No one will save you but you.

Create a nine-panel cinematic storyboard contact sheet for a short vertical film. Arrange exactly nine panels in a strict 3 x 3 grid, reading left to right, top to bottom, separated by thin clean white gutters. Every panel is a vertical 9:16 frame with a small white number (1 through 9) in its top-left corner.

REFERENCES — Reference 1 is CHARACTER A, the climber. Reference 2 is CHARACTER B, the one waiting at the top. Take each character's face, head shape, hair, build, skin tone, wardrobe, accessories and colours ONLY from their own reference image, and keep them identical in every panel they appear in. Never blend features between the two references. If both references show the same person, keep the face exactly identical in both roles so a viewer realises at panel 8 that they are holding themselves.

CHARACTER A — wearing exactly the outfit from Reference 1. Across the panels it is progressively ruined: soaked through and clinging, smeared with wet black grit from the rock, hair flattened by seawater, hands scraped and dirty. The damage looks physically real for that fabric and colour.
CHARACTER B — wearing exactly the outfit from Reference 2. Clean, dry and composed throughout.

LOCATION — a colossal black basalt sea stack of stacked hexagonal volcanic columns rising out of a cold grey ocean, wet and slick, ringed by heavy white surf, under an overcast North Atlantic storm sky.

THE NINE PANELS:
1. Extreme wide aerial. The black basalt sea stack rises from a violent grey sea, foam bursting at its base. Halfway up the sheer face, CHARACTER A clings to the rock, a small figure almost lost in the scale of the cliff. The rock and ocean dominate the frame.
2. Medium shot from beside the climber, long lens. CHARACTER A climbs the wet vertical basalt, one hand hooked into a crack, forearm tendons taut, feet braced on a narrow ledge, soaked clothing clinging and streaked with black wet grit. Grey ocean far below.
3. Tight close-up, shallow focus. CHARACTER A's cheek pressed flat against the cold wet rock, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open breathing hard, water running down the stone across their face, wet hair plastered to the forehead, a dark smear of grit along the jaw and collar.
4. Low-angle wide, looking steeply up past CHARACTER A's shoulder. Their wet face tilts upward, soft in the foreground. Far above at the cliff's top edge, rimmed against a pale overcast sky, stands CHARACTER B, looking down. Vertiginous sense of height.
5. High angle from behind and above, looking down past the cliff edge. CHARACTER B stands at the very brink of the summit, wind pushing their clothing and hair sideways, looking into the drop. Grey ocean and white surf far below through the haze.
6. Extreme close-up, macro, very shallow focus. Two hands reach toward each other across a narrow gap, fingertips almost touching but not yet met. The lower hand is CHARACTER A's, wet, scraped and filthy with a soaked sleeve; the upper hand is CHARACTER B's, clean and steady with a dry sleeve. Any watches, rings or cuffs match each character's reference. The empty gap sits at the exact centre of the panel.
7. Medium two-shot from the side at cliff-edge level. CHARACTER B braces low in a crouch and hauls CHARACTER A up over the lip of the summit, forearms locked in a grip, both straining hard, seawater running off CHARACTER A's ruined clothing onto wet rock. Behind them the cloud has just begun to thin and soft pale light starts to reach the water.
8. Tight two-shot close-up. The two stand on the summit in a hard embrace, CHARACTER B's arm firm around CHARACTER A's soaked back, both faces clearly visible, eyes closed, exhausted and relieved. Soft low afternoon light from the side, gentle and pale, catching wet skin and hair without glare.
9. Extreme wide hero shot, camera far back and slightly low. The two small figures stand together on the flat top of the towering black sea stack facing out to sea. The storm has eased: the swell has dropped, the cloud bank is breaking into patches with pale blue showing through, and a low diffuse afternoon sun sits behind thinning cloud. They are tiny against an enormous sky.

LIGHT ARC — panels 1 to 6 are lit ONLY by flat, dull, genuinely overcast storm light: no sun, no god rays, no drama, low contrast, the colourless grey of a real bad-weather day at sea. In panel 7 the cloud simply thins and soft pale daylight begins to come through, an honest break in the weather, diffuse and understated, not a dramatic shaft. Panels 8 and 9 carry low late-afternoon sun filtered through broken cloud: gentle, pale, silvery light with only the faintest warm cast. The sky stays largely grey with patches of thinning cloud and pale blue. A real northern coast clearing after a storm, never a postcard sunset.

PHOTOGRAPHIC REALISM — these are photographs, not illustrations or renders. Shot on ARRI Alexa 35 with Cooke anamorphic primes on a real location. Real human skin with visible pores, uneven tone, redness at the nose and ears, sweat and salt residue; hair with stray flyaway strands and real wetness; fabric with genuine weight, weave, wrinkles, seams, wind lag and realistic water staining; water with real mass and chaotic turbulence. Natural available light only, no fill, no artificial rim lights. Fine organic 35mm film grain, mild chromatic aberration at the frame edges, natural lens falloff, no digital sharpening.

COLOUR — restrained and naturalistic, the muted palette of a real overcast coast: desaturated slate blues, cold greys, wet black stone. Each outfit keeps the true colours of its reference but reads as real fabric under grey daylight: deep, slightly muted, believable, never neon or oversaturated. Blacks are soft and open, not crushed. Any warmth in panels 7 to 9 is a pale straw tone at most, never orange, amber or fiery. No punchy grading, no teal-and-orange push, no HDR glow, no bloom.

AVOID — plastic waxy over-smoothed skin, airbrushed or symmetrical doll-like faces, beauty-filter retouching, glowing skin, oversaturated grading, HDR halos, orange or fiery sunsets, postcard sunset skies, sun flares, god rays, heavy amber washes, travel-poster silhouettes, CGI-looking water, weightless floating fabric, illustration or 3D-render look, blending the two characters' features, swapping their wardrobe, malformed hands, extra fingers, extra people, any text, captions, subtitles, logos or watermarks inside the panels apart from the small panel numbers.

A 30-second vertical 9:16 short film told as one continuous narrative in nine shots. This must read as REAL LIVE-ACTION FOOTAGE captured on location by a professional crew on a real coastline — never as generated, animated or rendered imagery.

REFERENCES — how to read the attached images:
Reference 1 is CHARACTER A, the climber. Reference 2 is CHARACTER B, the one waiting at the top. Take each character's face, head shape, hair, body build, skin tone, wardrobe, accessories and colours ONLY from their own reference image, and keep them identical in every shot with zero drift. Never blend features between the two references. If both references show the same person, keep the face exactly identical in both roles so the audience recognises them as one person.
Reference 3 is a nine-panel STORYBOARD contact sheet in a 3x3 grid, read left to right, top to bottom. Each panel is the approved framing for the correspondingly numbered shot below — reproduce its composition, camera height, lens, subject placement, scale, wardrobe condition, location and lighting faithfully. Treat it as the director's locked blocking. Where the storyboard and this text differ on location or framing, follow the storyboard.

CHARACTER CONDITION:
CHARACTER A — wearing exactly the outfit from Reference 1, but throughout the film it is soaked through and clinging, smeared and splattered with wet black grit from the rock, hair flattened by seawater, hands scraped and filthy. The damage looks physically real for that specific fabric and colour.
CHARACTER B — wearing exactly the outfit from Reference 2. They stay clean, dry and composed throughout.

LOCATION — a colossal black basalt sea stack of stacked hexagonal columns rising from a cold grey ocean, wet and slick, ringed by heavy white surf, a distant grey coastline behind, under an overcast North Atlantic sky.

SHOT LIST WITH TIMECODES:

[00:00–00:03] SHOT 1 — storyboard panel 1. Aerial wide, drone drifting slowly forward and easing downward toward the sea stack. Heavy swells roll in and break against the base, foam spreading then draining back down the columns. The tiny figure of CHARACTER A on the rock face shifts their grip and pulls a few inches higher. Low cloud moves slowly behind.

[00:03–00:06] SHOT 2 — storyboard panel 2. Medium, long lens, camera tracking upward level with their chest. CHARACTER A reaches a hand up, palm searching the wet basalt, finds an edge and hauls their weight up one full move; a foot scrapes and resets on a lower ledge. Their soaked clothing pulls hard at the shoulder. Spray drifts through frame.

[00:06–00:09] SHOT 3 — storyboard panel 3. Extreme close-up, subtle handheld. CHARACTER A's cheek is pressed flat to the cold wet rock as water pours down the stone across their face. They exhale hard through an open mouth, chest heaving, then squeeze their eyes tighter. Their gritty hand grips the rock in the lower foreground.

[00:09–00:11.5] SHOT 4 — storyboard panel 4. Low-angle wide, tilting up past CHARACTER A's shoulder. Their wet face turns and tilts upward. Focus pulls from their face in the foreground to CHARACTER B standing far above at the cliff edge, looking down. Wind moves CHARACTER B's clothing and hair at that distance.

[00:11.5–00:14.5] SHOT 5 — storyboard panel 5. High angle from behind, camera craning down slowly. CHARACTER B stands at the brink, wind pushing their clothing and hair sideways. They look down at the churning surf, then shift their weight and begin to lower themselves toward the edge.

[00:14.5–00:17.5] SHOT 6 — storyboard panel 6. Extreme close-up, macro, razor-shallow focus, locked off with faint operator drift. CHARACTER A's filthy hand and soaked sleeve strain upward, fingers splayed and trembling, water dripping from them; CHARACTER B's clean hand and dry sleeve extend down steadily. Any watches, rings or cuffs match each character's reference. The gap narrows and their fingers make contact on the final beat.

[00:17.5–00:21] SHOT 7 — storyboard panel 7. Low two-shot at cliff-edge level, camera easing in. CHARACTER B, braced in a crouch, grips CHARACTER A's hand and hauls them up over the lip of the summit. Both strain visibly; seawater streams off CHARACTER A's ruined clothing onto wet rock. Behind them the cloud thins and soft pale light begins to reach the water.

[00:21–00:24.5] SHOT 8 — storyboard panel 8. Tight two-shot, camera orbiting slowly. The two settle into a hard embrace on the summit, CHARACTER B's arm firm around CHARACTER A's soaked back. Both faces visible, eyes closing, chests still heaving, breathing slowing. Soft low daylight from the side catches wet skin and hair.

[00:24.5–00:30] SHOT 9 — storyboard panel 9. Drone reverse pull-back, rising slowly. The two small figures stand side by side on the flat summit facing out to sea, almost motionless. The swell has dropped, the cloud bank is breaking into patches, and a low pale sun sits behind thinning cloud over the water. Hold, quiet and still, to the last frame.

NATURAL MOVEMENT — this is the highest priority. Every motion obeys real physics and real human effort. Muscles tense before a limb moves; weight transfers through hips and feet; there are small involuntary corrections, slips and re-grips. Breathing is visible in the chest and shoulders. Faces carry micro-expressions, blinks and small twitches, never held poses. Wet hair and soaked fabric move with real weight and lag, then settle. Water runs and drips with real surface tension and breaks chaotically, never in loops. Feet make solid contact with rock — no sliding, floating or gliding. Nothing is smoothed, idealised or choreographed.

CAMERA — real equipment operated by real people: drone, crane, Steadicam and locked-off heads. Moves are slow, deliberate and motivated, carrying genuine operator weight and faint imperfection. Focus pulls breathe slightly. Shot at 24fps with a 180-degree shutter and natural motion blur. No whip pans, no jitter, no artificial shake.

NATURAL LIGHT — shots 1 through 6 are lit ONLY by flat, dull, genuinely overcast daylight: no sun, no shafts, no god rays, low contrast, the colourless grey of a real bad-weather day at sea, with soft directionless shadows. In shot 7 the cloud simply thins and soft pale daylight comes through — an honest break in the weather, diffuse and understated. Shots 8 and 9 carry low afternoon sun filtered through broken cloud: gentle, pale, silvery, with only the faintest warm cast. The sky stays largely grey with patches of thinning cloud. A real northern coast clearing after a storm, never a postcard sunset.

PHOTOREAL DETAIL — real skin with visible pores, uneven tone, redness at the nose and ears, sweat and salt residue; stray flyaway hair strands; fabric with genuine weave, weight, seams, wrinkles and realistic water staining; wet sheen and grit on the basalt. Natural available light only, no fill, no artificial rim light. Fine organic 35mm film grain, mild chromatic aberration at the frame edges, natural lens falloff, no digital sharpening.

COLOUR — restrained and naturalistic: desaturated slate blues, cold greys, wet black stone. Each character's wardrobe keeps the true colours of its reference but reads as real fabric under grey daylight — deep, slightly muted, believable — never neon, glowing or oversaturated. Blacks soft and open, not crushed. Any warmth in shots 7 to 9 is a pale straw tone at most, never orange or amber. No punchy grading, no teal-and-orange push, no HDR glow, no bloom.

AUDIO — ambient location sound only: wind, surf, breathing, fabric and footsteps scraping on wet rock. No dialogue, no voiceover, no music, no sound design flourishes.

AVOID — plastic waxy over-smoothed skin, airbrushed or symmetrical faces, beauty-filter retouching, glowing skin, oversaturated grading, HDR halos, orange or fiery sunsets, sun flares, god rays, travel-poster silhouettes, CGI-looking water, weightless floating fabric, sliding or floating feet, slow-motion, speed ramps, morphing faces, identity drift between shots, blending the two characters' features, swapping their wardrobe, malformed hands, extra fingers, extra people entering frame, on-screen text, captions, subtitles, logos or watermarks.

Do not render the storyboard grid, panel borders, panel numbers or any split-screen layout in the output. The output is a single full-frame continuous 9:16 film.