Reconstruction

L0LISTEN · 6s · push

A handheld microphone lying on a closed hardback book on a folding table under one low lamp at night, its cable coiled beside it, the rest of the room in darkness, nobody present.

The hero for /listen/. The instrument at rest on the thing it is about to read.

L1LISTEN · 5s · push

A single tall doorway of hard light in a dark concrete wall at night, fine dust hanging in the beam, the room around it entirely black, nobody present.

Part I — from the shadows.

L2LISTEN · 5s · hold

Two empty chairs turned to face each other very close in a bare room lit by one low lamp at night, small tea glasses on the floor between them, nobody seated.

Part II — the whispered truth. The chairs are the argument.

L3LISTEN · 5s · push

An empty folding cot in a bare concrete room in hard midday light, a metal footlocker closed at its end, one shaft of dusty light across the floor, nobody present.

Part III — the cost.

L4LISTEN · 6s · push

A wide empty road at dawn seen from ground level running straight to a hazed flat horizon, low scrub on both shoulders, no vehicles and no people anywhere.

Part IV — the long return.

A1STARSHIP · 5s · push

Enormous institutional hospital building at night seen from below, too large for frame, hundreds of lit windows in a grid, bare winter trees, empty parking lot, no people.

Resolve out of black. Do not name the real building in the prompt.

A2STARSHIP · 6s · push

Slow forward push down an empty hospital corridor at night, waxed floor reflecting fluorescent light, doors on both sides, all closed, nobody present.

The film's spine shot. Reused reversed at 2:34.

A3STARSHIP · 5s · hold

Small bare hospital room at night, a man seen only as a dark silhouette from behind standing at the window, a bottle and a glass on the sill, face never visible.

Never his face. §3: Boone in reconstruction is backs, hands and silhouettes only.

B1CITY · 6s · push

Vast dense low-rise city seen from high above at midday, flat roofs to the horizon, dust haze, no landmarks, no modern towers.

Push in until grain takes over.

B2CITY · 5s · push

Empty wide dirt-edged street in a poor dense neighbourhood at midday, heat shimmer, concrete block walls, garbage piled in mounds beside metal receptacles rather than in them, no people.

The trash detail matters. It's the film's first clue.

B3CITY · 5s · hold

Military vehicle with a large loudspeaker horn rig mounted on its roof, parked small in a very wide empty street, seen from a rooftop, midday, no visible occupants.

Establish the instrument.

C1WEAPON · 6s · push

Bare interior room at night lit by a single low lamp, four seated figures reduced to shoulders and hands, small tea glasses on the floor between them, faces outside the light.

The whispered truth. No faces — this is the rule doing creative work.

C2WEAPON · 4s · hold

Extreme close on a metal loudspeaker horn against a blank white sky, paint chipped, held static.

Hold two full seconds.

C3WEAPON · 5s · push

Close overhead on a yellow legal pad on a folding table at night, a hand with a pen drawing a hard line through a written sentence, ballpoint pressure visible, the writing illegible.

Three takes — one per crossed-out draft. Writing kept illegible: §3 forbids anything that could pass as a document.

C4WEAPON · 5s · push

Older man's weathered hands taking a handheld microphone from another pair of hands, close, daylight, no faces in frame.

The whole thesis in one shot.

C5WEAPON · 6s · push

Wide shot of a crowded poor street, thirty or forty figures at middle distance all turning to face the same direction away from camera, dust in the air, midday.

They turn away from us. That's the point.

D1COST · 5s · hold

Empty night street, a parked car with a driver door standing open, headlights on, nobody in frame, wet asphalt.

Nobody in the shot. Ever.

D2COST · 4s · hold

A small child seated on a kerb at night seen entirely from behind, an adult's arm across the child's shoulders, both figures in silhouette against sodium streetlight.

Four seconds. Do not linger, do not push in.

D3COST · 5s · pull

Reverse of A2 — slow backward retreat down the same empty hospital corridor at night.

Same frame as A2, motion reversed. The brief calls for the same seed; reusing the rendered frame is exact rather than approximate.

E1BOY · 6s · push

A boy of about nine standing alone in the middle of a wide dusty street, seen from behind, watching a vehicle recede into the distance, midday, heat haze.

Back to camera. He is every kid, not one kid.

E2BOY · 8s · morph

A grown man standing alone in the middle of the same wide dusty street, seen from behind in the identical position and framing, midday, heat haze, the street unchanged around him.

Generated as the far endpoint of the morph across two fixed endpoints, per the brief. The money shot.

W1WATER · 5s · push

Empty black plastic water tank on a low roof in a poor dense neighbourhood, midday, bone-dry, dust on the lid.

W2WATER · 5s · hold

A woman standing in a doorway holding a small child, both seen at distance in shadow, the doorway framed by concrete block, no facial detail.

W3WATER · 5s · push

Cool interior government office with a ceiling fan turning slowly, an empty desk, a telephone, harsh window light through slatted blinds.

W4WATER · 6s · push

A large water tanker truck arriving on a narrow residential street at midday, hose being run out, small figures at distance, no incident.

W5WATER · 5s · hold

A group of a dozen men standing together in a street holding printed forms in their hands, seen from behind and at distance, midday.

P1WATER · 5s · push

Four soldiers in dusty desert uniform dismounting from an armoured vehicle onto a residential street at midday, seen from behind at distance, no faces, heat weighing on the frame.

Scene 1. Team Voodoo arrives.

P2WATER · 5s · hold

Close on a plastic jerry can being tipped over an open palm at midday, nothing coming out of it, dust on the knuckles, no faces.

Scene 2. Five days.

P3WATER · 5s · push

A loose crowd of eight or nine figures standing in a narrow street at midday talking to someone out of frame, seen from behind and side-on, dust in the air, nobody looking at camera.

Scene 2. The answer arrives in pieces.

P4WATER · 5s · hold

Close on an elderly weathered hand resting on a walking cane in bright daylight, deeply lined skin, no face in frame.

Scene 2. Abu Hassan, without ever showing him.

P5WATER · 5s · push

A telephone handset held to an unseen shoulder in a dim office doorway, harsh slatted window light behind, the door standing open, no face visible.

Scene 3. The call the DAC rep does not know is overheard.

P6WATER · 5s · hold

Close on water pouring from a thick hose into a black rooftop tank at midday, splashing over the rim, bright hard sun.

Scene 4. It was never unsafe.

P7WATER · 5s · hold

A man lifting the hem of his shirt in a bright street, torso and hands only, head above the top of frame, unmarked skin, nothing there.

Scene 5. He is showing where the rifle was pointed. No wound — this is the point.

P8WATER · 6s · push

Overhead on a yellow legal pad on a folding table lit by one lamp at night, four short lines written on it, a pen resting alongside, the handwriting soft and illegible.

Scene 6. The four lines. Kept illegible per §3.

P9WATER · 6s · push

Wide street at midday, a crowd of figures at middle distance turned toward an old man holding a microphone, one soldier standing at the extreme right edge of frame half cut off by the frame line, all faces away from camera.

Scene 7. THE shot. He is physically edged out of the composition of his own operation.

P10WATER · 5s · pull

A vehicle receding down a wide dusty street at midday seen past the shoulder of a small boy standing in the road watching it go, the boy seen entirely from behind and out of focus.

Scene 8. Somebody's kid was listening.