The Cell Cycle

Written By

Jake Bryant

Jakejbryant.blogspot.com

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ACT 1

Cells begin by appearing from black in time to music. Camera pans right to black screen. One cell travels over into the centre of the screen slightly after. Cell prepares for G1 phase Text drops in from above introducing the “Interphase”.

Machine arms drop down and begin to grow the cell which begins to double in size in time to the music. The title “G1 Phase” drops in letter by letter to the time of the music, and is shortly after replaced by “Cell Growth” during the process. Once the cell has reached its full size, titles of “Ribosomes” and “Mitochondria” appear, as pipes begin to shoot the organelles at the main body of the cell. The organelles then attach themselves to the cell. The camera follows the healthy cell over to the next screen as it attempts to move onto its next phase, but has to wait in line at the G0 checkpoint, which drops in as a title, for an unhealthy cell to be put into a resting state. The unhealthy cell hits the G0 checkpoint, the light turns red and gets moved into the ‘No Access’ cupboard. The healthy cell hits the G0 checkpoint; the light goes green and moves onto the next phase of the cycle. As the cell moves into shot again, it passes the camera and the title “S Phase” appears.

ACT 2

The cell, now in the S Phase, begins DNA replication. An arm pulls the DNA strand from the Nucleus and rotates it vertically 90 degrees before letting go. The DNA then get pulled apart into two separate strands. The title “Replication” drops in letter by letter while the DNA splits. During this process the genetic code of the cell appears on the now-broken horizontal connections.

The separated halves now duplicate their DNA to create two separate strands and the title ‘G2 Phase’ drops in while the cell continues to grow in the background. The DNA begins connecting the cells genetic code as its placed back into

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the cell’s nucleus. When the DNA is back in the cell, two centrosomes appear with their titles and begin to enlarge.

ACT 3

While moving onto the next phase the camera pans into nucleus of the cell as the two centrosomes are attracted to either end of the screen by magnets, to produce a title of “Prophase”. Text titling “Sister Chromatids” squashes into the shot, as the prophase title is removed. The chromatids appear between the two centrosomes.

The chromatids then condense and become squashed by two clamps to make them shorter and fatter and prepare for the prometaphase. The chromatids begin to move, and the title of “Prometaphase” transitions from the bottom of the screen, as the spindle apparatus slithers in from the left with its title.

The chromatids then line up along the spindle. As microtubules appear as machine-like arms and begin travelling from centrosomes to the chromatids, the “pro” from the title falls to reveal a title of “Metaphase”.The metaphase title is then removed while the microtubules begin to pull apart the chromatids.

A title stating “Anaphase” drops in from above as the organelles are torn apart. The title of the sister chromatids is replaced with “Daughter Chromatids”. As the daughter chromatids reach the poles of the cell, the title “Telophase” drops in letter by letter and any other text on screen disappears on screen.

The nuclear membrane is then blown like a bubble out of a circular mechanism and begins to reform around the centrosomes as the new formed chromosomes become less visible. The spindle apparatus disappears, and is replaced by the title of “Cytokinesis”.

The cells are then sucked apart from each other by vacuum-like handles to reveal a title saying “Mitosis Complete”. One of the cells exits off screen to the top left, while the other shoots off to the right (ready to restart the cycle) leaving a black.