SCENE CONTEXT
EXACTLY 2 HUMAN CHARACTERS — NO DUPLICATES, NO EXTRAS. Interior, a small lived-in apartment kitchen, late at night. A husband confesses to his wife that he was fired in June and has been pretending to go to work every day. She did not know; her disbelief turns to hurt, then to unconditional support. Intimate two-person drama, real time. The emotion lives equally in their faces, their words and their voices.CHARACTERS
DANIEL: lean man, short dark hair greying at the temples, two days of stubble, deep shadows under the eyes, a small healed nick on his chin. Pale blue cotton office shirt, top button undone, sleeves rolled to the forearm, a loosened dark navy tie, a faint coffee stain on the left cuff. Plain gold wedding ring on his left hand. 180 cm.
LUCÍA: shoulder-length chestnut hair loosely tied, strands falling over her face, natural skin with faint freckles and slight redness around the nose, no makeup. Oversized oatmeal wool cardigan with a pulled thread at one cuff, over a grey cotton t-shirt. Plain gold wedding ring on her left hand. 165 cm.
LOCATION MAP
A small square kitchen table with a worn wooden top sits at the center. Daniel sits on the right side of the table (screen-right), facing left. The doorway to a dark hallway is screen-left. On the table: a half-full glass of water between Daniel's hands and a folded, unopened envelope. His laptop bag rests on the chair beside him. The window blind is fully closed. Behind Daniel: a kitchen counter and an old wall clock. The eyeline axis runs left–right across the table; the camera always stays on the same side of it.
FORMAT
One scene, 8 shots joined by clean hard cuts, classic shot–reverse-shot coverage. Cuts follow the dialogue and also land on the listener's reaction. No fades, no dissolves, no split screens.
SHOTS
Shot 1 — Wide shot, locked-off, from the corner behind the counter, 63° FOV. Daniel sits alone in the pool of lamplight, both hands around the glass, not drinking, staring at nothing. Lucía walks in through the dark doorway, relaxed and unaware, about to cross the kitchen.
Shot 2 — Medium close-up on Daniel, 47° FOV, eye level, very slow push-in ending on his face. He lifts his eyes to her; his jaw tightens, his nostrils flare with one deep breath, his lips part twice before any sound comes out. Low, slow and hesitant, with a heavy pause before the last three words: "Lucía… I need to tell you something. I got fired. In June."
Shot 3 — Reverse: medium shot of Lucía over Daniel's out-of-focus right shoulder, 47° FOV. She freezes mid-step. Her brow furrows, her mouth falls slightly open, a short incredulous breath escapes her. Quick and confused, almost a half-laugh of disbelief: "What? What do you mean, you got fired?" She walks to the table and grips the back of the chair opposite him, standing, looking down at him, knuckles whitening. Her voice rises with hurt, sharp but never shouting, stressing "hiding" and "nothing": "And you've been hiding it from me this whole time, like nothing happened?"
Shot 4 — Close-up on Daniel, 29° FOV, slightly high angle matching her standing eyeline, handheld with an extremely subtle breath-like float. He looks up at her, then his eyes drop to the glass; his thumb rubs its rim; his eyes turn glassy. Quiet, ashamed, his voice thinning, with a long pause in the middle and a crack on the last word: "I wasn't trying to hide it. Every morning I pretended I was going to work… and I spent the whole day looking for a job."
Shot 5 — Reverse close-up on Lucía, 29° FOV, slightly low angle. No words. Her grip on the chair loosens; her furrowed brow slowly relaxes; her lips press together and tremble; her eyes fill with water. The anger drains from her face and becomes pain. The clock ticks.
Shot 6 — Medium shot of Lucía, 47° FOV. She pulls out the chair and sits down opposite him, now at his eye level, leaning slightly toward him. Softer and wounded, her voice breaking on "trust": "Why didn't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"
Shot 7 — Close-up on Daniel, static, eye level. He opens his mouth to answer but no words come. His chin trembles, his eyes go red, a tear gathers on his lower lid, he swallows hard and gives one small shake of the head. Silence.
Shot 8 — Two-shot in profile across the table, 47° FOV, slow lateral drift of less than half a meter to the right, ending with both faces and the table between them in frame. Lucía reaches across and places her hand over his. A single tear runs down her cheek; she does not wipe it. Quiet, warm and absolutely firm, each word deliberate, stressing "always": "I'm always going to be there for you." Daniel turns his hand over and holds hers tightly, closes his eyes, and lets out a long, shaking exhale. Hold on the two of them in silence.
CHARACTER ACTING
Restrained, naturalistic film acting; every emotion is visible on the face in close-up. Daniel: guilt and shame — avoids her eyes, then forces himself to hold them; jaw clenched, breath short through the nose, hands restless on the glass; relief only arrives in the final exhale. Lucía: disbelief (frozen, brow furrowed, mouth open) → hurt (knuckles white on the chair, voice rising) → softening (grip loosens, eyes fill) → steady support (still, firm gaze, gentle half-smile through tears in the final shot). Faces show living micro-expressions: trembling chins, glistening eyes, swallowing, natural irregular blinks.
LIGHTING
One warm 3200K pendant lamp hanging low over the table is the key source: light from above-front, fast falloff, deep shadows in the corners of the room, catchlights visible in both characters' eyes. A faint cold 5600K spill from the hallway behind Lucía outlines her hair. Light direction and color stay identical after every cut.
AUDIO
All dialogue in natural, clear English with a neutral American accent. Daniel: low, tired baritone, slow, hesitant, with long pauses and an audible tremor when emotion rises. Lucía: warm mid-range voice that moves from confused and fast, to sharp and hurt, to soft and breaking, to quiet and firm. Each has a distinct voice. Only one person speaks at a time, no interruptions or overlapping, about one second of silence between lines. Breaths, swallows and small catches in the voice are audible. Lip movements synchronized with the English dialogue. Ambience: wall clock ticking, refrigerator hum, chair legs scraping on floor tiles, glass touching wood, cardigan rustle. Ambience stays below the dialogue. No background music. No subtitles.
STYLE
Intimate auteur drama. 35mm film texture with organic grain, shallow depth of field, soft halation around the lamp, no digital sharpening. Palette: 60% warm amber and wood brown, 30% deep shadow, 10% cold blue spill from the hallway.
POSITIVE CONSTRAINTS
Exactly two people for the entire scene. Same faces, hair, clothing and wedding rings in every shot. Daniel always screen-right looking left; Lucía always screen-left looking right. Exactly 4 dialogue turns: 2 by Daniel, 2 by Lucía. Lucía stands in Shots 3–5 and sits from Shot 6 onward. Hands and fingers anatomically correct when they hold hands. Faces stable. The scene ends in silence with their hands joined on the table; they stay seated.