Video details

Prompt

From a warped, claustrophobic upshot view, life unfolds as a nightmare through the eyes of a fraying Levi’s tab—me—barely clinging to the back pocket of my mother. She is white, fit, mid-forties, moving with an eerie, unnatural confidence inside painfully tight skinny jeans and a pristine shirt that never wrinkles. The denim looms like a prison wall, its fibers oversized and suffocating, every stitch stretched and groaning with tension. As she walks, the city crawls by in broken fragments—storefronts bending inward, streetlights flickering like failing heartbeats, reflections lagging behind reality. Her stride repeats on a loop, too rhythmic, too perfect, the sway of her hips hypnotic and predatory. The soundscape hums with distorted traffic, low industrial drones, and a faint scraping noise that may be my own threads unraveling. My tall, lanky Filipino and Black male friends appear from nowhere, smiling too long, eyes unfocused. They wear skinny Levi’s 510s and high-top sneakers, but their proportions subtly stretch with each step, limbs elongating unnaturally. They start checking her out—slow, exaggerated glances—laughing in muffled echoes, completely unaware that I am watching from her body, trapped, helpless. The camera lingers in extreme close-ups: torn red stitching pulsing like exposed nerves, sweat-darkened denim breathing, fingernails brushing dangerously close. Faces slide in and out of focus, mouths moving out of sync with their voices. Time stutters. Gravity feels optional. The tab begins to peel, millimeter by millimeter, as if something unseen is tugging from below. The city’s hum swells into a nightmare chorus. The joke curdles into dread. There is no cutaway—only the certainty that this tiny, absurd vantage point is a place you don’t wake up from. Mood: surreal, oppressive, dreamlike horror Lighting: low-key, sickly sodium streetlight glow, deep shadows Camera: jittery handheld mixed with slow, predatory push-ins Inspiration: Nightmare on Elm Street, David Lynch, Ari Aster