Experience #2

I remember…

My second semester of my freshman year was a complete adrenaline rush thanks to my roommate James Hart. We stayed at Metz and he was placed right in the next room besides mine. One afternoon I was procrastinating after my 9-3 class tired of working, because finals week was approaching. This day, James had invited some friends over to play some video games. Before they began he knocked on my door and invited me to join them in the video game fiesta. I accepted the invitation since I didn’t want to do any work.
James’s friends had a backpack full of video games to choose from. For most the evening I just played what they wanted to play. After playing two games that I had little knowledge about I began to speak my mind, because I was losing.
“I bet, if y’all had a racing game or a fighting game like Need for Speed or Tekken, y’all
wouldn’t win,” I said.
My roommate James moved his attention from staring at the T.V. to looking at me.
“No one can beat me on Need for Speed, because I own that game,” he says with bold confidence. When James said that, I was ready to make a believer out of my new roommate. In my mind, I was the king of racing and he was a pretender. James then rose out of his seat and opened his drawer and lifted out his Need for Speed Black Edition. I was hype that he actually had the game, because it would determine who was better. He then opened the Playstation II (PS2) and put the game in. One of his friends handed me the controller as if he already knew he was going to loose, if he played. I accepted the controller and told James,
“You are really lucky I don’t have my cars to smoke you with, but It doesn’t matter I’m still gonna leave you behind either way. Ha ha,” in excitement. I needed to create my own vehicle because that’s how I usually race. While I made my car on the game he left to the bathroom. By the time he made it back I was just about finished. To me, it didn’t really matter what the car looked like, I was worried about the performance. James then took control of the game and chose the circuit, the laps, and the traffic amount. I stressed that I wanted it to be maximum. He actually agreed with me and said,
“Me too Pierre.” By this stage of the worked up excitement I began to question his skills. The screen displayed the car selection screen where he chose a sky blue cobalt that was maxed out as far as performance was concerned, which made me wonder what kind of opponent picks a cobalt to drive against me. I was the next Jeff Gordon in my mind, so that cobalt better have some speed and he better know how to drive. I mean I’ve played Need for Speed since the first ever made playable game. This game was the game that would keep me up playing at odd hours of the night to death. James had it coming.
The race was about to begin and I’m getting all my trash talk organized for the race because I wanted to rub it in that I was winning. The race begins Three, Two, One, Go! I managed a perfect launch or burnout from the starting line. My car squeals and pushes 0-60 in like three seconds of the race. James and I are head to head and it’s only a matter of time that someone will make a mistake. My left thumb was stiff, yet shaking on the analog, because of the built-up of tension between James and I. Both of us were whipping through the traffic at speeds greater than 140mph. It was at that moment that I began to question my cars ability to keep up with his car. My car was fast, but I couldn’t believe that his car would push 180 to 200 so quickly. In a race that was this high of a tempo it was wise not to blink, or to take my eyes off the screen for a spilt second. Both James and I are realizing one another’s skill at this game. The last lap rolls around and I managed to catch up from my car crashes earlier. Now, we are both neck and neck except he begins to pull off away from me again. I had about half a tank of nos left compared to his empty. What’s the best decision? Bleed my nos to catch up and gain first place now and hope that I don’t wreck, or conserve for just in case, we both wreck so that I could get a jump off from a stop and go. My hands were beginning to sweat and my eyes started to dry out. I haven’t blinked for about 7 minutes. My heart was pounding and the sound of my car’s engine put me in a trance that wouldn’t stop until the race was over. I began to lean forward in my seat and to get uncomfortable in hopes to better my chances of winning. James manages to refill his nos tank to about half, and my tank was almost full. Now he’s rubbing the side of my car. I bled my nos to gain some distance, but he’s doing the same. Both of us where not breathing for the last 15 seconds of the game. Cars were flashing before my eyes and my vision got blurred. That’s when I crashed in an on-coming vehicle allowing James to take the lead and win the race that left everyone speechless there after.

Storyboards:

- above me while I sit in my room
- facing my door from the inside of my room
- in the hallway before I go into James's room
- In the doorway to get a full shot of the whole room
- a moving camera shot between the people while they play.
- close shot of James saying his words
- close shot of us playing side by side.
- zoom out to see our reaction

Adrenaline, excitement, anxiousness, disappointment.

Genre: suspense- comedy- action
Logline: Two hardcore gamers that face-off in a dual for the winning title.

Synopsis: The story starts out with the first roommate secluded in his room minding his own business when his friend/roommate comes in unannounced and invites him to play some games. Next, they all pack up in the room and begin there game fiesta, but the invited roommate doesn't really get involved with the gaming atmosphere until, he makes his first real comment to all the gamers. Then the two gamers who are about to get into a dual say some funny words to one another before they begin there race. Next they begin their race and they bring tension to the whole mood of the atmosphere until at the end one is a victor and the other is the loser.