew I forgot to do something.”
AJ: “Shove in ANY CD.”
HOWIE: “There’s a sequence! But they’re all unlabelled.”
AJ: “Hence, ANY CD.”
Music starts to play. Its soft and melodious at first, then Mandy Moore’s voice starts singing ”I Wanna Be With You”. The music stops.
HOWIE: “Nick…”
AJ: “What the hell do you own that CD for?”
The sign disappears from view.
NICK: “It’s… I… It’s…” (long pause)
HOWIE: “And you make fun of MY CDs…I swear…”
AJ: “You BOTH have crap for music.”
HOWIE: “Name one crappy thing!”
AJ: “Yanni.”
HOWIE: “He’s got talent!”
AJ: “Kenny G, Tiny Tim, Ricky Martin!”
HOWIE: “I said ONE THING!”
BRIAN: “You own Ricky Martin?”
NICK: “He owns Clay Aiken, too.”
AJ: “Howie, is there something you’d like to share with us?”
HOWIE: “Why you guys always pickin’ on me for?”
NICK: “Wait a sec – AJ! Put the sign back up. Guys, the camera’s rolling!”
AJ: “I know but Howie –“
NICK: “SHHH!!!”
The sign reappears.
NICK: “Music, Howie.”
Scuffling. Then music begins. It’s an instrumental of Larger Than Life.
NICK: “There we go. Action.”
ALL: “Shhhh!”
The sign slithers out of view and Nick’s hand pops up, folded into a shadow puppet. He makes it “look around” and eyes that have been drawn on his large, bony knuckles make his hand look like a skin-colored alligator. He swings his hand to “look” at the camera. He’s about one inch off to the right of the camera.
One of Brian’s hands pops up. This one’s got brown yarn taped it like hair. The eyes are drawn on the fleshy part of his finger, with eyelashes that swoop up to the knuckles, and his middle finger tip is colored red. He brings his hand closer to Nick’s, and swivels around it, making his hand “check Nick’s out”. He’s evidently leaning across Nick, his arm is stretching from a distance, and the corner of his forehead is just evident in the side of the shot.
His thumb moves like a mouth as he talks.
BRIAN: (in a high pitched girly voice) “Like oh my God are you Nick Carter’s hand?”
Nick makes his hand nod.
BRIAN: (in high pitched girly voice) “Oh my God can I have your autograph?”
NICK: “Sure!”
Howie’s hand holds up a sharpie and a piece of paper. Nick’s puppet hand takes the pen in his “mouth” and scribbles on the paper. Brian’s fan-hand swoons and grabs the autograph in her “mouth” and Howie grabs the pen and his hand disappears.
AJ’s hand suddenly appears. He’s drawn sunglasses on his fingers and affixed yarn that’s probably supposed to be a Mohawk to his knuckles.
NICK: (whispering) “Why’d you put hair on you?”
AJ: “I have hair dammit.”
NICK: “What? No I mean my puppet doesn’t have hair.”
BRIAN: “So it’s set during your cue-ball years. Its all good.”
NICK: “No I need hair!”
Nick’s hand disappears.
NICK: “Gimme that yarn, D.”
A moment later, Nick’s hand reappears, with bright yellow yarn kind of lopsided on the back of his hand.
BRIAN: (high pitched girly voice) “Oh Nick your hair’s falling off.”
Brian’s fan-hand bites the yarn hair and adjusts it.
BRIAN: (whispers) “Howie..tape it.”
Howie’s hand slinks up behind Nick and Brian’s and he pushes tape over the top of Nick’s “hair” and pushes the tape down.
AJ: (clears his throat)
NICK: “Oh yeah. (pause) Hey it’s AJ!”
AJ makes his hand saunter towards Nick.
HOWIE: “Ow careful where you’re leaning.”
AJ: “Sorry.”
Brian’s fan-hand acts excited, jostling around, clutching the autograph.
Howie’s hand pops up next. Long brown yarn droops down to his wrist.
NICK: “And Howie, too!”
HOWIE: “How-We doin??”
AJ: (whispers) “Man, you still SAY that?”
HOWIE: “It seemed appropriate.”
Brian brings his 2nd hand into view. This one has red yarn taped to the top. His forehead comes more into view in the corner of the shot as he brings his 2nd hand over to meet the first, and the other guys’ hands.
BRIAN: “HALLO!!”
He makes the fan-hand “look” frantically around at the four other hands, and then promptly “pass out”, dropping it from view.
Nick makes his hand look down.
NICK: “Oops. Well. At least we aren’t getting mobbed!”
He says the last word with emphasis. He raises a hand with long yellow yarn and thumb tip painted pink. AJ also raises a fan-hand. Even Brian’s fan-hand raises.
NICK: (clears his throat) “I said --- AT LEAST. WE DIDN’T. GET… MOBBED!”
HOWIE: “Oh, right! Right!”
Howie’s fan-hand joins the other three.
The three Boys make their them-hands look at the fan-hands in unison.
ALL: “AHHHHHHH!”
NICK: “Change the disc, D!”
Howie’s him-hand disappears, scuffling, a click, and then a wild-sounding, frantic instrumental piece fills the air around them. The Boys mime making both sets of hands run, shaking them, making the hair go crazy, shouting “aaaahh!!” over and over again.
Slowly they separate one the fan-hands, pulling them further and further away from the them-hands, until one-by-one, the fan-hands drop out of the shot.
They mime slowing down to a stop.
NICK: “We out run them!”
BRIAN: “We should dance to celebrate!”
A long pause.
NICK: (hissing) “Mussssiiiccc.”
HOWIE: “Oh yeah.
Howie’s hand disappears for a moment, scuffling sounds as he switches CDs, and then Backstreet’s Back (the US-album/7” version) fills the room. Howie’s hand returns as Brian uses his thumb and pinkie to replicate the hand motions of the Everybody dance.
AJ: “The fans are gonna think this is rad.”
NICK: “Shhh!!”
They all start moving their hands like their dancing, Brian the only one creative enough to do the “hand motions” with his pinkie and thumb.
The music is the actual album version, with the vocals, so all they’re doing is basically bopping their hands around to the music.
AJ: “WHOooo!!”
AJ makes his hand start swooping and curving.
BRIAN: “Even when its just our hands you gotta show off…”
NICK: “Shhh!!”
The hands continue dancing as the song plays. Slowly, the volume is turned down on the CD, as though it is fading out while their hands continue dancing.
NICK: “AJ…sign! The sign!”
AJ: “Relax, I was just about to pop an awesome move…”
BRIAN: “With your hand?”
AJ: “My hand does some pretty awesome moves, yeah.”
NICK: “Shhh! AJ – the sign! The sign!”
AJ: “Okay, okay.”
The black-fingernail polished fingers return, holding up a sign which says simply “End” in bright red letters.
Suddenly Nick’s head pops up into the shot. He looks down, “Great job guys!” He stands up, his shirt a flash of orange, black and white stripes.
BRIAN: “My knees are killing me now.”
HOWIE: “This video is shit…”
AJ: “You mean THE shit, I hope?”
HOWIE: “…If you’re Ed Wood.”
NICK: “I think direction was excellent.”
HOWIE: “They’ll never put it on the website.”
AJ: “After all that work?”
NICK: “So I’ll post it on YouTube. I think the fans will like it.”
BRIAN: “Camera’s still running.”
NICK: “Shit. I’ma hafta edit this thing.”
The blur of orange, black and white moves away. Brian pops up into the shot and looks around.
The camera shakes as Nick accosts the camera.
NICK: “How the hell do I turn this thing off?”
AJ: “The button on the side that says ‘OFF’.”
NICK: “Oh. Yeah, lookie that.”
BRIAN: (singing) “Gotta go!”
The camera goes black as Nick turns it off.
Story Notes:
For the challenge posted by fracktrain on this thread: http://absolutechaos.net/fictalk/index.php/topic,2032.0.html
