http://tiny.cc/IsItStillFunny
Is It Still Funny? (Short film)
! * ! * ! * ! Massive trigger warning: This video depicts suicide by a drug overdose. It is very graphic and disturbing. Please know it is just me acting the role and I did not actually swallow any pills or come to harm. I'm not suicidal or in danger of harming myself. This video is intended to show how cyberbullying can be deadly. ! * ! * ! * !
[Begin transcript]
[Pre-title screen] (The intro strings of Lady Gaga's "Till It Happens To You" plays)
* * * WARNING * * * This video is a graphic dramatization of cyberbullying driving a person to commit suicide. The subject matter and imagery are very triggering. Viewer discretion is advised.
[Title screen] Is It Still Funny? (Intro music fades)
[Video]
Profile view of a girl in a purple tank top covered in sparkly silver rhinestones sits down at her computer.
(Cut to shot of nasty anonymous messages in a Tumblr inbox. One is in all caps calling the girl an ugly loser and another says they wish she didn't exist.)
The girl stares at the screen.
An echoing voiceover of her thoughts exclaims, "Really?!"
(Cut to shot of the nasty messages again.)
She sighs, slaps her hands down in exasperation and the voiceover continues, "First at school, and now this?"
Then she angrily gets up and walks away.
(Cut to the nasty messages again. Now some of them tell her to go die.)
It is presumably a different day. The girl is wearing a white fleece hoodie when she sits down.
(Cut to nasty messages again.)
She reads the messages and looks away.
(Cut to nasty messages again.)
Tears drip down her cheeks as the voiceover says, "I just spend all day being made fun of, and now this."
(Cut to nasty messages again, one of which says nobody cares if she lives or dies.)
The girl's tear-streaked face contorts as she gets up in a flurry of enraged movement.
(Cut to the nasty messages.)
Presumably another day, as the girl is wearing a white tank top with thick light gray stripes. Now the camera gives us a frontal portrait view of her whole face.
Her expression is a distressed frown and the voiceover states, "Everybody hates me."
(Cut to the nasty messages again; One says they hate her and tell her to kill herself.)
She squeezes her eyes shut and lowers her head.
The voiceover says "I'm not good for anything. I can't do anything. Everything I say...I'm just a joke."
The girl looks at her screen again, deadpan while the voiceover says, "Maybe I should end it."
(Cut to nasty messages telling her to kill herself.)
Our view shifts to looking down at the girl from the foot of her bed as she struggles until she pops the lid off a bottle of prescription medication. She pours its entire contents of unidentified white pills onto her palm.
The voiceover states, "I'm going to end it. Everybody wants me to, so I'm going to end it."
Another view shift to a three-fourths perspective as the girl takes the entire pile of pills and gulps them down with water. She struggles a bit to swallow, but succeeds.
(Cut to nasty messages again, as if they haunt her.)
Some time appears to pass. The effects of the overdose begin when the girl clumsily turns the pill bottle upside down, revealing it is empty, then drops it.
(Cut to nasty 'kill yourself' messages again, one of which includes censored swear words and another that is in all capital letters and has LOL in it.)
The overdose is taking effect and the girl struggles to find a more comfortable position. Her eyes are barely open.
The voice over says, "I'm gonna..."
That is her last conscious thought before her eyes roll back and she collapses sideways.
View shift to a closeup of her face when her head hits the carpeted floor in a nearly face-down position. White froth oozes from her mouth and she makes choking noises while she twitches.
A view shift looking down at her whole body from the foot of her bed shows she is having a convulsive seizure from the overdose.
View shift to a closeup with froth pouring out of her mouth. The choking noises get louder.
View shift from above again to show the seizure twitching her limbs, then we return to the closeup. Her face is pale grayish-white from the lack of oxygen.
The seizure ends with gurgling breaths transitioning into fish out of water gasps that sound very loud in the near silence. The gasps get smaller and more irregular. Her eyes move beneath the lids in spasms while she gasps and her eyelids relax open when her breathing stops. The pulse visibly throbbing in her neck also ceases. She is dead.
(Cut to nasty anon messages again, showing all of them. The music returns, but it's actually the girl singing a cover of Lady Gaga's "Till It Happens To You")
(Voiceover singing) "You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time..."
Closeup of the dead girl's face.
(Voiceover singing) "You say I'll pull myself together, pull it together, you'll be fine..."
(Fade out to the title again. Text says: "Is it Still Funny?" followed by "Cyberbullying kills.")
(Voiceover singing continues through the closing sequences) "Tell me, what the hell do you know, what do you know / Tell me how the hell could you know, how could you know /
Till it happens to you, you don't know how it feels / How it feels / Till it happens to you, you won't know, it won't be real / No, it won't be real / Won't know how it feels /
You tell me, "Hold your head up, hold your head up and be strong / 'Cause when you fall, you gotta get up, you gotta get up and move on / Tell me how the hell could you talk, how could you talk / Cause until you walk where I walk, this is no joke /
Till It happens to you, you don't know how it feels / How it feels / Till it happens to you, you won't know, it won't be real / No, it won't real... [Music and image out to black.]
[Closing sequence, part 1]
The tumblr anon messages were fake for screencap purposes. The real anon hate I've received is so vile that I will not satisfy the people who sent it by giving them attention in this video.
I am not suicidal in any way, but I was when I was a teenager. I know how it feels and I won't wish it on anyone.
I used a bottle of my dad's prescription medication as a prop. I did not actually swallow any of his pills. I will not disclose what that medication is, so don't ask.
Drug overdoses can cause seizures. The froth you see oozing from my mouth was foaming mouthwash.
I portrayed death in a medically accurate way. People gurgle after a convulsive seizure, may breathe like a fish out of water as their brain dies and muscle spasms can open the eyes.
[Closing sequence, part 2]
I hope this video shocks people into thinking twice about sending hate messages and telling people to kill themselves on social media. You never know what the person on the receiving end of your vitriol is going through, and the cruel things you say could turn suicidal ideation into action.
[Closing sequence, part 3]
Music:
Excerpts from my cover of "Till It Happens To You" (Originally by Lady Gaga)
[End transcript]
#AFBV
[Pre-title screen] (The intro strings of Lady Gaga's "Till It Happens To You" plays)
* * * WARNING * * * This video is a graphic dramatization of cyberbullying driving a person to commit suicide. The subject matter and imagery are very triggering. Viewer discretion is advised.
[Title screen] Is It Still Funny? (Intro music fades)
[Video]
Profile view of a girl in a purple tank top covered in sparkly silver rhinestones sits down at her computer.
(Cut to shot of nasty anonymous messages in a Tumblr inbox. One is in all caps calling the girl an ugly loser and another says they wish she didn't exist.)
The girl stares at the screen.
An echoing voiceover of her thoughts exclaims, "Really?!"
(Cut to shot of the nasty messages again.)
She sighs, slaps her hands down in exasperation and the voiceover continues, "First at school, and now this?"
Then she angrily gets up and walks away.
(Cut to the nasty messages again. Now some of them tell her to go die.)
It is presumably a different day. The girl is wearing a white fleece hoodie when she sits down.
(Cut to nasty messages again.)
She reads the messages and looks away.
(Cut to nasty messages again.)
Tears drip down her cheeks as the voiceover says, "I just spend all day being made fun of, and now this."
(Cut to nasty messages again, one of which says nobody cares if she lives or dies.)
The girl's tear-streaked face contorts as she gets up in a flurry of enraged movement.
(Cut to the nasty messages.)
Presumably another day, as the girl is wearing a white tank top with thick light gray stripes. Now the camera gives us a frontal portrait view of her whole face.
Her expression is a distressed frown and the voiceover states, "Everybody hates me."
(Cut to the nasty messages again; One says they hate her and tell her to kill herself.)
She squeezes her eyes shut and lowers her head.
The voiceover says "I'm not good for anything. I can't do anything. Everything I say...I'm just a joke."
The girl looks at her screen again, deadpan while the voiceover says, "Maybe I should end it."
(Cut to nasty messages telling her to kill herself.)
Our view shifts to looking down at the girl from the foot of her bed as she struggles until she pops the lid off a bottle of prescription medication. She pours its entire contents of unidentified white pills onto her palm.
The voiceover states, "I'm going to end it. Everybody wants me to, so I'm going to end it."
Another view shift to a three-fourths perspective as the girl takes the entire pile of pills and gulps them down with water. She struggles a bit to swallow, but succeeds.
(Cut to nasty messages again, as if they haunt her.)
Some time appears to pass. The effects of the overdose begin when the girl clumsily turns the pill bottle upside down, revealing it is empty, then drops it.
(Cut to nasty 'kill yourself' messages again, one of which includes censored swear words and another that is in all capital letters and has LOL in it.)
The overdose is taking effect and the girl struggles to find a more comfortable position. Her eyes are barely open.
The voice over says, "I'm gonna..."
That is her last conscious thought before her eyes roll back and she collapses sideways.
View shift to a closeup of her face when her head hits the carpeted floor in a nearly face-down position. White froth oozes from her mouth and she makes choking noises while she twitches.
A view shift looking down at her whole body from the foot of her bed shows she is having a convulsive seizure from the overdose.
View shift to a closeup with froth pouring out of her mouth. The choking noises get louder.
View shift from above again to show the seizure twitching her limbs, then we return to the closeup. Her face is pale grayish-white from the lack of oxygen.
The seizure ends with gurgling breaths transitioning into fish out of water gasps that sound very loud in the near silence. The gasps get smaller and more irregular. Her eyes move beneath the lids in spasms while she gasps and her eyelids relax open when her breathing stops. The pulse visibly throbbing in her neck also ceases. She is dead.
(Cut to nasty anon messages again, showing all of them. The music returns, but it's actually the girl singing a cover of Lady Gaga's "Till It Happens To You")
(Voiceover singing) "You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time..."
Closeup of the dead girl's face.
(Voiceover singing) "You say I'll pull myself together, pull it together, you'll be fine..."
(Fade out to the title again. Text says: "Is it Still Funny?" followed by "Cyberbullying kills.")
(Voiceover singing continues through the closing sequences) "Tell me, what the hell do you know, what do you know / Tell me how the hell could you know, how could you know /
Till it happens to you, you don't know how it feels / How it feels / Till it happens to you, you won't know, it won't be real / No, it won't be real / Won't know how it feels /
You tell me, "Hold your head up, hold your head up and be strong / 'Cause when you fall, you gotta get up, you gotta get up and move on / Tell me how the hell could you talk, how could you talk / Cause until you walk where I walk, this is no joke /
Till It happens to you, you don't know how it feels / How it feels / Till it happens to you, you won't know, it won't be real / No, it won't real... [Music and image out to black.]
[Closing sequence, part 1]
The tumblr anon messages were fake for screencap purposes. The real anon hate I've received is so vile that I will not satisfy the people who sent it by giving them attention in this video.
I am not suicidal in any way, but I was when I was a teenager. I know how it feels and I won't wish it on anyone.
I used a bottle of my dad's prescription medication as a prop. I did not actually swallow any of his pills. I will not disclose what that medication is, so don't ask.
Drug overdoses can cause seizures. The froth you see oozing from my mouth was foaming mouthwash.
I portrayed death in a medically accurate way. People gurgle after a convulsive seizure, may breathe like a fish out of water as their brain dies and muscle spasms can open the eyes.
[Closing sequence, part 2]
I hope this video shocks people into thinking twice about sending hate messages and telling people to kill themselves on social media. You never know what the person on the receiving end of your vitriol is going through, and the cruel things you say could turn suicidal ideation into action.
[Closing sequence, part 3]
Music:
Excerpts from my cover of "Till It Happens To You" (Originally by Lady Gaga)
[End transcript]
#AFBV
