Siting Yang

Title: The Dawn That Killed Me Genre: Fantasy/Science-Fiction Duration: 90 — 100 min

Director/Screenplay: Siting Yang Production Designer: Ostap Rudakevych

Logline: An idealistic young woman travels through different “bubbles” and foresees an alternate reality for herself, and the two embark on a journey of self-discovery through their creative endeavors to escape their “bubbles” together.

Production Design

SYNOPSIS (updated — Nov.4, 2021)

Often absorbed in her own world, Litta, an idealistic young woman who has strong emotions, envisions Ice Reverie, a dimension of frozen time, where people relive or validate their past emotions through their creative work. At dawn, Litta and her lover, the visionary Finn, stroll to view spaces to enact her plan, they discover an unusual, cozy apartment. Litta desires to have a home with Finn here, yet, Finn becomes aloof. Vignettes of their broken relationship crash down. Heartbroken, Litta encounters a billboard that Vessel Bubble, an ethereal world, is recruiting for their mission to spread love throughout the universe. She enlists with the intention of capturing the emotions present there with her peculiar ability to absorb the emotions and materialize them into uncanny imageries.

Life on Vessel Bubble revitalizes Litta at first, whose faith does not waiver even as some crew members depart. But when Litta begins to doubt the actions of the crew's charismatic leader, she grows disillusioned and determines to pursue her own Ice Reverie.

She seeks out spaces at dawn and encounters a man with whom she experiences déjà vu. He guides her to a myriad of spaces. An intimate bond develops in their mutual anonymity. But when this potential lover fails to appear for the routine dawn rendezvous, Litta’s urge to find him derails her plans to realize Ice Reverie.

Litta's desperation to find clues leads her to the apartment she once aspired to share with Finn. There she finds an uncannily familiar couple: Elle fighting with her husband. Elle’s marriage is fraught with constant encroachment of her personal space leading to a deep loss of self. The oppressive relationship drives Elle to title the story she is authoring as ‘The Dawn That Killed Me’ and alter the plot for her protagonist named Litta.

The women's lives converge. Elle’s husband, Litta’s dawn encounter and past lover appear as one. The completion of Elle’s novella and the realization of Litta’s Ice Reverie depend on each other. Inside Ice Reverie, true emotions visualized in Vessel Bubble resonate with the audience. Elle’s story unfolds. Litta’s conversation with Elle ensues outside Ice Reverie.

STATEMENT OF INTENT (updated Nov.18)

We all dream of alluring bubbles that we work so hard to get in, a marriage, a career, a community. When reality shatters the life you envisioned, anguish and disappointment tangle emotions and memories grow toxic. This film portrays this emotional hardship and the trap of ones own desires. I want to depict this experience through a female character’s inner world, by morphing her fantasy and memory. The protagonist meets herself in another possible reality and comes to question the original bubbles she desired. 

THEMES

Self-growth, finding inner-strength.

Does an ideal state really exist? How to achieve a state in which one does not feel trapped? When you achieve the possible reality you long for, will you be truly happy then? If you were able to see other possible realities, how would you choose?

TARGET AUDIENCE

Anyone interested in self-exploration, psychology and emotional discovery, especially appearing to women age 18—35.

KEY CHARACTERS

LITTA, female (23-25 years old) 

— Creative and emotional, a young woman who pursues her ideal creative visions and romantic life both consciously and subconsciously. 

— Persistent, stubborn, and has a peculiar ability to absorb emotions and materialize them in the tangible form of drawing. Idealistic, ambitious, and curious about the unknown, struggling to find outlets to reach her potential. 

— Longing for love, like ordinary girls. When she feels weak, she wants to realize fantasies with her lover, Finn. 

— Often lost in her own world. The reason she is in different worlds in unpredictable ways is that sometimes fantasy and memory take over her reality. 

— More adventurous compared to Elle

ELLE, female (25-27 years old) 

— Uncannily similar to Litta. 

— Creative and emotional, a young woman trying to adapt to married life, which is fraught with constant encroachment on personal space and mental focus, leading to a deep loss of self. 

— Yearning for a happy marriage but longs for her old self, which she sees reflected in Litta. 

— More reflective compared to Litta. 

FINN, male (35-38 years old)
Visionary sci-fi writer who designs futuristic spaces. Maverick, gentle and self- disciplined but can be rigid. Engages with life but doesn't want to think too much about relationships.
Finn appears in three forms:
1. Broken-up with Litta, single (In reality)
2. New encounter to Litta (Forming a relationship with her -- both Litta and Elle's fantasy)
3. Married (Husband in Elle's world. Not adapting to the married life.)

PLOT  (updated — Nov.4, 2021)

LITTA, early-mid 20s, full of life, strolls through an indigo night in Paris with her lover, FINN, mid-30s, a quiet loner. They wander searching for hidden spaces among various abandoned buildings. 

Finn stops to sketch a building, and Litta sketches Finn in a few strokes with her brush. 

Their shadows slide onto the walls of buildings and under the street lights. 

Finn and Litta break into an abandoned building with huge greenhouse windows on all sides. There is a secret garden inside. Finn leads Litta to lie down on the sand, and they watch the dawn lights through huge skylights. They hold hands and Litta lays her head on his shoulder. Litta asks Finn if this place works and Finn suggests to find somewhere higher. 

They emerge on the top of a hill before an old top-floor apartment with a pitched roof and airy spaces. Finn describes how he would re-design the place. Litta expresses her desire to build a home here with Finn. Yet, Finn avoids the topic and reminds Litta of their intention for viewing spaces. 

Litta and Finn are on the opposite sides of a wide street. People of all shapes and sizes, dressed as if they are going to a ball in the middle of the day, pass by them as if they don’t exist. Litta desperately yells at Finn over the crowd. Litta rushes through the crowd to violently fling herself onto Finn. Finn’s face distorts in shock as she pushes into him. Finn and the crowd disappear. Bubbles rise from the street.

Frantic, Litta runs to look for him, but sees a series of fragments of moments of their broken relationship fall from the sky and crash to the ground. Each fragment has an irregular shape with moving images on the front. Litta has to dodge the fragments to avoid being hit, while huge architectural blueprints inscribed with the heading ICE REVERIE rain down forming a theatrical background as she flees. 

Finally, Litta comes to a stop by the steps of a museum, dejected. Litta curls up in a ball. A few vignettes of their happy moments recur but soon vanish.

Litta keeps walking on a road next to a field where cows graze peacefully. Tears form in her eyes. She sees a billboard above a circus tent further away from the cows in the distance and walks towards it. 

Litta reads the billboard carefully, on which it is written: “Vessel Bubble-An Ethereal World—recruiting for its mission to inject love into the universe.” 

All of sudden, the road is filled with people and they all open the Galaxy Daily, an old-timey newspaper.

On the right-hand side of the newspaper is a hand-drawn illustration of the Vessel Bubble, a round floating vessel planet containing its own world. It appears hazy and alluring as if in the ocean or outer space. 

The newspaper illustration transitions into full-screen live action: the Vessel Bubble’s CAPTAIN, 43, laid-back, on a deck in an unusual place where the background is a blur of colors, blue hues with some red flowers. He pronounces: “If you nurture a flower with love, and a complete heart, the flower will sense it. It will grow feelings. We’re going to do just that, sow the seeds of devotion and care into a Garden of Love, and deliver it to the universe. We welcome you to join our mission.” 

The Captain appears in front of the huge shining billboard for the Vessel Bubble which lights up the scene. Admirers clamor around the Captain, lauding him. The Captain acquiesces with polite responses and gestures. 

Litta appears on the edge of the crowd. In the sketchbook in her hand, expressive lines flow instantaneously, forming a portrait of the Captain. 

Litta approaches the Captain with the drawing, and offers her talent to capture emotions happening on the Vessel Bubble. The Captain agrees on a visit. 

Litta walks into a subterranean restaurant and sits by the bar. The OLD BARTENDER, who knows Litta, shows her a Polaroid of her and Finn printed on the photo-board on the wall. Litta overhears a Round-Faced Man and a Purple-Haired Woman with the Galaxy Daily in hand chatting about the Vessel Bubble, the one who makes the bold shapes in the Ocean Space. Their conversation reveals that the crew on the Vessel Bubble experience an elated state with accelerated heart rate but at the cost of a reduced life span. Round-Faced Man comments on a woman’s role and Old Bartender catches Litta rolling her eyes. The Old Bartender and Litta exchange opinions on having to compromise for talent to be recognized. 

Litta arrives on the Vessel Bubble. The assistant shows Litta their world. ADMIRAL, 45, an imposing woman, jumps into an interview with Litta and Litta is surprised but plays along with it. Admiral flips through Litta’s original drawings and mentions that heart rate should be faster in their world. Litta expresses how passionate and willing she is, then Admiral offers Litta a place there. Litta still feels tied to her world so she wants more time, and Admiral agrees.

Litta races through the streets freely, expressing her determination to leave Finn.

Litta revisits the secret garden inside the abandoned building that Finn and Litta once broke into, and sobs.

Litta lies on her belly on the roof of a building, studying news of the Vessel Bubble in a pile of past editions of the Galaxy Daily surrounding her. Wind blows some copies around. 

(In Hand-Drawn Animation) Plants and flowers gently sway and some float from above. Some of them have eyes, some have noses, and some have ears. LONG NECK FLOWER and ONE TENTACLE PLANT share their opinion about her leaving the city and breaking up.

In a dream, Litta sees Finn asking if she is ready.

Litta awakens from the pile of newspapers, lying on the roof.

At midnight, Litta throws rocks at Finn’s window multiple times but each fails to reach the window. She is frustrated. 

Finn sees a note on the floor near the door. He opens it: I’m leaving. — ATTIL

Litta dines with Finn in the middle of the street. They sit in silence until Finn inquires about her plans. Litta makes light of the news about joining the Vessel Bubble. Finn guesses that Litta will first capture the emotions there, then she will pursue her “Ice Reverie” project into perpetuity. Litta bursts into laughter. Litta becomes nostalgic with her adoration for him and ambivalent about leaving. She asks if he wants her to go, and Finn answers with “I want you to be happy.” Finn says Litta will find the one on the Vessel Bubble. 

Litta sinks into the ground, laying on the floor like she is part of an ocean wave. 

Litta on the beach, a huge wave crashes toward her.

Litta yells at Finn from her studio, her words crossing many buildings in between their apartments. Finn blocks his window with newspapers, covering his ears, yet finally yells back that he didn’t want this.

Litta arrives at the Vessel Bubble, and the assistant is surprised that she comes earlier than expected. She sees all kinds of wondrous luminaries from various worlds. An orchestra of heartbeats permeates the space. She grows intoxicated with joy while team members greet her. She meets ESTHER, 24 and graceful, who will become a close friend.  

A machine of otherworldly construction resides on deck. It measures the heartbeats of all crew members – a routine diagnostic by the Vessel Bubble’s managers that can track the efforts of its personnel. 

As the crew becomes engrossed in their research and fostering of the mystical flowers, their heartbeats escalate. This stimulates Litta’s talent — she concentrates on capturing every emotion present in her drawings.

BIG SISTER, 36, suggests that she wouldn’t mind Litta also planning her own thing while here, as long as it doesn’t affect her daily heart rate report. Litta expresses her passion to do things here. Big Sister says Litta can propose any ideas about the Vessel Bubble. 

The Captain expresses his discontent with the Garden of Love’s progress to an anxious crew. Admiral breaks the crew into competing groups in an effort to develop new designs for the project.

Admiral executes orders to produce the most alluring depictions of the Vessel Bubble for submission to the Galaxy Daily. Litta feels this is superficial. 

MENTOR M, 70, an elderly man, appears to be friendly and wise, yet dismisses Litta when she needs help: “you don’t need to speak about how you feel.” 

Litta proposes a “Emotional Flowers” project – a pictorial history of the making of this Garden of Love with intentions of distributing it to all the worlds. The project consumes her days and nights while she experiences an accelerated heart rhythm, creating characters such as FULSOME PETUNIA and BLUE ROSE.

Litta’s only respite arrives during a conversation with Esther about love. She mentions Finn.     

Admiral hovers over Litta, assessing whether her depictions of the Vessel Bubble convey enough love on the faces of its crew. Litta remains vigilant in her renderings according to what she absorbs emotionally. 
A despondent Esther packs to leave the Vessel Bubble, alluding to feelings of unused potential and a lack of appreciation. Esther introduces Litta to a new friend named EVE, 24, and expresses her excitement for Litta’s Ice Reverie.

Admiral hosts a Happy Hour on the deck. Litta’s body soaks up the ecstatic feelings whirling about. Admiral hurries Litta to capture the atmosphere. The celebration continues through the night and refreshes Litta’s enthusiasm. The tipsy Captain talks more and more, sharing inspiring insights, such as stressing the significance of “creating history” and “being ourselves.” Litta’s drawn to the Captain’s words.

The Galaxy Daily publishes key moments on the Vessel Bubble, as depicted by Litta, which compels multitudes of people to enlist their talents. 

As the population of the Vessel Bubble’s crew increases, Litta captures the changing emotions illustrated through various contours and colors. 

Admiral questions Litta why her ‘big’ project takes so long to make, and Litta states she has standards. Admiral calls it useless. An angry Litta complains to KNOW-IT-ALL, a young guy who loves gossip, and he tries to calm her down and says the Vessel Bubble is just a pretty name to hang her laurels on and there is no need to take it so seriously.

Litta grows nostalgic for her personal Ice Reverie plan. Eve suggests Litta present her idea to the Captain for potential guidance.  

(In Hand-Drawn Animation) Fulsome Petunia and Blue Rose wake up at the light of dawn among other exotic flowers still asleep. Fulsome Petunia reveals tomorrow is the preview of Garden of Love, the time for them to shine. Blue Rose is sure that they will receive the most love tomorrow, and be ready to bring love to the universe.

When the Garden of Love comes to full bloom, the Captain and Admiral arrive to inspect. The Captain reiterates his usual: “If you nurture a flower with love, and a complete heart, it will grow feelings” speech. He adds: “when you pick a flower in full bloom, it will sense it and it will close its petals to protect itself.” 

The Captain stops by a flower and watches her. It’s Blue Rose. She looks flattered. The Captain slowly reaches for Blue Rose and uproots her, but her petals do not close. The Captain frowns. 

Blue Rose looks droopy and her color starts to turn pale.

An uproar in the audience. The Captain remains silent. A distraught Admiral commands people not to capture this moment. But Litta’s ability instantly has recorded the reactions of the crowd: empty, pale, distorted…

A burst of rain pelts down on the deck without warning, soaking the garden and Litta’s drawings. 

When the downpour ceases and the sky clears, Litta has a vision of a bubble encompassing the Vessel Bubble.

The Galaxy Daily’s main page releases a preview of Garden of Love with some classic happy moments Litta captured a long time ago. Other newspapers publish the Vessel Bubble news, too. 

Vessel Bubble people appear in miniature standing on the headlines of the newspapers. Some main crew surround the Captain and Lady Admiral, proudly watching the headlines while Litta and some others express a kind of vacancy and loss.

Litta looks out from the deck. She envisions the top-floor apartment and the life she once desired with Finn: They sit inside, dinning under warm yellow light.

(In Hand-Drawn Animation) There are other vessel worlds that exist. A warning comes from one of the senior vessels stressing modesty, otherwise the Vessel Bubble will become a target for negative criticism and compromise its celebrated status.  

Litta finalizes her project “Emotional Flowers” for the Vessel Bubble for publication, but Admiral orders her to cease, effectively barring its delivery to the Galaxy Daily. Litta falls into a depression. 

Admiral announces that their world needs to be invisible for now. The crew in line is being fitted with tracking devices. Big Sister explains that during their time away, they will all remain on standby and contribute from a distance, and make sure to turn the trackers on to record heart rates remotely.

Litta falls into a dream-like state. At dawn, Litta strolls along the empty street. Her expression evokes a sense of freedom. A silhouette of a figure emerges. It’s Finn. They don’t recognize each other, though there is something about Finn that seems strangely familiar to her. They walk together as strangers, somewhat awkward, yet comfortable.

Shadows of Litta and Finn reflect upon the walls of abandoned buildings with high ceilings and large glass windows. Feeling spontaneous, Litta asks to explore the city and uncover new things. Finn agrees, excited by her daring spirit. The two part ways just before daylight. 

Litta is tired during the day and her heart rate dips below the usual waveform.

Admiral confronts Litta about her lack of contribution and pushes her into self-evaluating her contribution through the tracker. Litta grows disenchanted with the Vessel Bubble. 

On her next dawn encounter with Finn, Litta shares the details of the Ice Reverie plan with him. She describes a space – a dimension of frozen time – where, upon exiting, it will be the same time of day as when one entered, no matter how long the stay. Any creative person, mired in the incidents of their past, who seem unable to proceed in life, can come here with their work. In this Ice Reverie, their memories, via paintings, sculptures, books, whatever their medium is, will be seen and re-experienced, alongside special guests and the audience. This will release them from the shackles of their nostalgia, bottled-up emotions and resentments. Finn is curious and asks her about the look of the space. Litta explains that exploring various spaces will inspire her to visualize such a dimension. Finn accompanies her to other hidden spaces and offers unusual insights about each one. 

Litta resigns from her position on the Vessel Bubble. Big Sister offers an ear to any issues Litta has to get her to stay but to no avail. Litta remains resolute and determined to pursue her vision.

During another encounter with Finn, Litta presses him to divulge some of his own personal stories as she has done. He replies that the demands of daily life make it difficult to work on his creative endeavors. He tries to be on his own time. They continue to meet, but only during magic hour as though it were an unspoken rule that they follow out of fear of disrupting its charm. Litta expresses a desire to travel far away but worries they will lose each other after crossing time zones.

The following day, Finn appears with a rather antiquated bicycle to the amusement of Litta. She giddily hops on the bike as he pedals her past various hotels, theaters and restaurants before the city wakes.

Finn recites a story of his own creation called TIME BREAKER to Litta, wherein the protagonist lives and works under an imposed time structure in a timeless space. Finn confesses that he is not good at developing the romantic side of the story about his main characters’ relationship. 

Instead of using this time to secure the much needed location for her Ice Reverie,

Litta grows more and more fond of encountering Finn at dawn. 

One day, Finn seems downcast. When Litta asks him why, he laments that he is unable to express his own feelings. As Litta steers the conversation into deeper emotions, Finn avoids. 

Finn’s regular visits at dawn end abruptly. Litta persists without her companion and blindly wanders the street. Without him, she doesn’t see the spaces the same way. She begins to look for his shadow.

Litta walks until she spots a tree with blue leaves in a circular roof garden which was once mentioned by Finn during their conversation. Turning around, Litta’s eyes lock onto the old apartment that she had once aspired to live in with Finn. 

Through partially-drawn curtains, she sees ELLE, 27, a beautiful lady. Litta gazes through the window longingly until she realizes there is an argument going on inside. The flailing bodies inside the apartment rally back and forth in anger. The man with Elle is Finn. Litta sees him clearly but appears to only register him as uncannily familiar. When Finn exits the apartment, Litta follows him. He arrives at his own garden and crouches down to work. 

Elle expresses her desire to hang a huge mirror in their apartment. Finn objects. He implies that, over time, she will grow to like his present arrangement of their space. 

One day, Elle smashes the only mirror residing in their home. 

Litta sees this as an outsider. She studies Elle, who spends her days writing. She sees the happiness that emerges as Elle authors a novella and how that happiness wanes when Finn remains expressionless. 

With enthusiasm, Elle invites a collaboration, a merging of Finn’s plot from his Sci-fi story, Time Breaker, gone stale, into her own. Finn, struggling to work out the relationship between his main characters, claims he is too busy to develop the story.

When Elle pressures Finn to explain their ongoing tension, Finn responds that she may benefit by finding another man. Elle appears numb in a way that suggests a final decision has presented itself. 

The next day, Elle fills a blank spot in her novella -- the title. It reads The Dawn That Killed Me. 

(Flashback) Litta traipses through this dimension of Paris in early dawn. Litta leads Finn under the ornate picturesque bridge. She turns to him and keeps walking backward: “you can’t handle me.” Finn keeps walking in slight amusement and responds “Yes, I can.” Finn's eyes, encircled by his long lashes, hold a special glint of magic in them. He shines to a point that it reflects on Litta's face.

Elle jots down a character name, X, followed by a new scene where X approaches her protagonist named “Litta,” as a suitor. Her pen rests momentarily, scratches out the line about Litta feeling connected to the gaze of X. Elle dives into bed depressively as if fishing for thoughts on where to go next.

Litta appears outside Elle’s window. Elle is confused but submits to Litta, this familiar stranger, and her offer to meet a new friend, EVE, a former crew-mate from the Vessel Bubble. The three women sit together in the middle of a crowded street. Elle asks Eve for advice about her relationship with her husband. Litta only talks about her Ice Reverie. They flavor the air with personal wins and losses. Themes of love and self hang in the air like fine chalk. Eve advises Elle to write a fulfilling ending for her protagonist.

Litta and Elle walk in an undefined space. Elle encourages Litta to persevere with her Ice Reverie. Litta insists that Elle complete her story using her heart as a compass. 

Elle’s eyes slowly close, and we see the pages of her novella being blown a little.

In the Galaxy Daily, we see a headline for the Ice Reverie with an open call for creative work.

Elle’s eyes scan to the date on the invitation to the Ice Reverie, from Litta, then anxiously dart back to her work. The apartment spins as if in a tornado; toxic words fly off her pages and bump into each other, steeping Elle in a kind of vertigo. 

The scene of Finn and Elle’s uncontrollable shouting replays silently and in slow motion. An ocean appears and they sink, struggling to continue their fight.

Inside the apartment, Elle tears the last pages into pieces, then tears the whole manuscript into smaller pieces -- they drift in the air like snowflakes. The thick cover page remains in one piece. The title, The Dawn That Killed Me, still legible, drifts down to the floor.

Finn flees outside in shock and fear. 

Opening ceremony for the Ice Reverie showcases various artists’ creative work in a grand open, asymmetrical structure. The floor is transparent where you can see ice underneath, and the atrium extends all the way to the skylights on the ceiling. Time feels frozen here, but people inside glide across in between the spaces through the exhibitions.

In Litta’s section, there is a series of drawings for Litta’s project for the Vessel Bubble: “Emotional Flowers.” It offers an insider’s view of the Garden of Love of the Vessel Bubble, and depicts the progression of the flowers’ emotions from the inception of happiness to heart-break to death. 

The audience absorbs the emotions portrayed, which resonate inside them. People enthusiastically approach Litta.

“Finn” arrives as Elle’s guest. He looks dull. He spots Elle’s The Dawn That Killed Me and begins to rifle through it. A vignette of Finn and Litta’s magic dawn encounters fills the screen, followed by Finn and Elle’s dying relationship in their apartment.

A FIGURE appears, a man, the suitor in Elle’s book. He heads toward Litta, who is still surrounded by her audience. Their eyes meet. Litta inhales and holds her breath as he moves towards her. Litta’s gaze confirms the details of this creation, this man. At this moment, he approaches Litta and invites her to get out of the Ice Reverie with him and hints that new adventures wait, only outside.  

Litta’s eyes quickly replay the moment when Elle writes this scene on her page.

Finn flips… His eyes lock onto the words depicting Litta’s despair and desire to disappear in the world; he skips forward a few pages… then leaves the Ice Reverie with Elle’s book in his hand.

Litta and her suitor, X, sit in the usual spot in the café Litta and Finn once shared. Litta’s attention drifts away. She seems to spot Finn running by outside the window. She goes outside to find him, but he is gone.

At dawn, Finn emerges on an empty street. Then appears at Litta and Finn’s usual meeting place with Elle’s novella in hand. He is searching…

Litta appears sitting on the roof of an abandoned building that seems to be the site of the Ice Reverie, and for once Litta finds herself without Finn. We hear Elle’s voice but we don’t see her. A conversation about story versus life, inside and outside the Ice Reverie, time and happiness ensues.

(In Hand-Drawn Animation) A garden of love appears in the universe, a version drawn by Litta.

We hear Litta’s voice: “Do you know why she didn't close her petals?” “Because she sincerely believed in you, just like I sincerely believed in you.”