Private Project

Embodiment of Emotion

As humans we are subject to constant criticism from the people around us our entire lives. Everyone passes judgments about how we look, behave and the decisions we make. Sometimes unfairly even about things that are not under our control. No person knows us entirely or why we made certain choices and decisions at certain times yet, that doesn’t stop us from being affected by what they have to say about us. Our minds are constantly sent into overdrive by all their opinions about us, causing it to be overly stimulated making us stressed,
confused and distracted on many occasions. This stimulation of the mind affects the body as well, making our bodies become sensitive to what we hear.

The dancer’s performance aims to portray these emotions through her movement and expressions of how our body reacts and how we try to navigate this path of light and darkness. We try to adjust and accept everything that gets thrown at us but as humans we are not always strong enough to move out of the darkness.

We shot it in an abandoned apartment that was littered with discarded man-made objects that had been used and taken care of when needed and abandoned when they had no more purpose much like the opinions people throw at us. We also constantly played with the natural light and the shadows it created as well as the gritty texture of the wall and windows with pockets of light among the darkness to show her struggle of trying to move past the opinions of people and the false dawn towards the end. When she thinks that she has moved on but only to go back into the darkness demonstrating that it’s a constant struggle that us humans have to face in our lives on a daily basis.

My team and I are happy with the result of the dance collaboration and enjoyed our collaborative opportunities in the Broadcast Media program. This is what makes the Broadcast Media program different from other film programs in Singapore.

  • Nikhita Alisha Ohri
    Director
  • Ong Xin Ying
    Producer
  • Rahul Radhakrishnan
    Director of Photography
  • Sri Suzyanie Binte Abdul Rahim
    Art Direction
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Dance, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Singapore
  • Country of Filming:
    Singapore
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - LASALLE College of the Arts
Director Biography - Nikhita Alisha Ohri

‘To heal you have to get to the root of the problem and kiss it all the way up’ - Rupi Kaur.

When I first saw the list of what was given, the title ‘Embodiment of Emotion’ was something that really spoke to me. Emotions are something that is not very easy to work with or control, everyone has different ways of dealing and working with their emotions. So, that is something I really wanted to portray in our film. The blue room sort of signifies how you have safe space always whatever it may be and that’s what you’re comfortable with but, when the day comes, you have to be able to get out of your safe space and face the world so that’s where playing with light and dark came in to show how when we get hurt by the words spoken to us, we get dark easily because it does affect us emotionally, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel and we will always be going back and forth because that’s how emotions are.

Not having directed much, it was definitely a challenge, but also because it was my first time working with Rahul, my director of photography, I certainly did not know what to expect. But from the moment we sat down to discuss, words flew out of our mouths and ideas followed. It was so easy to work with Rahul because he knew exactly what I wanted and we work really well together. I definitely gave him full control of the camera work because I knew what he was capable of, definitely very talented so when we went into editing, the shots were beautiful and exceeded my expectations. With Suzy & Xin Ying, I have worked with them multiple times before so our dynamic works really well, and when we had Rahul on board, i think that’s how we found us to be really in sync because Rahul and myself were very in sync when it came to planning and the shoot itself.

It was also a pleasure to collaborate with Stephanie Teo from the dance program. Am very thankful for this wonderful collaboration!

Nikhita has recently graduated with a Diploma in Broadcast Media from Puttnam School of Film & Animation, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

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