Acetate and Regret
For their last film project, Noah and Julie find an unlabelled reel of Super 8 film. The footage shows a ghost at a town festival, a forgotten transaction, and a face that is impossibly familiar.
# Acetate and Regret
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Two teenagers cataloging their town's forgotten history on old film reels uncover a single, unlabelled canister containing impossible footage of a dead man interacting with one of them as a child, forcing them to question their memories and the nature of reality itself.
## Themes
* **The Unreliability of Memory:** Exploring how both personal and collective histories can be flawed, incomplete, or supernaturally altered, challenging the notion of a fixed past.
* **Nostalgia as a Veil:** The comfort of a romanticized past is violently torn away to reveal a disturbing and inexplicable truth hiding beneath the surface of familiar moments.
* **The Haunting Nature of the Past:** The idea that history is not an inert artifact but an active force that can bleed into and irrevocably alter the present.
## Stakes
At stake is their fundamental understanding of reality, as they are forced to confront the possibility that their pasts are not what they seem and that a supernatural event has been hiding in plain sight for years.
## Synopsis
In a dusty attic, teenagers Noah and Julie are working on a final collaborative project before she leaves for college: a documentary about their town made from old 8mm home movies. They finish a box of labeled films, full of charming, nostalgic moments. Julie then points to a single, unlabeled metal canister, and they decide to watch its mysterious contents.
The film is in faded color and depicts a Founder's Day festival from the early 1990s. As they watch the familiar faces of younger townspeople, Julie spots an anomaly: an old man who looks exactly like Mr. Abernathy, the town's famous benefactor. The problem, as they both know, is that Mr. Abernathy died in a fire in 1987, years before this footage was shot.
They watch, transfixed, as the impossible figure of Abernathy walks through the crowd and kneels before a five-year-old girl with dark, curly hair. He smiles and presses a small, mysterious object into her hand. The little girl then looks directly into the camera, and Noah and Julie are horrified to realize the child is unmistakably Julie herself.
Stunned by this impossible memory, they watch as the camera zooms in on the ghost's hand giving the object to the child. At that exact moment, the brittle film jams in the projector gate. The image freezes, bubbles, and a hole burns through the celluloid, obliterating the crucial evidence and plunging them into darkness, the acrid smell of burnt film hanging in the air.
## Character Breakdown
* **NOAH (17):** The filmmaker. Meticulous, thoughtful, and a romantic about the past. He curates history, believing it to be a collection of knowable, contained stories. He is the anchor to logic, trying to find a rational explanation for the impossible.
* **Psychological Arc:** Noah begins as a nostalgic curator, safely viewing the past through the controlled lens of his projector. He ends as a terrified witness, his rational worldview shattered by irrefutable proof of the supernatural, forced to accept that history is not a dead artifact but a living, haunting presence.
* **JULIE (17):** The narrator. Sharp, curious, and more pragmatic than Noah. She is the catalyst for discovery, pushing them to watch the unlabeled film. Her connection to the events makes the threat deeply personal and terrifying.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE ATTIC ARCHIVE:** Noah and Julie are in a dusty attic, surrounded by old film equipment. They watch footage of Noah's father, sharing a light, nostalgic moment. The mood is warm and comfortable.
2. **THE MYSTERY CANISTER:** They finish the last of the labeled film reels. Julie spots a single, unlabeled metal canister. Her curiosity piques, she convinces a hesitant Noah to thread it into the projector.
3. **A FAMILIAR PAST:** The new film flickers to life. It's a Founder's Day festival from the 90s. They recognize younger versions of townspeople, lulling them into a false sense of security.
4. **THE ANOMALY:** Julie suddenly tells Noah to stop. She has spotted a man by the bandstand—Mr. Abernathy, the town benefactor who died years before this footage could have been shot.
5. **THE IMPOSSIBLE ENCOUNTER:** They watch, horrified, as the ghost of Abernathy walks through the crowd and kneels before a small girl. He speaks to her and presses a small, dark object into her hand.
6. **THE REVELATION:** The little girl turns and looks directly at the camera. It is, without a doubt, a five-year-old Julie. She has no memory of this event.
7. **THE BURNOUT:** As the camera zooms in on the object being passed between the ghost and the child, the film jams. The intense heat of the projector lamp burns a perfect hole through the frame, destroying the one piece of evidence and leaving them in shocked, acrid darkness.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style will rely on a stark contrast between two worlds. The attic is warm, dusty, and filled with soft, ambient light, evoking a sense of safe, tangible history. This world is shattered by the images from the projector.
The 8mm footage should feel authentic: grainy, with a faded color palette, light leaks, and unsteady, amateur camerawork. This found-footage element grounds the supernatural in a believable, dreamlike reality. The primary source of light for much of the short will be the projector itself, casting long, dancing shadows and washing the characters' faces in the flickering, haunting light of the past.
The tone begins as warm and nostalgic (Amblin-esque) before shifting dramatically into a tense, psychological mystery. It builds a growing sense of dread and ontological horror, leaving the audience with a chilling, unanswered question. Tonal comparisons align with the high-concept dread of *The Twilight Zone* and the unsettling technological parables of *Black Mirror*.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Two teenagers cataloging their town's forgotten history on old film reels uncover a single, unlabelled canister containing impossible footage of a dead man interacting with one of them as a child, forcing them to question their memories and the nature of reality itself.
## Themes
* **The Unreliability of Memory:** Exploring how both personal and collective histories can be flawed, incomplete, or supernaturally altered, challenging the notion of a fixed past.
* **Nostalgia as a Veil:** The comfort of a romanticized past is violently torn away to reveal a disturbing and inexplicable truth hiding beneath the surface of familiar moments.
* **The Haunting Nature of the Past:** The idea that history is not an inert artifact but an active force that can bleed into and irrevocably alter the present.
## Stakes
At stake is their fundamental understanding of reality, as they are forced to confront the possibility that their pasts are not what they seem and that a supernatural event has been hiding in plain sight for years.
## Synopsis
In a dusty attic, teenagers Noah and Julie are working on a final collaborative project before she leaves for college: a documentary about their town made from old 8mm home movies. They finish a box of labeled films, full of charming, nostalgic moments. Julie then points to a single, unlabeled metal canister, and they decide to watch its mysterious contents.
The film is in faded color and depicts a Founder's Day festival from the early 1990s. As they watch the familiar faces of younger townspeople, Julie spots an anomaly: an old man who looks exactly like Mr. Abernathy, the town's famous benefactor. The problem, as they both know, is that Mr. Abernathy died in a fire in 1987, years before this footage was shot.
They watch, transfixed, as the impossible figure of Abernathy walks through the crowd and kneels before a five-year-old girl with dark, curly hair. He smiles and presses a small, mysterious object into her hand. The little girl then looks directly into the camera, and Noah and Julie are horrified to realize the child is unmistakably Julie herself.
Stunned by this impossible memory, they watch as the camera zooms in on the ghost's hand giving the object to the child. At that exact moment, the brittle film jams in the projector gate. The image freezes, bubbles, and a hole burns through the celluloid, obliterating the crucial evidence and plunging them into darkness, the acrid smell of burnt film hanging in the air.
## Character Breakdown
* **NOAH (17):** The filmmaker. Meticulous, thoughtful, and a romantic about the past. He curates history, believing it to be a collection of knowable, contained stories. He is the anchor to logic, trying to find a rational explanation for the impossible.
* **Psychological Arc:** Noah begins as a nostalgic curator, safely viewing the past through the controlled lens of his projector. He ends as a terrified witness, his rational worldview shattered by irrefutable proof of the supernatural, forced to accept that history is not a dead artifact but a living, haunting presence.
* **JULIE (17):** The narrator. Sharp, curious, and more pragmatic than Noah. She is the catalyst for discovery, pushing them to watch the unlabeled film. Her connection to the events makes the threat deeply personal and terrifying.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE ATTIC ARCHIVE:** Noah and Julie are in a dusty attic, surrounded by old film equipment. They watch footage of Noah's father, sharing a light, nostalgic moment. The mood is warm and comfortable.
2. **THE MYSTERY CANISTER:** They finish the last of the labeled film reels. Julie spots a single, unlabeled metal canister. Her curiosity piques, she convinces a hesitant Noah to thread it into the projector.
3. **A FAMILIAR PAST:** The new film flickers to life. It's a Founder's Day festival from the 90s. They recognize younger versions of townspeople, lulling them into a false sense of security.
4. **THE ANOMALY:** Julie suddenly tells Noah to stop. She has spotted a man by the bandstand—Mr. Abernathy, the town benefactor who died years before this footage could have been shot.
5. **THE IMPOSSIBLE ENCOUNTER:** They watch, horrified, as the ghost of Abernathy walks through the crowd and kneels before a small girl. He speaks to her and presses a small, dark object into her hand.
6. **THE REVELATION:** The little girl turns and looks directly at the camera. It is, without a doubt, a five-year-old Julie. She has no memory of this event.
7. **THE BURNOUT:** As the camera zooms in on the object being passed between the ghost and the child, the film jams. The intense heat of the projector lamp burns a perfect hole through the frame, destroying the one piece of evidence and leaving them in shocked, acrid darkness.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style will rely on a stark contrast between two worlds. The attic is warm, dusty, and filled with soft, ambient light, evoking a sense of safe, tangible history. This world is shattered by the images from the projector.
The 8mm footage should feel authentic: grainy, with a faded color palette, light leaks, and unsteady, amateur camerawork. This found-footage element grounds the supernatural in a believable, dreamlike reality. The primary source of light for much of the short will be the projector itself, casting long, dancing shadows and washing the characters' faces in the flickering, haunting light of the past.
The tone begins as warm and nostalgic (Amblin-esque) before shifting dramatically into a tense, psychological mystery. It builds a growing sense of dread and ontological horror, leaving the audience with a chilling, unanswered question. Tonal comparisons align with the high-concept dread of *The Twilight Zone* and the unsettling technological parables of *Black Mirror*.