A social experiment shot on digital in 2019 - penumbra experiment took place in a studio set recreation of a 22 year old’s apartment in the Plateau in Montréal.

Subjects were given no context and had not met previously. Upon arrival they were discreetly handed small cards inscribed with a character name and a character trait. No further instructions were provided other than an ‘invitation’ to a fictitious party. The only redirects provided during the social experiment - which lasted for five and a half hours - were brief descriptions of things that were happening during the party.

The subjects - on their own - utilized the lighting cues and the energies of their peers to construct a ‘party synergy.’ Only two of them were plants with prior acting experience.

penumbra experiment was one of the first concept explorations that would lead to the development of the pitch package for In The Closet (2025).