Standing rules
- No score. Room tone, the heater, gravel, a pen, a phone buzzing on wood.
- The mechanism is never shown. No machine, no hum, no glow. The future never appears.
- The custody thread is never entered. Shot through glass, without sound, or conducted by text. No hearings, no lawyers, no villain.
- Kristine exists only as objects and traces. Texts on a screen, a voice on a video that faces away from camera, a name, a rule in a card game.
- Every time she is absent, something is present. The props carry her, so they are photographed like evidence — held, turned over, close, in unflattering light.
- Maya does not live with him. All in-person contact is supervised at the family centre. Everything else is a text thread.
From scene 11
DavidIf you'd never seen the order. If somebody handed you that plate. Would you know it was on purpose?
RuthNo.
I'd think it was a blank that got too close to something.
Etching shop — day
What it takes to shoot
| Primary location | One shed. A visiting room, a shared office, an etching shop, a stretch of gravel. |
|---|---|
| Speaking roles | Five. One lead, one fifteen-year-old, three day players. |
| Score | None. The sound design is the picture. |
| Visual effects | None. Four nickel plates, laser-etched, practical. |
| The future | Does not appear. |