SCENE CONTEXT
Seen from inside a cosmetics shelf, looking out through the gap between two
shelf levels. A woman in her early thirties is already midway through
searching the shelf for one specific lipstick shade. She looks up, looks
down, crouches to eye level, takes one box, checks it, puts it back. It is
not hers.

ACTIVE REFERENCES
@shopper: early-30s Singaporean Chinese woman, long dark wavy hair worn
loose, gold hoop earrings, sleeveless dark burgundy knit top, black tailored
trousers, small handbag on her right shoulder. Dressed slightly smarter than
an ordinary work day. 100% matches the reference.

@store: the store interior. Use only for materials, fixtures, ceiling
structure, shelf construction and light quality. Do not copy its camera
angle or its wide composition.

@shopper is the only person in the foreground and midground, and the only
person whose face is legible at any point. Two or three shoppers may pass
far in the deep background, soft and out of focus. Every background person
is Singaporean — Chinese, Malay or Indian. No Western or Caucasian people
anywhere in frame. No staff member in frame. No duplicate of @shopper.

LOCATION MAP
The camera is physically inside a cosmetics shelf unit, resting on the shelf
surface, looking outward into the store aisle. The shelf above runs across
the top of frame as a dark horizontal bar. The shelf surface runs across the
bottom of frame. Between them is a wide letterbox gap through which the
aisle is visible.
Rows of small plain lipstick cartons stand in the immediate foreground on
both sides of the camera, close to the lens, out of focus, silhouetted
against the aisle light. All packaging is plain and unbranded. No readable
logos, no readable brand names, no recognisable retail chain identity
anywhere in frame.
Behind @shopper, across the aisle, the far side of the store is visible and
soft: pale display plinths, illuminated fixtures, the store's polished
floor.

FIRST FRAME AND SPATIAL BLOCKING
The first visible frame already contains @shopper, standing directly in
front of the shelf, 0.6 to 1 meter from the lens, centred in the letterbox
gap, already mid-search. She is settled in place from frame one — no
arrival, no walking in, no entering the frame. Her torso and the lower part
of her face fill the gap; her eyes sit just above the top shelf edge and are
partly cut off by it. No empty establishing frame. No delayed character
reveal.
Her body faces the shelf square-on, toward camera. Her gaze goes to the
shelves, not to the lens. She does not look at camera at any point.
Handbag stays on her right shoulder throughout.
Out-of-focus lipstick cartons occupy the left and right edges of frame for
the entire take, framing her through the shelf.

FORMAT MODE
Single continuous take. No cuts. No transitions. Real-time motion.
Total duration 12 seconds.

CAMERA
The camera is completely locked off. Tripod-rigid, fixed inside the shelf.
No pan, no tilt, no push, no handheld movement, no drift, no reframing of
any kind for the whole take. The frame never changes. @shopper moves within
a static frame.
Camera height is at the height of the shelf she is searching, roughly at
her chest when she stands and at her eye level when she crouches.

OPTICS
47° diagonal field of view, standard normal lens character, camera 0.6 to 1
meter from subject, natural human-eye perspective. Zero obvious distortion,
natural face and body proportions. The compressed letterbox look comes from
the shelf framing and the foreground occlusion, not from the lens.
Focus is held on @shopper. The lipstick cartons in the immediate foreground
fall soft. The far side of the store behind her falls soft.
No extreme wide distortion, no fisheye curve, no telephoto compression. The
lens character does not change at any point.

ACTION TIMING
0:00 to 0:02
@shopper is already standing at the shelf, mid-search. Her eyes move along
the row directly in front of her, small head movements, fingers of her left
hand resting lightly on the shelf edge. Nothing else in frame moves except,
far behind her, one soft out-of-focus shopper crossing the aisle.

0:02 to 0:04
She lifts her chin and looks up at the higher shelves. Her face rises out of
the letterbox gap; for two seconds we see only her neck, shoulders and chest
through the gap while she scans above.

0:04 to 0:06
Her chin drops. Her face returns into the gap and keeps travelling down,
eyes moving to the lower shelves.

0:06 to 0:08
She crouches in one controlled motion, knees bending, handbag sliding
forward on her shoulder. Her face comes fully into the gap and settles level
with the lens, close and clear, still looking at the shelves and not at
camera.

0:08 to 0:11
Her hand enters frame from the right, close to the lens. Her fingers take
one lipstick carton from the foreground row. She brings it toward her, turns
it to read the base, and holds it for a beat. Her face changes very slightly
— the corner of her mouth, a small drop in the eyes. She has her answer. She
reaches back in and sets the carton down in the row, not quite straight.

0:11 to 0:12
She does not move. She stays crouched, looking at the shelf. One breath.
Hold on her stillness until the shot ends.

PHYSICS
Real weight in every movement. The crouch has knee load, a small settle of
balance, and visible weight transfer. Hair shifts and settles a beat behind
her head movement. The knit top creases at the waist as she bends. The
handbag strap slides and pulls against her shoulder with real mass. The
carton has light cardboard weight — it tips slightly as she sets it down and
stays where she leaves it. The neighbouring cartons in the foreground are
not disturbed. No rubbery motion, no weightless props, no game-engine
physics.

LIGHTING
Two sources. Cool white LED strip light from inside the shelf unit, falling
on the foreground cartons from behind and above the lens, rimming their
edges. Bright overhead retail lighting in the aisle beyond, falling on her
from directly above, putting soft light on her forehead, cheekbones and
shoulders with faint shadow under her brow.
This flat commercial retail light is deliberate and correct. Do not
beautify it. No warm golden key, no cinematic moody grade, no rim light on
her face, no shaft of sunlight, no lens flare, no dramatic contrast. The
store stays clean, bright and ordinary.

AUDIO
Ambient store tone only: air conditioning hum, distant unintelligible
chatter, faint footsteps on polished floor, the light knock of the carton
being set back on the shelf.
No dialogue of any kind. @shopper does not speak. Her lips stay still for
the whole take. No off-screen voices. No narration, no voiceover, no music,
no subtitles, no captions, no on-screen text.

POSITIVE CONSTRAINTS
Kodak Vision3 250D, naturalistic documentary texture, real grain, grounded
physical cinema. Sharp clarity, natural colors, stable picture, no blur,
no ghosting, no flickering. All packaging unbranded and unreadable. No
brand logos anywhere in frame.