Jonah Sulks Under the Withered Gourd

Prompt

Jonah 4: "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered... and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted." On a dry hill east of Nineveh, Jonah sits large and central in the scant shade of his rough booth of sticks, slumped and sweating, wiping his brow and staring angrily at the big-leaved gourd vine above him whose broad leaves have withered brown and drooping; a hot east wind blows dust across the scene and the great walled city of Nineveh shimmers far below in the heat. Blazing bright noon sun, pale gold desert, intense blue sky. Style: a blend of photo-realism and cinema, like a still from a big-budget film. Bright, rich, saturated, luminous colour, clear daylight or glowing golden light even in dramatic scenes, never murky or muddy, crisp detail, real human faces full of emotion, shallow depth of field, subtle film grain. Simple, uncluttered composition: ONE clear scene from this chapter, with the chapter's main character or characters large, close and central in the upper and middle frame, and a simple background. No montage, no collage, no inset vignettes, no crowd of small figures competing for attention. Historically accurate ancient Near Eastern clothing, architecture and landscape. Keep the bottom quarter of the frame simple and uncluttered (ground, water or sky) so a large chapter number can be set over it. Absolutely no text, no letters, no words, no numbers, no logos, no watermark, no border, no frame.