I Tried to Turn Sand Into a Computer Chip

Intro version C · photo frames

CHow close can one handful get?

T3 Goal and obstacle

Stake: does his own silicon make a radio play (said by about 10 s), measured against the about 99.9999999% a real chip needs. Two LIVE doubts cut before the answer; finish previewed in the cleanroom without the LED result. About 27 s, story length per INTRO_RULES 1.8.

29.1 s, 8 beats

Hafu kneeling on a bright sunny beach, scooping pale sand with his right hand into a small clear glass jar held in his left hand; beside his knee an opened phone lies on a beach towel with its green circuit board and one black square chip showing. Nothing burned or built yet.

One handful of beach sand. How close can it get to a computer chip?

#1 · VO · medium · 4.9 s

Shoot: Frame 0, readable by 2 s: A-cam medium, the real sand going into the jar, the opened phone in frame (pre-shoot 7). Also fly one drone wide of the beach (pre-shoot 9) as an alternate opener.

Outdoors on a concrete yard on a bright day: a steel tray of grey sand mix on a stack of fire bricks erupts in a blinding white flare with white smoke; a professional in a silver fire-resistant jacket and face shield stands beside it holding a long metal rod; Hafu stands several metres back in goggles and gloves, one arm raised against the glare, mouth open. The silicon is not shown.

First, fire pulls the silicon out.

#2 · VO · wide · 3.2 s

Shoot: The sand plus magnesium burn, run by professionals outdoors. Pre-shoot 1 (the setup whole, wide + close, before it lights) + 4 (second camera on his face); keep rolling to the end (6).

Close-up of a homemade crystal radio on a wooden board: a copper wire coil wound on a cardboard tube, a single wired earphone lying beside it, and a small metal clip holding a tiny grey pellet; nobody is listening yet.

Then it has to make a radio play.

#3 · VO · insert · 2.7 s

Shoot: Pre-shoot 1: the radio whole, wide + close, before it is ever tested. The detector may need the powder pressed into a pellet; test it before the shoot.

A tall, empty glass measuring tube standing upright on a soft light-blue background, only a thin layer of sand-coloured fill at the very bottom, the very top of the tube glowing bright gold, a small pile of sand drawn at the foot of the tube and a small black square chip drawn just above the top. The tube is still almost empty.

A real chip needs silicon about 99.9999999% pure.

#4 · VO · graphic · 6.6 s · sfx: number pop hit on 'pure'

Shoot: Edit graphic, nothing to film: the purity meter (the video's 'how pure is it now?' counter), 99.9999999% pops at the top on 'pure'.

Close-up of Hafu in safety glasses holding a small round glass dish of dull grey powder up close to one eye, squinting at it, eyebrows pulled together.

ON CAMERAIs this even silicon?

#5 · LIVE · close-up · 2.1 s

Shoot: Pre-shoot 5 (his honest doubt on camera): the first time he sees the washed powder, B-cam close on his face (4).

Close-up of Hafu with his eyes shut tight, pressing a single wired earphone to his right ear with his right hand, his left hand on the slider of a homemade copper-coil crystal radio on a wooden board in front of him, lips pressed together. The radio is still silent.

ON CAMERAPlease work. Please work.

#6 · LIVE · close-up · 2.9 s · sfx: the one full music stop, cut before the answer

Shoot: Pre-shoot 5 + 4: right before a station comes through or does not; keep rolling (6). Cut before the answer.

Hafu standing in a bright white cleanroom in a full white suit, hood, face mask and blue gloves, only his eyes showing, holding a round mirror-shiny silicon disc in flat metal tweezers in his right hand at chest height and looking at it closely; a small LED on the steel bench beside him is dark, nothing switched on yet.

It ends in a cleanroom, where I make a real chip.

#7 · VO · medium · 3.4 s

Shoot: Finish preview, never the result. Pre-shoot 1: Hafu suited in the university cleanroom with the commercial wafer, BEFORE the chip is tested, never the LED lighting. Cleanroom partner not locked yet (go/no-go Nov 15).

Hafu on a bright sunny beach pushing a metal shovel into damp sand with his right foot on the blade and both hands on the handle, an empty red plastic bucket beside him, waves behind. No silicon and no lab gear yet.

ON CAMERAStarting with step one, digging up the sand.

#8 · LIVE · wide · 3.3 s · sfx: hard cut, hit into segment 1

Shoot: Pre-shoot 8 (the handoff on camera): say it on the beach; the first shovel push is the first frame of segment 1.