Paper Cut-Out Stop-Motion: Fall of Troy

STYLE: Handcrafted paper cut-out stop-motion diorama. Cardboard buildings, ink-silhouette figures, torn paper edges, visible fibers, soft lamp shadows. Locked wide shots, hard stop-motion jumps. No smooth camera moves, no dissolves, no digital effects. PALETTE: Ochre, terracotta, turquoise, bronze gold, charcoal, ember orange. AUDIO: No voice-over. Wind, creaking wooden wheels, rope tension, war drums, crackling fire. STORY - The Fall of Troy, 15s: 0–3.5s - Wide shot: the gates of the walled paper city of Troy open. A giant corrugated-cardboard horse standing on four wooden wheels is pulled inside by dozens of tiny Trojan silhouettes hauling long paper ropes. The horse rolls forward frame by frame through the gates. 3.5–7.5s - Hard jump: the horse now sits in the center of the main square, ropes dropped on the ground, Trojans dispersing. The sky shifts to deep navy night in a single stepped transition - day paper layers swapped for night layers. 7.5–11.5s - Hard jump: a hatch in the horse's belly swings open and a cardboard ramp slides down to the ground. Greek soldier silhouettes march down the ramp in a line, jerky frame-by-frame, and clash with Trojan soldiers in the square - spears and shields colliding in stepped bursts as the first torn orange paper flames appear on rooftops. 11.5–15s - Hard jump to a wide exterior shot: the whole city burns with layered paper flames and rising charcoal smoke strips against the night sky. Final static hold on the silhouette of the horse still standing in the burning square.