Laminar / The Other Side

Storyboard

The future is not somewhere else. It is the same enterprise, finally flowing.

Prepared by Max Mao.

The Other Side, sound design

The sonic idea for the whole film. Turbulence resolving into flow. The dry world'''s tension bed, the turn when the water emerges, and the warm resolve on the other side. Not one scene, the shape of the entire piece in sound.

The Other Side intro sound design
Scene OneThe dry riverbed
Sound direction: a tension bed built from the room's own single sounds, the water emerging only for her. Reference, Still Awake, or Caribou, Can't Do Without You.
Music references
Still Awake
Caribou, Can'''t Do Without You
01
The clock
Sound The clock, steady and even, filling the frame. The tension track begins beneath it, low and driving. No melody, just pressure and time.
02
The keystroke
Sound A single keystroke, clean and isolated. The tension track holds beneath it, steady and even. No voices, no water yet.
03
The page
Sound A single sheet turned, a soft precise rustle. The tension track steady beneath. Still no water.
04
The mouse
Sound One soft, singular mouse click, on the beat. The tension track steady beneath. No voices, no water.
05
The stapler
Sound One firm, singular stapler press, punctuating the beat. The tension track steady beneath.
06
The pen
Sound The pen clicker, click, click, click, restless and compulsive. A nervous tic breaking the even pulse, the first hint of unease under the tension.
07
The dry pool
Sound The tension holds. Something is quietly off, a hollow where a sound should be. The absence of water, not yet the thing itself.
08
The flicker
Sound Held on her eyes. Under the tension, the faintest thread of running water, for just a moment. The smallest flicker as she registers what no one else does.
09
The progress bar
Sound A progress bar fills, tick by tick, climbing toward something unknown. The tension builds beneath it, suspense with no resolution yet, the water thread just underneath.
10
She listens
Sound The thread of water holds. She tilts her head toward it. The neighbor works on, hearing nothing.
11
The floor
Sound The tension holds, the room tone widening as the floor opens up. The water thread persists, and she is the only one turning toward it.
12
The reveal
Sound The tension opens out into a vast, cold room tone. The scale of the wrongness. The water, still faint, still only hers.
Scene TwoFind the flow
Mid section. An energetic, fun song develops with colourful transitions. The world turns grey to colour, music and visuals telling the story together.
13
Find the flow
Sound The bar completes and the words resolve on the screen. The running water swells up, clear and undeniable now. The tension gives way, a low resonant tone rising. The turn begins.
14
Who sent it
Sound The words hold on the screen. She scans the sterile floor for who sent them, and finds no one. The water swells, still only hers.
15
She rises, and no one else hears it
Sound The trickle steadies. The deadline noises fall behind her, and a low resonant tone enters.
16
The wall opens
Sound Her hand meets the wall. A deep resonant bloom as the sealed wall cracks open under her palm, warm light spilling through and the water surging up. The room breathes outward, infinite.
17
Through the tunnel
Sound Water growing into a stream, the resonant tone rising under it.
18
The secret doorway
Sound Full running water, the resonant tone blooms wide, then everything drops away for a held breath.
Scene ThreeThe other side
The song resolves, warm and full, the world in colour, before it settles to a calm hum and one last clear note.
Scene 3 music
Oasis, running water ambient
19
Her face, in colour
Sound Out of the held breath, the first warm chord. The colour arrives on her face. The song of the other side begins, gentle and full.
20
She steps through
Sound The running water resolves into flow, warm and continuous. The world opens around her.
21
She touches the water
Sound Her fingers break the surface. The water ripples, warm and alive. The dry riverbed of Act One, finally running. The current sings.
22A
She takes it all in
Sound She stands and takes it all in, head lifted, wonder breaking across her face. The current sings down the aisle, the full warm song blooming.
22BB-roll: the blooms she takes in, dew and gold in macro.
B-roll: the blooms she takes in, dew and gold in macro.
23A
Her workstation reborn
Sound She settles at her desk, hands to the keys, at home. The current warm and full around her, the turbulence gone.
23BB-roll: iridescent blooms cascading over the white desk, the architecture flowering.
B-roll: iridescent blooms cascading over the white desk, the architecture flowering.
24
The screen, alive
Sound The screen that would not resolve, resolved. It rests in warm light, a low current humming behind it. At peace.
25
Her, at peace
Sound And her, at peace. The song settles to a warm, quiet hum, the turbulence gone from her face.
26A
The same pod, alive
Sound The current, steady and luminous, one last living detail before the pull-out.
26BB-roll: life through the same architecture, the reborn CRT glowing small in the deep background.
B-roll: life through the same architecture, the reborn CRT glowing small in the deep background.
26CB-roll: the current flows on down the rose channel toward the sun, the last flow forward before the pull-out to the mark.
B-roll: the current flows on down the rose channel toward the sun, the last flow forward before the pull-out to the mark.
27
Endcard
Sound One last clear note over moving water, then quiet.