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12 Years a Slave scene 4: INT. STRING MAKER'S - DAY · The Reading Room

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12 Years a Slave
Scene 4

12 Years a Slave · written by John Ridley and Steve McQueen · 2013

A string maker cuts the casings into ribbons, bleaches and straightens them, then wraps the finished strings.

Scene 4 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 4

After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.

Just before
Scene 1
A butcher takes a sheep from the pen and carries it into the slaughter shed.
Scene 2
The butcher shears and slaughters the sheep, then removes the warm intestine that will become violin strings.
Scene 3
A dresser cleans the animal casings, sorts them by quality, and groups them into hanks.
Scene 4
This scene

4INT. STRING MAKER'S - DAY

We see now a STRING MAKER working with the hanks, using a BLADE to split them into RIBBONS. The next step is to whiten the gut with sulphur fumes before they are combed through straightening the ribbons.

Lastly, the String Maker takes some strings and WRAPS THEM IN A VERY NEAT LITTLE PACKAGE.

← Scene 3INT. DRESSER'S - DAY Read the screenplay from here Scene 5 →EXT. STREET - AFTERNOON