Image - 2026-08-19 12:40

REFERENCE HANDLING: IMAGE 1 is the FACE REFERENCE. This is the woman. She is the same person in every shot of this film. Reproduce her identity exactly: - oval face with a long, slightly narrow shape and a soft but defined jawline - straight nose with a fine bridge and a slightly rounded tip - LIGHT GREEN-HAZEL eyes, pale and translucent, with a darker limbal ring — this is her most distinctive feature - straight dark brown eyebrows with a low arch, natural and unshaped - full lips with a well defined cupid's bow, natural rose colour, no lipstick - bare unretouched skin: visible pores across the cheeks and nose, faint redness on the cheeks and around the nostrils, fine lines at the outer corners of the eyes and across the forehead, soft shadows under the eyes, a few small marks and freckles - a woman of about forty, and her face shows it honestly - LONG dark chestnut brown hair, well below the shoulders, loosely wavy with a natural centre parting, thick and slightly unkempt, lighter warm brown where the light hits it - an oversized oatmeal-cream chunky knit sweater with a wide ribbed crew neck, and light blue washed straight jeans - no makeup, no earrings, no necklace, no rings Do NOT beautify her. Do NOT make her younger or slimmer in the face. Do NOT smooth her skin or remove her lines. Do NOT change her eye colour to brown or blue — they are pale green-hazel. Do NOT shorten her hair or tie it up. She must be instantly recognisable as the same woman. TAKE FROM IMAGE 1 ONLY her identity and her clothing. Do NOT take its flat studio lighting, its grey background, its frontal pose or its framing. The lighting and camera of this shot are described below and override the reference completely. IMAGE 2 is the wide room shot — take from it only the colour grade, the warm window light, the cool teal shadows, the striped wallpaper, the parquet, the film grain and the atmosphere. IMAGE 3 is the approved bottle shot — take from it only the exact bottle (wide flattened amber flask, brown snakeskin leather band with gold lettering "john varvatos" above "VINTAGE", short brushed gold cap) and the natural look of her hands. SCENE: The woman kneels on the herringbone parquet floor in front of the open dresser drawer, in a village house room. She has settled back onto her heels and turned slightly away from the drawer. She holds the perfume bottle in both hands and has raised it to her face. Her eyes are CLOSED. Her chin is lifted a few degrees and her head is tilted slightly back and to one side. She is breathing the scent in — the moment of inhaling, held still. Her lips are closed and soft, not smiling, not crying. The expression is quiet recognition — the stillness that comes a second before grief, not during it. The bottle is held just below her nose, about a hand's width from her face, the cap off and resting against her lower fingers. Both hands cradle it — the fingers of one hand around the leather band, the other hand supporting from beneath. Her hands are close to her face but do not cover her mouth, chin or cheekbone. The leather band with the gold lettering faces the camera and stays visible, slightly soft but recognisable. CAMERA: Medium close-up. Head, shoulders, upper chest and both hands with the bottle are in frame. The camera is LOW, slightly below the level of her eyes, looking gently upward at her. She occupies the right two thirds of the frame, with negative space on the left. LIGHT — the geometry matters: There is ONE light source: the window, off frame to the RIGHT and slightly behind the camera. Warm golden light #E8A85C strikes the RIGHT side of her face — the right cheekbone, the right temple, the bridge of her nose, the right side of her jaw, the tops of her knuckles, the top edge of the bottle and the gold cap. It also rakes the outer edge of her hair on that side. The LEFT side of her face is in deep cool teal shadow #1E5F6B with NO fill light at all — the left cheek, the left jaw and the left side of her neck fall into blue darkness. A soft-edged terminator runs down the centre of her face. The contrast between the lit and the shadowed halves is strong and unapologetic. Her closed eyelids catch a thin warm rim of light along the lashes on the lit side. No catchlight — the eyes are closed. BACKGROUND: The room falls away behind her into soft defocus — the dark wooden dresser edge, the striped wallpaper, a slice of parquet, the cool blue shadow of the far corner. Nothing in the background is identifiable in detail. A few dust motes float in the warm light near her face. GRADE: Warm amber #E8A85C highlights, cool teal #1E5F6B shadows, saturation 78 percent, lifted milky blacks, gentle halation on the brightest edge of her cheek and the gold cap, 6 percent 35mm film grain, anamorphic softness. Identical grade to IMAGE 2. Shot on ARRI Alexa 35, 85mm at T2, shallow depth of field with the plane of focus exactly on her closed eyelashes. Photorealistic cinematic film still, 2.35:1 aspect ratio.