Panic

The prompt

Close-up of a portly Victorian stage magician with a curled moustache and tailcoat, holding a top hat at chest height on a gaslit theatre stage, sepia-toned vintage film look, fixed camera. 0–2s: he grins confidently out at the audience. 2–5s: the hat twitches violently in his hands; he glances inside and his grin freezes in place. 5–8s: his eyebrows shoot up and his eyes dart from the hat to the audience and back, ending in a panicked stare. Throughout: warm footlights from below, a red velvet curtain behind him, light film grain and flicker, locked camera.