Reel 2026 — Director's Cut

Watched it back on the train. 2:14. Needs to be 90.

01 Golden Hour — the magic-hour run. Strongest 8 seconds I've got, it stays first.

02 Aftershock — the push-in on the LED wall, around 00:04:12. Pull it with handles.

03 Neon Mirage — arcade long take. Not delivered yet, so there's a slug in there. Elliot said Friday for grabs.

04 Velvet Hour — the floor-work section. Project's paused but it's the best movement in the book.

05 Older: Glasshouse live session, the Vesper doc excerpt.

06 Out on the rooftop silhouette.

To lose: one of the two Golden Hour angles. The double exposure is prettier, the run plays better. Keep the run.

Vesper is 2022 now. Probably cut it and stop being sentimental about it.

The Midnight Reverie instrumental would be perfect and I can't use it. Not ours to clear, and asking a client to license their own track back so I can cut my own reel is a bad look.

Where that leaves it:

— Musicbed. About $150 for a web license. Boring, safe, done in an hour.

— Ask Tobi to cut something original. He'd probably say yes, which is exactly why it feels strange to ask.

— No music at all. Aftershock room tone under the whole thing. Either that reads as confident or it reads as unfinished, and I genuinely can't tell which.

Decide by Thursday or this sits another week.

Site first. The reel on umbraproductions.com is still the 2024 one, with Glasshouse up top. Anyone who clicked through from the Golden Hour credits saw that.

Then, individually — not a blast, one line each:

— Priya at Vega

— the two commissioners who emailed in January and got a holding reply

— the brand producer Maya's been circling since the spring

Do not post it before the site is updated. Learned that one already.