Introduction

Tetra Halt is one of the 22nd century’s preeminent film directors. Her unique style blends the natural with the manufactured, using striking surrealist visuals and a vague writing technique to explore themes of urbanism, human psychology, personal social alienation, and larger societal structures. Outside her work, Tetra is known as an eccentric, but in a fun and approachable way. She has a good sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously; she recognizes the absurdity inherent in her work, and leans into it frequently.

Backstory

Early Years

Tetra grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. Ever since she was old enough to comprehend moving pictures, she was endlessly fascinated by cinema, especially its capacity to convey unique atmospheres and senses of place through visuals, sound, and editing. She watched as many movies as she possibly could and studied their effects on her. When she was a teenager, she began making short films of her own using whatever she had on hand. Though her projects were messy and amateur, Tetra was already developing her own style of visual storytelling. She had big dreams (sometimes based on actual dreams she’d had while sleeping) of the kind of films she’d like to make if she ever had the means to do so. Her ambition was to make these dreams real.

University

At the age of 18, Tetra moved to Chicago to attend university there. It was the home of her favorite director, Joey Lakomy, and she felt certain that it was becoming the new most important city for film. The film scene there was unfortunately not as vibrant as Tetra had hoped—yet. Some up-and-comers, as well as Lakomy and his imitators, were hard at work changing that.

In the 2139-2140 school year, Tetra and the rest of her class decided to collaborate on a film. Everyone would have some degree of creative control, and leadership roles would be democratically elected. Tetra was beyond excited about the project, and contributed a lot of ideas about the story and visuals during the planning stage. To her surprise, her classmates chose her to direct the film, probably because of her creativity, levelheadedness, and distinct lack of an ego.

In the summer of 2140, filming went smoothly with no one person having all the control, and Tetra guiding things in the right direction. Much of the film was improvised. Titled We Dream Concrete, it was a collection of surreal vignettes exploring the political and social landscape of the time. It turned out better than any of them could have hoped, and most importantly, they all had a lot of fun making it.

We Dream Concrete didn’t attract much attention at first, only garnering one mildly positive review in a local publication. Things would change when the film was seen by none other than Joey Lakomy himself. He was impressed. He publicly endorsed the film, which brought it much more recognition and praise from the indie film world. Tetra, and all the film’s many contributors, were all but guaranteed to have a few more eyes on whatever their next projects were.

Throughout film school, Tetra continued making short films starring her classmates, and began gathering ideas for her first major project. She took an interest in the new genre known as the “cave flick”, which critics had associated We Dream Concrete with. The term “cave flick” describes an atmospheric, experimental surrealist film, usually featuring striking visuals of isolated natural settings (often caves) and portraying some aspect of human psychology through cerebral, disconnected plots. Tetra’s own short films, and the feature films that followed, would help to define this emerging style. The entire independent film movement in Chicago at that time, which the work of Tetra and her class was a part of, became known as the Terrafilm Underground.

Adulthood

After graduation, owing to the hype We Dream Concrete had gotten, Tetra was able to write and direct another feature film, An Immeasurable Measurement. Managing a whole cast and crew of professionals she didn’t personally know, while working on a film that was entirely hers, was a much different and more stressful thing than her first stint as a director. Tetra was less than satisfied with the end result, but considered it a learning experience. Still, it was received well enough for her to get the go-ahead for her next film.

Eveningwear (2146) marked Tetra’s true breakthrough when it was nominated for Best Film at the Technic Awards, the most prestigious film awards in the UNAT. The nomination was a big shock, since she was still not very well known outside the so-called underground. Eveningwear didn’t win, but its nomination was the first time Tetra was recognized on a wider scale in the mainstream. Her next movie, Stellar Rites (2149), was a successful and acclaimed cave flick, considered one of the genre’s best offerings yet upon its release.

Seven years later in 2156, the film that would come to define Tetra’s career released: Restructure. The film took aesthetic inspiration from movements of the past Internet and put a new spin on them, transforming them into a fresh new piece of atmospheric horror. Undoubtedly the most ambitious cave flick ever, with the longest and most elaborate production of any of Tetra’s films, the four-hour epic follows five explorers investigating the strange properties of an abandoned complex known as Mall 56. The explorers get separated and lost in different corners of the space, which seems to defy all laws of physics and be somehow… alive? The explorers struggle to keep their lives and their minds as they each find for themselves that the mall is more vast and cosmically horrifying than any of them could have ever known.

Restructure was an instant hit, hailed by audiences and critics alike. It made Tetra Halt a household name and won Technic Awards for Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Effects, as well as a Terraward for Innovation. People called it her masterpiece, the best film of the decade. While thankful for the immense praise and success, Tetra felt like the pressure was on for her subsequent films to be great, or else she would be deemed a disappointment. She planned to just chill out for a while first, but she quickly got restless with no project to work on, so in 2158 she released a short comedy film, Face of Industry. Its style was very uncharacteristic of her, and it received lukewarm reviews. Just as she feared, people were predicting that she had fallen off and would never fall back on again. But plenty of others predicted she still had more masterpieces in her and her next venture was sure to be much better.

Now, Tetra is overwhelmed by all the attention she’s gotten since her big hit. She’s struggling with the weight of expectations and her new worldwide fame as she prepares for the release her next film, scheduled for September 2160.

Personality

Tetra is an extremely dedicated person, devoted to her art above all else. This quality has worked in her favor when it comes to her career, but in her personal life it’s sometimes to her detriment. She has a tendency to overwork herself and be unable to relax and enjoy the simpler things. Art is her life and art is her job, so work is her life, and she has a hard time striking a balance.

A daydreamer, Tetra has a tendency to get lost in her own imagination. If she happens to get an idea while in the middle of doing something else, she has to drop everything and go record it or start developing it further.

Despite her intense dedication, Tetra has an easygoing nature. She has a sense of humor about her work and nearly everything else. She’s a friendly and sweet person who is empathetic, easy to talk to, and fun to hang out with, although she’s not really one for crowds or parties. She has many friends and few enemies.

Appearance

Tetra is a tall, slim woman with turquoise skin and curly teal hair which she usually wears down, parted on the left side. Her eyes are black with white irises. She has a long face with high cheekbones. She is of African-American and European-American ancestry. Her ears are pierced, and she’s always wearing some kind of earrings. Tetra sometimes wears eyeliner or mascara, but her makeup is usually minimal, in contrast to her outfits.

She dresses extremely fashionably, to an impractical extent. Most of her wardrobe seems better suited to a magazine cover or runway than to real life. She’s all about bold colors and patterns and sharp geometric shapes, especially squares and diamonds.

Relationships

Gail Nocturne

Tetra’s best friend, roommate, and platonic life partner. Gail is an abstract artist who has never worked in film, although she does love films, especially Tetra’s. The two have a similar artistic ethos, albeit in different mediums. Gail, however, is less of a workaholic than Tetra. She’s always reminding Tetra to take breaks and take care of herself first.

& (link)

Tetra and & went to film school together, where they were friends. They’ve often said that neither one of them would have a career with the other, since &’s performance in Tetra’s first directorial effort, We Dream Concrete, caused & to be noticed, which in turn caused Tetra to be noticed. These days, they’re not as close as they once were, but they’re still on friendly terms.

Back in their university days, Tetra never had any idea & was omniscient, although she always secretly felt there was something just a bit off about them. Although she likes & well enough, she finds the whole concept of omniscience unnerving, and she’s reluctant to spend much more time with them because of it. Her inability to trust &, and her certainty that & knows exactly how she feels about them, makes their interactions stiff even though they both try to be pleasant.

Joey Lakomy (link)

Acclaimed director Joey Lakomy’s work was especially influential on Tetra when she was young. So she could hardly believe it when he shouted out her work. She’s very appreciative of his role in jump-starting her career. They are both fans of each other’s films, and now they’re friends as well.

Trivia

• Tetra’s middle name is Gardenia.
• She’s scarily good at racquetball, but someone really bad at ping-pong.
• She is very interested in Internet archaeology, and the past Internet has been influential to her work.
• In addition to being one of the most important cave flick filmmakers and having a film set in a cave, Tetra just loves caves in general and will take any opportunity to go on a cave tour.
• She is nervous in wide open spaces and feels more comfortable in small rooms.
• Robots scare her.
• Although she doesn’t label herself, Tetra could be described as aromantic.

Other Content

• Tetra's Filmography