Page 01
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
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
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
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