Page 01
Narrative Function:
The COVID-like unease but with a feel of normalcy: the world appears functional; yet it is severely infected. We establish isolation and latent unease before introducing the characters.
PANEL 1
Shot: Wide / Observational / Establishing
Description: Delhi at dusk. High-rise silhouettes dissolve into dense smog. Roads are visible but almost empty; only a single car far in the distance, headlights off. Buildings feel tall, and slightly gloomy.
Caption: MARCH 2022
PANEL 2
Shot: Medium / Street-level
Description: A familiar Delhi monument (India Gate) rendered with precision. Few people present. The third wave of pandemic in India results in occasional lockdowns.
Caption: NEW DELHI
PANEL 3
Shot: Close up
Description: Discarded disposable masks on the road. One is caught in a shallow puddle, dark buildings in reflection. Science and Technology may have progressed considerably in India, yet it is used to old systems like disposable masks even as a pandemic ravages.
Caption: THIRD WAVE.
PANEL 4
Shot: Close up / Angular
Description: Social distancing notice on a door.
(No caption.)
PANEL 5
Shot: Wide
Description: A modern commercial building stands under a sky that feels unnaturally low. Most windows are dark. A single window near the top is lit; small, isolated rectangle of light. The clouds create a halo like effect over the building; almost as if it is destined to be our savior.
Caption: CHAITANYA RESEARCH PVT. LTD.
Notes
- No stylized manga or western exaggeration. Every panel should feel like it could be a still frame from a live-action thriller.
- Silence is the dominant sound. Avoid visual clutter.
- Despite the severity of the pandemic imagined, we do not portray mass cremations which could risk upsetting some readers.
Page 02
Narrative Function:
Establish the BCI laboratory as a calm and controlled, clinical space while quietly introducing JAGAN SHAH in his fatigue, isolation, and moral proximity to the experiment.
PANEL 1
Shot: Wide / Establishing
Description: Inside a laboratory, JAGAN SHAH is standing with his hand on an executive chair at a desk which has computer workstation and some drawers. The monitor screen is blank. There is a chimpanzee with an electroencephalography (EEG) portable headset seated on a small reclined chair beside the desk. The chimpanzee is not interacting with the desk and is behaving nicely (for the moment). The EEG headset it wears has wires protruding but they close back in. A black box is visible on the desk, function unclear.
Caption: BCI LABORATORY
PANEL 2
Shot: Medium
Description: JAGAN is sitting down in the chair turning on the monitor. The monitor is displaying multiple electroencephalography signals. The chimpanzee is now out of frame, but its presence is implied through the flowing data.
Dialogue - JAGAN: "THE PATTERN IS THERE..."
PANEL 3
Shot: Close-up
Description: JAGAN yawning and stretching backward. A man who has slept too little for too long. His gaze is fixed slightly off-screen; not fully on the data.
Dialogue - JAGAN:
"... IT'S JUST NOT WORKING."
PANEL 4
Shot: Wide
Description: Without looking away from the monitor, JAGAN pulls open the desk drawer with one hand. He is retrieving a worn notebook with a pen on it.
Dialogue - JAGAN:
"*sigh*"
"I SHOULD GO FOR A WALK."
Notes
- Subtle facial realism. Emotions implied through posture and gaze, not by exaggerations.
- Keep the chimpanzee’s face subtly unsettling in Panel 1; avoid overt emotion.
- Panel 2 and Panel 3 should be side by side.
- Panel 4 should visually suggest hesitation: he says he should leave, yet remains seated.
Page 03
Narrative Function: Visually convey JAGAN’s inner struggle and intellectual obsession through his notebook, in a short exposition.
PANEL 1
Shot: Wide
Description: Rooftop at dusk. The city lies far below, already sinking into shadow. JAGAN is standing indifferent to a beautiful sun setting at the horizon, with the notebook in one hand and a pen in other hand. Warm wind tugs at his shirt. He is still; absorbed.
Dialogue - JAGAN: "*uff*" "WHAT AM I MISSING?"
PANEL 2
Shot: Close up
Description: Notebook page, clean and precise. Intricate neural network diagrams: nodes, layered pathways, wiring schematics drawn by hand with obsessive neatness. At the top of the page, handwritten title: MACHINE CONSCIOUSNESS. The lettering looks confident.
Dialogue - JAGAN (off-panel): "THE NEURAL NETS ARE SIMULATING A CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THE LAB DEVICES..."
PANEL 3
Shot: Close up (slight shift)
Description: Another notebook page. Dense mathematical equations, machine learning symbols overlapping in places where corrections were made. Margins are crowded with arrows and small notes; evidence of iterative thinking, not chaos.
Dialogue - JAGAN (off-panel): "… AND THE CHIMP'S THOUGHTS ARE FINELY PASSING THROUGH THE TOKENIZER. YET, THE-"
PANEL 4
Shot: Vertical panel on the side / Close up
Description: Seen from front, JAGAN’s phone vibrates inside his pocket. The vibration feels low, persistent, almost nervous.
SFX: bzz… bzz…
Notes
- Avoid trying to carry for all the intent in the script onto the illustrated page. Let visuals lose some of the intent.
- Keep notebook drawings grounded and believable; research-driven, not sci-fi ornamentation.
Page 04
Narrative Function:
Quiet marital tension. No overt conflict. Two intelligent adults speaking past each other. Contrasting domestic drama with JAGAN's intellectual obsession.
PANEL 1
Shot: Close up
Description: Phone in JAGAN’s hand. Caller ID: PALAK.
PANEL 2
Shot: Medium, split panel (hard vertical divide)
Description:
- Left: JAGAN, holding mobile at his ear. Vacant expression.
- Right: PALAK, sitting upright in bed, nebulizer mask on helping her breath, phone held loosely (out of frame). The room feels quiet, sealed... like the mask.
Dialogue - PALAK: "YOU'RE STILL THERE."
PANEL 3
Shot: Medium / Over the head, distant Description: JAGAN flipping a page in his notebook while listening. He does not stop moving.
Dialogue - JAGAN:
“FIVE MORE MINUTES. I NEED TO SET UP THE NEXT EXPERIM-”
PANEL 4
Shot: Close up
Description: PALAK slouched slightly with eyes to the side. She has heard this exact sentence many times.
Dialogue - PALAK: “DID YOU EAT?”
PANEL 5
Shot: Medium Description: JAGAN gestures vaguely but triumphantly with arms raised. Express him being in his own world through a backdrop of exclamation marks.
Dialogue - JAGAN: "LATER..." "THE CHIMP FINALLY UNDERSTANDS THE PATTERN."
PANEL 6
Shot: Medium
Description:
PALAK replies. But a beeping sound distracts her (it's the thermometer off panel).
Dialogue - PALAK: "GOOD... THEN SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS YOU." "WHEN ARE YOU-"
SFX: beep… beep… beep
Notes
- Facial acting should be restrained for PALAK; her emotions live in the eyes.
- Lighting contrast (office rooftop vs home bedroom) reinforces emotional distance
Page 05
Narrative Function:
Establish PALAK (ENTJ: Commander Personality Type) as emotionally grounded and quietly formidable; JAGAN (INTP: Logician Personality Type) as brilliant but drifting. UMANG (ESFJ: Consul Personality Type) anchors reality.
PANEL 1
Shot: Wide / Establishing
Description: Bedroom interior. PALAK lies in bed propped up with nebulization mask, wrapped in a light blanket. Her teenage son, UMANG SHAH sits beside her, small but alert, holding a digital thermometer. The room is dim, lit by a single bedside lamp. Dark night outside the window.
SFX: beep… beep… beep
PANEL 2
Shot: Close up
Description: Thermometer in UMANG's hand reading 101.7 F.
Dialogue - UMANG (off-panel): "PAPA… SHE HAS FEVER. ONE HUNDRED ONE POINT SEVEN."
PANEL 3
Shot: Medium
Description: PALAK coughs softly. The phone slips from her hand and lands on the mattress. She is adjusting her back before speaking.
Dialogue - PALAK:
"(COUGH)… WHEN ARE YOU COMING HOME?"
PANEL 4
Shot: Over the Shoulder
Description: JAGAN in the stairwell. Phone at his ear. A closed notebook pressed against his side. Fluorescent lights above him.
Dialogue - JAGAN: "UMANG, DON’T WORRY BETA." "I’M ON MY WAY TAKING STAIRS NOW." ... "PALAK... JUST HELP ME THINK HERE."
PANEL 5
Shot: Close up
Description:
PALAK’s face, expressions sincere. Despite the fever, she seems to be holding up fine.
Dialogue – PALAK:
"ALRIGHT."
"THE CHIMP... IS IT PASSING COMMANDS ALREADY?"
PANEL 6
Shot: Medium
Description:
JAGAN descending the dim staircase, half-shadowed.
Dialogue - JAGAN:
"WELL, THERE IS A CHAIN-OF-THOUGHT PATTERN."
Dialogue - PALAK (over-mobile):
"THATS IT, JAGAN. THOSE WILL BE RECOGNIZED IN MACHINE CONSICIOUSNESS."
PANEL 7
Shot: Medium
Description:
JAGAN expresses obsession. A frustrated, almost angry, PALAK fires back with her final command before hanging up. Expression visible through her eyes and cheeks; mouth remains covered with nebulizer.
Dialogue - JAGAN (over-mobile):
"BUT I NEED TO SETUP THE NEX-"
Dialogue – PALAK:
"WHY DO YOU PUSH FOR PROGRESS SO HARD? WE JUST CAME UP WITH HYPOTHESIS, AND YOU WANT TO START ANOTHER EXPERIMENT TONIGHT ITSELF? LEAVE IT AND BE HOME SOON. BYE!"
Notes
- UMANG should feel calm and ready for anything, not panicked.
Page 06
Narrative Function:
This page bridges domestic space and professional obsession. JAGAN briefly recalls uncertainty about MAL (Machine Applications Laboratory), but does not linger considering what PALAK said; establishing him as logical. The sound from lab creates alarm that something started happening while JAGAN was away.
PANEL 1
Shot: Medium
Description: Stairwell. JAGAN drops notebook halfway down the stairs, shoulders slightly hunched. He was slipping his mobile phone into his pocket; the call with PALAK has just ended.
PANEL 2
Shot: Close up
Description: Notebook lays open to a different page. Filled with precise but hand-drawn schematics: a lunar lander, a rover chassis, propulsion annotations in the margins. The acronym "MAL" is written along the side, quite visibly large and underlined.
PANEL 3
Shot: Wide / Low angle POV
Description: JAGAN picking up the notebook from notebook's point of view. Unresolved matters settle in. His expression displays concern, but not defeat.
Thought - JAGAN:
"I WONDER IF THEY WILL EVER FUND MY PROPOSAL."
PANEL 4
Shot: Over the shoulder
Description: From behind JAGAN as he rises to his feet. He is tucking back the notebook under his arm and shrugging as if physically shaking off the doubt.
Thought - JAGAN: "WELL, I BETTER WRAP THINGS UP FOR TODAY."
PANEL 5
Shot: Medium
Description: JAGAN pushing open a heavy door labeled "BCI LABORATORY". The corridor behind him feels neutral and safe; the space beyond the door is darker, industrial, and faintly ominous.
From inside, a sound is coming.
SFX: whhrrrrr
Notes
- An unease in Panel 5 should come from exaggerated lighting and sound, but avoid overt horror imagery. That's for the next page.
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