V — We Wear the Mask — Brian Manton

1.
Thin wide panel.
The feet of a crowd of people, walking. There is a wide range of footware - expensive shoes, battered trainers, boots, sandles, high heels etc.
It is night time. The scene is lit by orange street light.

2.
Large panel.
Looking down on a crowd of hundreds of people, all wearing V masks. They are gathered in a city square. They all look up "toward the camera".

CAP:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

CAP:
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
       We wear the mask.

CAP:
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;


3.
Inset panel.
Medium shot of one of the people in the crowd. Low angle looking up at them. They have removed the mask and are holding it by their chest (at an angle where the mask is looking toward camera). The person's face is in shadow. We cannot see if it is a man or a woman.

CAP:
But let the world dream otherwise,
       We wear the mask!

Gutter text:
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar