Artifact Repository

Final Cut

Every Sunday, Clara played Lotería with Abuela Rosario. When Rosario dies mid-game — her hand still resting on an unturned card — Clara discovers each card holds a real memory. TTS crisis resolved through two trim passes to stay under 5:00.

Characters

Clara

Ages 5–19 across the film • Narrator (VO)

Curious, restless, quietly fierce. The kind of person who looks under the bed to see where the ants go. Cool modern palette — Clara's world before the cards warm it. First-year university student in Mexico City when the story ends.

Abuela Rosario

Ages 69–81 across the film • Warm amber gold palette

Wide face, deep lines, warm eyes. Hands always moving — shuffling cards, rubbing cocoa butter, brushing jacaranda blossoms off the table. She carries her secrets with a lightness that is heavier than anything. Dies mid-game, hand on an unturned card.

clara headshot

clara body sheet

rosario headshot

rosario body sheet

Settings

Setting A — The Courtyard

The center of the house and the center of the world. Thick adobe walls, bread-crust color. Bougainvillea on the east wall in aggressive magenta. Stone table in the middle, shaded by a jacaranda tree. The sun clears the eastern wall at 2 PM every Sunday and the courtyard becomes a bowl of gold.

Setting B — The Kitchen

Where Rosario was found — hand resting on an unturned card. The cards scattered across the table exactly as her mother described. Cool light. The smell of cold wax and cocoa butter. Where Clara turns the three hidden cards alone.

Color palette tracks the emotional arc: ochre, terracotta, marigold (Act I: warm ritual) → amber fading (Act II: loss) → slate, ink-blue, pewter (Act III: cold truths) → gold returning, softer (Coda: grief absorbed).

Key Objects

The Lotería Box

Carved jacaranda wood, heavy, with a brass clasp that sticks. The container of 40 years of Sundays. Rosario carried this out of the kitchen every week with the ease of someone who has done it ten thousand times.

El Sol — The Card

The first card Rosario ever dealt. The gold-leaf painted sun catches the actual afternoon sun and throws a tiny blinding star across the stone table. Appears in the final frame — the game continues.

The Hidden Cards

Three cards face-down. Not played once in 12 years. The cold surface when Clara touches them. La Sirena (the drowned sister), El Corazón (the secret lover), La Mano (the ordinary loneliness).

Storyboard

54 frames — Mexican Lotería card illustration style throughout. Bold black outlines, flat vivid gouache, gold-leaf borders that degrade gold→pewter→faded as the hidden cards are revealed. Card-flip transitions between acts.

Scene 1 — The Hook: Card Flip to Courtyard

shot 1 1 start

shot 1 1 end

shot 1 2 frame a

shot 1 2 frame b

shot 1 3 start

shot 1 3 end

Act I — The Ritual (Warm Gold Palette)

shot 2 2 start

shot 2 2 end

shot 2 3 start

shot 2 3 end

shot 2 4 start

shot 2 4 end

shot 2 5 start

shot 2 5 end

silent beat 2 start

Act II — The Loss (Amber Fading)

shot 3 3 start

shot 3 3 end

silent beat 3 start

Act III — The Hidden Cards (Cold Revelation)

shot 4 1 start

shot 4 1 end

shot 4 2 start

shot 4 2 end

shot 4 3 start

shot 4 3 end

shot 4 4a start

shot 4 4a end

shot 4 4b start

shot 4 4b end

Scene 5 — La Sirena & El Corazón

shot 5 1 start

shot 5 1 end

shot 5 2 start

shot 5 2 end

shot 5 3 start

shot 5 3 end

Scene 6 — La Mano (The Ordinary Loneliness)

shot 6 1 start

shot 6 1 end

shot 6 2a start

shot 6 2a end

shot 6 3 start

shot 6 3 end

shot 6 4a start

shot 6 4a end

shot 6 5 start

shot 6 5 end

shot 6 6a start

shot 6 6a end

shot 6 7 start

shot 6 7 end

Coda — El Sol Again

shot 7 1 start

shot 7 1 end

shot 7 2a start

shot 7 2a end

shot 7 2b start

shot 7 2b end

Audio Design

Production Documents

12 documents from concept through final blind watch