Alright. So I'm writing a script that involves a young boy with super speed. But I've only just begun and haven't reached a scene that would involve him using it yet....until now.

Basically I'm asking how can I showcase his power/speed? LIke how would I write it out. I never had a story that involved something like this, so yeah, sorry if I sound like such a noob at this.

Something to know if you were willing to help me out.

-- He's bound to a wheelchair, but obviously faking it...so the scene would involve him jumping or running off of his chair.

@Dontrel

Just write how you see things.   Read more pro scripts, see how other writers approach it, and go from there.  I wrote this, just spitballing... just an example.  Hopefully it gives you some idea... on how to get your character out of the wheelchair or at least go about it.

INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT

Wheelchair bound, SCOTTIE, 14, a budding smartass, playing a Grand Theft Auto type video game on the big screen TV.

He commandeers the remote, kills the volume - listens, nothing... and he's just about ready to dismiss the whole thing when --

-- another scream from the adjoining apartment --

SANDRA
Help..!

-- Scottie dashes across the room with incredible speed, where it dead ends in a concrete wall...  

...tears into the concrete with the strength of ten men --

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

-- the door suddenly bursts open in a shower of splinters, and Scottie comes crashing through --


Ghostie

I am not the most technically sound person here - so take this with that in mind.

Your first step should be to determine what SPEED look like it your mind.

For example, Is it a a SPEED BEAM (something like a a thick laser of light going from one end of something to another?  Or perhaps it's a SPEED BLUR (something like a body moving so fast we only catch a faint outline of the body as it moves from one spot to another). Or is it a SPEED FLARE (we see a flash of light as the body hits it's destination).  

I think once you define it for the first time, you can use the term you created as shorthand throughout the script. For example, let's ssy the wheelchair boy's name is Tom and you have decided that SPEED BLUR is how your readers and characters see this phenomenon. You could introduce it like this:

Tom moves from his chair to the end of the street with such velocity that it creates a SPEED BLUR - his body becoming a faint outline having moved to quickly to be clearly seen.

From then on out I think it would be okay to use SPEED BLUR as a short hand. e.g., the VILLAIN sees a SPEED BLUR - Tom appears on the street corner.

Anyway - food for thought.

Reverse the speed element.

Instead of having him go fast as suggested.

Have everyone and everything else slow down. Almost freeze frame speed.

He moves in real time. That way you can capture his emotion as well what it is he's doing while going fast.

Shawn.....><

Thank you guys so much! I'll be combining all of these elements. You guys saved me lol.

I'll let you all know how it turns out!

Describe it as "everything else moves in ultra slow motion".  Best way to do it is, like others have said, write as you see it.  

Anyway, sounds like an interesting concept.  Very high production values these days with the MCU and DC's attempt at cinematic superhero universes, so chances are if the script is written with enough heart and potential, you're gonna get scooped.  Just try not to go overboard.

I made that mistake and from what people have told me, very few if any, epics, ever get made from a first time writer, so keep the budget in mind when you're penning the action onto the page.  

Good luck with the script, friend.

Look at how some other movies have approached this very same problem. The Incredibles is a great example. The whole family has to hide their powers. At the end Dash runs a track and field race and has to really hold back to win 2nd place and make it look like he was trying.

Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future past showed off his speed by robbing stores blind and almost teleporting around the others while talking he was so fast.

Have fun with this scene. In all the superhero movies that have been coming out lately these scenes of powers self discovery have been some of the most fun parts of their films. Iron Man flying so high he freezes his suit, or Peter Parker climbing walls and leaping between roofs.

What WOULD YOU DO with super speed?

Is this the first time he uses/or realizes that he has this speed? If so then I would play with it a little.

But ya basically what the others have said, write how you see it, try to think up some unique ways to show the speed too.

Maybe cut to a couple of teenagers tearing up rubber in a car, the passengers has his phone out filming the speedometer as the car accelerates to high speeds, then buddy jogs on past.

Or maybe a cop's speed gun picks up the kid running, might be unoriginal but I'd imagine the cop looking down perplexed at his speed gun reads high triple digits, he looks up and sees a blur whiz by, he stares down the road dumbstruck and behind him we can see dust being kicked up beside the road, it approaches the cop at high speed and knocks him on his ass when it hits him.

If it's his first time realizing his speed then I'd just write him jogging along and what seems to be a normal pace until we (along with him) start to realize things are a bit off.

best of luck with this.

Have him run so fast he literally melts his shoes. (Which I imagine would really happen if these guys in the movies actually ran that fast.) From now on he has to run barefoot or find some kind of special shoes that won't melt from the friction.

Haven't seen that on film before. Would be original.

Quoted from CameronD Have him run so fast he literally melts his shoes. (Which I imagine would really happen if these guys in the movies actually ran that fast.) From now on he has to run barefoot or find some kind of special shoes that won't melt from the friction. Haven't seen that on film before. Would be original.

Actually, that was what happened on a short lived show called No Ordinary Family.  The mom gets super speed but, her sneakers keep disintegrating, so she has like 30 pairs of sneakers.  I thought it was a pretty decent TV series.  It was fun.  Had some good actors in it too.

As for how to describe it, well, that's up to you.  If you are a comic book fan, then you know that you can have the speedster run fast, or make others move slow, or use sound, papers fluttering about etc.

As others have said, write what you imagine it'd be like.  If you are writing it from the kid's point of view, then imagine the wind hitting you, but, not harming you.  In the comics, most of them generate a "force field" of sorts that allow them to run that fast.  If they didn't have that, anything that they ran into, insects, heck ,if he or she was to hit them fast enough, even pollen, could be fatal.  

There are all sorts of things you can imagine with speed.  If you want more ideas, shoot me an email.

Have fun and good luck.

Dan

Think of the finished movie, how would the scene where he uses super speed look like? Describe that as short and on the point as possible. Don't get lost in too much details, a single 3-4 line paragraph should describe it once, then don't repeat it over and over again whenever it's used at other places in the script.

Btw. - do you think a boy with super speed is very original? Sounds like The Flash to me.

Quoted from Equinox Think of the finished movie, how would the scene where he uses super speed look like? Describe that as short and on the point as possible. Don't get lost in too much details, a single 3-4 line paragraph should describe it once, then don't repeat it over and over again whenever it's used at other places in the script. Btw. - do you think a boy with super speed is very original? Sounds like The Flash to me.

Doesn't matter if it's really original or not. It's something I want to write, so be it. Btw. - wasn't The Jumper just like Nightcrawler in a sense or any other teleporting character DC or Marvel? Still made out to be a good movie though, right? I'm sure you get my point.

Quoted from Equinox Think of the finished movie, how would the scene where he uses super speed look like? Describe that as short and on the point as possible. Don't get lost in too much details, a single 3-4 line paragraph should describe it once, then don't repeat it over and over again whenever it's used at other places in the script. Btw. - do you think a boy with super speed is very original? Sounds like The Flash to me.

Batman sounds like Iron Man.  Actually, millionaires, parents gone, both build a suit of armor to fight baddies... yep, pretty much the same thing.