Cinematics:

The 1st short to our documentary - a low angle shot of the painter walking into the room with a paint brush with red paint dripping on the ground   - match cut to the drop of paint but zoomed out - its a canvas 
 

Ending 

The mic falls and the blood flows in (the environment is dark)

Then blackout 

 

OPENING 

INT. PAINTER’S STUDIO - DAY

The 1st shot to our documentary - a low angle shot of the painter walking into the room with a paint brush with red paint dripping on the ground. Start off dark into a dark room with natural sunlight. 

Cut between wide and macro shots: paint mixing, messy palette, fingers dragging color
 

CATALYST (V.O.):
Before the colors touch canvas… before these voices are heard
I find myself asking: what makes something ‘real’ anymore?
Is it doubt? Is it intention? Or something we lose once everything’s been shown?

CATALYST (V.O.):

Before color ever dares to touch a canvas… before a single voice breaks the silence… a question lingers in the dark with me:

What counts as ‘real’ now?

Is it the doubt that sneaks in? The intention we cling to? Or something we’ve already lost in an age where everything absolutely everything gets revealed?

CATALYST (V.O.):
Right before creation sparks, I always hit the same wall:
What even counts as ‘real’ anymore?
Is it doubt? Desire? Or something we’ve quietly traded away in an age where nothing stays hidden long enough to matter?

 

INTERVIEW MONTAGE  

Interviewees talk about authenticity in an evolving world:

AI SPECIALIST (01:27):
Authenticity means that you portray your own real experiences, your own stories, your daily life. Things that are unique and cannot be copied - subject to change

ART PROFESSOR (02:06):
For example, if I have an idea, I can reshape it, I can develop it, I can improve it with the help of this information. So, I am not actually stealing. If it, this is specifically in arts, I am taking inspiration. - change not making sense here 

MEDIA DESIGNER (06:50):
I think real for me is linked to truth. So am I sharing my truth? Am I being true to myself? When I go to sleep at night, do I feel that I have been authentic? That’s for me what is real.

JAPANESE ELDER (07:18):
So you can see yourself in a more genuine way. Inherently, I want to be in a natural and unpretentious and always be true to myself. - subject to change 

Everything is warm, hopeful. Aya paints in between cuts a normal, grounded documentary.

​

Aya’s painting grows slowly.
It’s textured, chaotic, emotional.

Nothing strange yet.

THE CATALYST ENTERS

INT. INTERVIEW SET - EVENING

Enter THE CATALYST for the first time.
Different from the others in tone gentle but reflective.

CATALYST: sits at a desk
I used to believe authenticity was everywhere… that people wanted things to feel human.

Flicks a pen - at the desk  

CATALYST:
And maybe they still do.(keeps the pen down)

​

SECTION 2

Interviews continue, but now each person mentions things like:

ART PROFESSOR (04:53):
There is a pressure, there is a society which needs you to look on the top and you have to be on the top on all levels.

MEDIA DESIGNER (05:25):
But let’s face it, we do live in a very competitive world, especially at this side of the world.

AI SPECIALIST (13:32):
So I would say for the 95% of the audience, they're actually wearing a mask because of AI, because previously there used to be human element, there used to be mistakes, there used to be some raw content and you know, the raw emotions. Now it's like everyone is producing the same thing.    (he can talk about mark’s pic with him, we can have a dramatic effect - a picture click and the pic stays for a few seconds)

JAPANESE ELDER (06:01):
But as compared to normal times, yeah, you see, there's more competition and people don't really like if someone is crossing them in a firm like... Yeah, it's true, there could be some issues and so many troubles and the problems are there, but somehow I don't feel not so much difference since because I see myself, I see my ego and at the same time I'm all I have.

Cut to Aya taking longer to decide on strokes.
She scrapes something off.
Starts again.

Pauses.
Second-guesses.

Small signs of doubt no effects, just performance.

​

CATALYST THE DOUBT BEGINS :The catalyst returns, slightly more serious.

CATALYST: (at the metro station - from the other side walking up close) 

The world’s changing fast. Faster than we can catch up sometimes. 

(then comes to this side gets very close to the camera,) 

And flaws… they’re becoming unacceptable.

The camera shakes/shivers - 

Catalyst says: I didn’t come this far to scare you - to the audience

CATALYST:

We’re taught to be perfect before we’re taught to feel

From childhood, we’re trained to tidy our truth

to smooth the rough parts, edit the honest parts, silence the strange parts.

Not because it’s who we are… but because it’s what the world demands.

And authenticity pays the price.

 

OR

 

We’re told to aim for perfect before we’re even allowed to feel.

Bit by bit, we learn to clean up our truth

to smooth it over, hide the messy parts, keep the strange bits quiet.

Not because it’s natural… but because it’s expected.

And that’s how we start losing what’s real.

 

AYA TRYING TO FINISH HER PAINTING

She steps back, breathing deeply.
The canvas is raw, emotional, imperfect, human.
She looks proud.

OR 

She steps back, breathing deeply.
The canvas STARTS to distort 

​

THE DARK TURN INTERVIEWEES & CATALYST DOUBT

As Aya admires her work, and the canvas begins to shift:

Catalyst’s voice enters, fragmented, uncertain, as the visuals distort:

CATALYST (V.O.):
“But…is it really still real, what we’re making?”
“Is inspiration just another word… for borrowing?”
“Does anything honest survive…and does it matter now?”

OR

But… is what we’re creating still real?

Is “inspiration” just our polite word for taking pieces from everywhere else?

And if anything honest does survive… does it even matter anymore?

 

Cut in interviewee voice-overs, weaving with Catalyst’s inner thoughts:

ART PROFESSOR (01:14):
“…and it is not as original as it should be. Maybe we are using it in a negative way…”

CATALYST (V.O.):
“So is this all just curated? Filtered? Edited to death?”

MEDIA DESIGNER (06:01):
“I don't think that anything is original. Everything is built on something has already been taking place. But the way we represent it could be original.”

CATALYST (V.O.):
“Originality… or just the performance of originality?”

AI SPECIALIST (13:46):
“Now it's like everyone is producing the same thing.”

ART PROFESSOR (09:57):
“And sometimes it happens that if somebody is producing art, they try to fake it and they bring the abstract form, and then use source of internet to promote themselves and become something which they are actually not.”

CATALYST (V.O.):
“All these masks how can anyone find the truth through the noise?”

JAPANESE ELDER (41:38):
"The truth would overcome the false information. Of course I'm really concerned about the future..."

MEDIA DESIGNER (09:27):
"But I think a lot of people are getting tired of it. They are reaching a limit with it. We soon are realizing that actually it's not as magical as we thought."

 

As Aya’s painting is fully sanitized and “perfected,” Catalyst’s voice is now shaken, desperate:

CATALYST (V.O.):
“Maybe authenticity isn’t dying…”
“…just quietly being replaced.
Maybe we’re just trimming the parts that feel too real…”

OR

“What if creativity doesn’t die?

What if it evolves into something that…doesn’t need us?”

 

 

FINAL MONOLOGUE & RESOLUTION

Cut to interview room, Catalyst alone.

CATALYST:
“We say we want truth… but we choose convenience.
We say imperfection is beautiful… but we hide it in every chance we get.”

His voice breaks slightly.

CATALYST:
“Genunity doesn’t vanish overnight. It fades when the world stops valuing it.”

 

THE SYMBOLIC END

CATALYST:

“I’ve been trying to make sense of it, honestly.

Trying to see the moment it all started to shift…

where the first little crack showed up before any of us noticed.”

​

OR

“I keep going back to it in my head, trying to understand.

That first little moment when things began to crack.

When the world and maybe we started drifting without even noticing.”

A beat.
His voice strengthens, more forceful than before.

​

CATALYST:

“When did we decide that genuineness was a flaw?
That rawness needed correction?
That the parts of us that don’t fit neatly into a frame
should be trimmed until we’re… acceptable?”

CATALYST:

“I fought it.
Every day.
Every time someone chose the polished over the honest,
the perfect over the sincere
I pushed back.”

He rises from his chair, pacing.

CATALYST:

“I told myself realness could still win.
That the world still had room for unfiltered souls.”

He stops.
A sigh in anguish escapes.

CATALYST:

“But genuinity isn’t being defeated in a grand battle.
It’s dying by a thousand tiny compromises.”

​

THE FIGHT – MONTAGE INTERCUT

As he speaks, the visuals intercut rapidly:

• Aya’s painting being forcibly corrected.
   

• Interviewees’ quotes about pressure, competition, masks.
   

• Quick flashes of generic, polished art identical, lifeless.
   

• A bin filled with discarded sketches.
   

• Aya hesitating, almost trembling before making a stroke.
   

• A montage of “perfect” social media posts.
   

• A hand erasing a pencil line violently.
   

• A blank, flawless canvas.

CATALYST:

“I fought for the imperfect.
For the trembling voice.
For the crooked line.
For the artist who dares to leave the stain on the canvas
because that stain is part of the story.”

OR 

I fought for the flaws. for the uneven lines, the moments we’re taught to hide. For the artist who lets the stain stay because it carries a piece of their journey.

 

He breathes in, trembling not with fear, but conviction.

CATALYST:

“But the world doesn’t want fighters like me anymore.
It wants replicas.
Refinements.
Copies and copies and copies…”

As he gets intense the killer runs towards him and a loud scream 

Cut back to Aya who hears this scream and is terrified.

She sits on the floor, staring at the sanitized, lifeless version of her art.

Or 

We have a shadow play where the killer stabs and an empty chair falling -( might not correlate well here but either can be used) 

 

 

OUTRO

CATALYST R.I.P:
“Authenticity didn’t disappear.
It just stopped being enough.”

Fade to black.
Silence.

 

Ending : The mic falls and the blood flows in (the environment is dark)