Chakras
Chakras is an experimental film about transformation. It portrays the meditative journey of the awakening of the dormant energy in an individual's body through the seven chakras.
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Tanya BansalDirector
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Suzanne CrombagProducer
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Shail Vasaeditor
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Tom MatthewsDirector of Photography
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Joseph MartinottiDirector of Photography
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Aryan VijProduction Assistant
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Tom StaffordSound Designer
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Student
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Genres:non - narrative
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Runtime:7 minutes 25 seconds
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Completion Date:November 12, 2019
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Production Budget:300 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes
Tanya Bansal is a student filmmaker based in London and Delhi. She was born (September 15, 1999) and raised in New Delhi, India. Her path to film began by making short youtube videos with her friends and her phone, and soon expanded to theatre students and DSLRs. She is currently studying BA Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster, London. She debuted as a director with the experimental film, Chakras and has since directed a few other short films including an award-winning documentary.
This short film was created with layers of intention. I hope the viewers make their own interpretations of the film and I hope to offer mine to convey the thoughts behind this piece as well as talk about the filming process involved behind the intentions.
As an overview this film portrays the journey of the awakening of the energy present inside a body. This energy is named differently by different cultures and school of thoughts, but its path towards something higher (awakening) is often believed to be marked by the energy spots or chakras within one's body. As a Hindu and having close contact with various practitioners as well experiencing parts of the experience myself, I felt compelled to create this film.
The film follows this energy as it struggles to awaken from its deep sleep and traces the path as it slowly ascends higher. The journey isn’t straight, it is a mix of highs and lows. These changes have been subtly portrayed by meandering through contrasting forces of nature by using various cameras (DSLRs, GoPros, Drone etc.) and camera movements throughout the film.
As the energy travels, it slowly starts melding with the different elements of nature, starts feeling synergy with the outer environment and it slowly starts opening up closed senses and channels. I believe these to be the self’s perception of the world and the film portrays this change through the deconstruction of the surroundings by using macro and microscopic videography.
After the struggle through the various phases, the seven screens become one and this moment has been used to symbolise the brink of awakening, an experience of becoming a whole as well as the feeling of being more than just oneself and one’s body.
Along with the energy's meditative journey, this film is also intended to be a meditative experience in itself and I hope that we were able to portray that.