Nezzontli - Branch2

Branch 2: What Watches from Within

2024-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

Concept</h2>
This version removes the illusion of control</strong>. The protagonist no longer has the active role of wanting to create a short film. Here, curiosity becomes a crack through which something incomprehensible seeps in</strong>. This branch plays with the idea that some truths cannot be seen without consequences, and that obsession with the divine can turn into a form of madness.</p>

Narrative Structure</h2>
Scene 1: Introduction</h3>

The protagonist is alone in his room, watching the same YouTube video about biblical inconsistencies</li>
The environment shows slight visual and sound glitches</strong>: the video pauses for just milliseconds, imperceptible distortions appear</li>
The protagonist doesn’t notice them, but the audience does, creating a sense of unease from the very beginning</li> </ul>
Scene 2: Inner Thoughts</h3>

The camera slowly zooms in. Voice-over of the protagonist, but there’s something strange</strong>: sometimes there are interferences</strong>, fragments of a second voice that imitates his but isn’t the same</strong></p> </li>

He reflects on what he just heard… but the voice contradicts itself, or repeats with slight variations
Example:</p>

“What if all this was written by humans? But why does it repeat? What if it wasn’t for us?… for us?”</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>
Scene 3: The Splitting</h3>

The screen flickers. The protagonist sees himself</strong>, from a camera that shouldn’t exist</li>
He approaches the monitor, presses pause. The image freezes on his face, but the reflection keeps moving</strong></li>
The protagonist begins to murmur, his breath short and uneven. The reflection smiles before he does</li>
Reality begins to fragment subtly around him</li> </ul>
Scene 4: The Invisible Angel</h3>

Dim lighting. Everything looks normal, but there’s a distant sound</strong>, constant, like a distorted choir that never disappears</strong>, only growing stronger in silence</p> </li>

He says:</p>

“There’s something in the room, but I can’t look at it.”</p> </blockquote> </li>

The shadows on the wall move on their own</strong>, forming patterns that suggest something beyond human comprehension</p> </li>

He tries to leave, but every time he opens the door, he enters the same room again</strong>. More disordered. Darker. Hotter</p> </li> </ul>
Scene 5: The Entity</h3>

At one point, the angel partially appears</strong>, but we never see it completely</strong></li>
It is revealed in reflections, in flashes, in fragments: an eye among books, wings made of bones spinning in the lamp, the sound of wheels on the ceiling</li>
It is never fully seen. Never in focus.</strong> But the protagonist does see it, and it is tearing him apart mentally</strong></li>
The physical reality of the room begins to distort in response to the angelic presence</li> </ul>
Scene 6: The Reverse of the Protagonist</h3>

He sits down, exhausted. The camera slowly circles around… and we see him from behind</p> </li>

There is a figure behind him, imitating his posture</strong>, but reversed: its eyes are where the shoulder blades should be. Its face is hidden</p> </li>

The voice-over says:</p>

“It’s not me. It was never me.”</p> </blockquote> </li>

The protagonist turns around… and the screen shuts off completely</strong>, leaving the audience with uncertainty about what they’ve witnessed</p> </li> </ul>

Visual and Psychological Resources</h2>

Dissonant sound design</strong>: buzzing, distorted celestial choirs, whispers in separated channels (inverted ASMR)</li>
Natural visual glitches</strong>: as if the camera couldn’t properly capture what’s happening
(Inspiration: Annihilation</em>, Skinamarink</em>, The Mandela Catalogue</em>)</li>
Anomalous lighting</strong>: impossible shadows, objects without visible light sources, unjustified flashes</li>
Space-time distortion</strong>: scene loops, doors that lead nowhere, clocks running backward</li> </ul>

Hidden Message</h2>
This branch suggests that divine knowledge is not meant for humans</strong>. That some concepts are so vast they shatter the mind</strong> if one attempts to understand them.</p>

“The fear of God is not reverence… it is the terror of being seen, understood, and finding no reflection.”</p> </blockquote>

Production Notes</h2>

Use non-linear editing techniques to create the sensation of fragmented reality</li>
Work with a sound designer to layer dissonant audio effects</li>
Consider the use of projections for the moving shadow effects</li>
Film with wide-angle lenses to subtly distort spaces</li> </ul>

[!WARNING] This narrative branch requires a more experimental and abstract approach, with emphasis on building an atmosphere of psychological horror rather than a linear storyline.</p> </blockquote>

For back to the main blog click here Do Not Be Afraid - Short Film Concept</a></p> </blockquote>