a film
by
christopher
cunetto

OVER BLACK

A pulsing, faraway HUM.
A woman’s voice grows closer.

WOMAN (O.S.)

Mordecai....

Mordecai?

A FLASH of violet light.

what if you
never had to
say goodbye?

After an unusual incident, a desperate widower attempts to contact his late wife using a fringe-science meditation technique.

G A T E W A Y is the story of Mordecai Jones’ strange journey through grief.

genre, style, and tone

Genre

The film is a drama and soft science fiction film. This is defined by the primary story components: an internal character journey, relational conflict, and science-fiction elements that drive the plot forward.

STYLE

Broadly, stylistic elements of the film will evoke the fraught, liminal space that Mordecai exists in during the film. These elements will be juxtaposed against the “real world” he must find a way to live inside again.

Stylistic elements of the film will draw from several genres: the intentional pacing of a character drama, the chiaroscuro of neo-noir, the colors of Giallo and science fiction, and the texture of indie and art-house.

TONE

The tone of the film will be pensive, and serious with a touch of surrealist wonder. There will be elements of suspense and the performances will be grounded but evocative. The intensity of emotion expressed by the characters will progress over the duration of the film: dramatic but not melodrama, Mordecai’s emotional and mental state becomes more extreme as the story progresses.

INT. MORDECAI’S LIVING ROOM- MORNING

Mordecai opens the wrapping paper on the BOX.

MORDECAI
A telescope.

MILES
Yeah, you haven’t been sleeping, so, or maybe we could-

MORDECAI
-Stare at the sky? I have my writing. Anyway I sleep fine.

MILES
Dad.

sound

Score and sound design will evoke a melancholy atmosphere with a touch of strangeness. We will accomplish this by combining electronic instruments and textures with traditional cinematic music cues and accents.

Score

The score will draw from drama and science fiction genre conventions to present an affecting, otherworldly tone. Electronic instruments combine with analog music and textures to create poignant soundscapes.

“A Pulsing HUM.”

Mordecai reaches Lena by meditating with The Gateway Method. Integral to the technique is a consciousness-altering audio frequency described as “a pulsing hum”. Comprised of layers, parts of this sound design will be used during various moments of the film to foreshadow story events and create mood.

Flashbacks

Mordecai experiences routine aural flashbacks when moving throughout his home. We will use sound, dialogue, and distortion to create his audio memories while focusing the camera on the character to show how he feels about what he is remembering.

Playlist

The film draws score and sound inspiration from a variety of touchpoints.

INT. MORDECAI’S KITCHEN- NIGHT

Mordecai scans results. A headline: MESSENGERS FROM ALTERNATE REALITIES? He clicks. IS LIGHT CONSCIOUS?...PSYCHONAUTIC MEDITATIONS. Another link: THE GATEWAY METHOD.

MORDECAI (CONT’D)
The gateway method.

CAMERA

The camera will evoke Mordecai’s experience; his inner world, his relationships, and relationship to the world around him. Camera will underscore character, story, and mood.
Medium and close-up shots with wide apertures from 50-85mm will obscure surroundings and compress space. These shots will allow Mordecai to show us heightened emotion. We will use this approach when Mordecai withdraws into memory and attempts to contact Lena.

We will also create intimacy between Lena and Mordecai with this approach. Scenes with Lena and Mordecai will have more movement with an urgent, organic feel. When appropriate to the story, slightly surreal or “off” moments may emphasize uncertainty and confusion. These may be extreme close-ups, off angles, intentional out-of-focus work, or asymmetrical framing.

These images will be juxtaposed with wide-angle, wide depth of field images, created with lenses between 18-35mm, to shrink the characters and place them in their surroundings. Wide shots will also reinforce the distance between the characters. Less movement with the shots will underscore how the characters are stuck.

INT. MORDECAI'S KITCHEN- NIGHT

Mordecai sits at his kitchen table, alone in the darkness.

MILES (O.S.)
I need to know you’re not losing it.

MORDECAI
Don’t patronize me.

Miles sits.

MILES
Where are you?

The irony of that question.

MORDECAI
You can’t understand this.

MILES
How can you think that?

LIGHTING and COLOR

With an overall style of high contrast imagery, with softened transitions from light to dark areas, three main looks will dominate lighting design:

1. Daytime interior shots with natural, warm light. Medium contrast will reinforce the genre and mood while supporting the thematic notion of seen vs. unseen. Or practically, Mordecai’s waking life vs. his nighttime sessions with Lena.

2. Nighttime setups will use motivated lighting from the exterior of the home with a green tint. Soft, diffused, green light will work alongside cool tones. Neutral fills and saturated or bright edge lights will create a moody nighttime atmosphere with a stylized edge.
3. Scenes with Lena, after Mordecai has called to her with his meditations, will have a violet-purple hue. This contributes to the otherworldly tone and setting while creating a signature color gesture associated with Lena. Although exaggerated beyond the “real-world”, this color will be motivated by the purple-patterns in the Gateway Method meditation video appearing on the laptop screen next to Mordecai and Lena.

INT. MORDECAI'S BEDROOM– NIGHT

Silence. Lena sits before Mordecai. The headphones and blindfold sit beside him.

MORDECAI
You’re so beautiful.

LENA
Mordy...

A moment of connection.

LENA (CONT’D)
I don’t understand.

production design

The Telescope

The telescope is the catalyst through which Mordecai see’s the light associated with Lena’s voice. This experience sends him down the internet rabbit hole that leads him to the Gateway Method.

Neutrals with Red Accents

Red will represent life and vitality. Miles will wear red and there will be pops of warm reds and rusts in the environment. Mordecai will wear neutral colors until the end when he will wear a red shirt, representing his return to “life.”

Lena’s ScarF/
Mordecai’s Blindfold

Mordecai uses one of Lenas scarves as his blindfold. The Gateway Method requires sensory deprivation, and the idea that an object belonging to Lena both blinds Mordecai while leading him to his eventual way forward metaphorically encapsulates the plot.

themes and imagery

Archways and Thresholds

The idea of a threshold or of passing from one space to another (and by contrast the idea of being stuck in one space or stuck on the precipice) will be evoked through framing characters in archways, doorways, and other frames-with-a-frame. This thematically ties the characters to the central idea of moving from one fraught state into a more healed space.

Reality vs. Unreality, Veil vs. Clarity

The film will leave it up to the viewer whether or not Lena is real. To Mordecai, she is, and the Gateway Method works. The ambiguity of these events will be evoked with images of the character that are obscured, reflected, or otherwise distorted.

Senses and Memory

Mordecai experiences memories of Lena through images and areas of his home. He has aural memories that are related to the senses he associates with Lena, cooking, her voice, events they attended together. Images will be used to show how these sense memories are triggered. Knives, kitchens, photographs: singular images will take Mordecai into his past.

cast

Jeff Dernlan
as Mordecai

Jeff Dernlan is an actor and writer, known for The End of the Dial (2022), Mourning Pages (2020) and Attached: Paranormal (2021).

CAROL CADBY
as LENA

Carol Cadby is known for Radium Girls (2018). She is a bilingual English/Spanish actor with extensive experience and training in film, TV, stage, and commercials. Her multi-cultural upbringing in Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. gives her a distinct perspective and nuanced understanding of the human experience that always finds its way into he work.

Duncan Fitzgerald
as MILES

Duncan Fitzgerald is an emerging actor from Washington, DC. His work ranges from directing sketches and music videos to acting in short films and other independent productions. Most recently, Duncan acted in “Thieves”, a heist-gone-wrong short directed by Sophia Suazo.