01
Project Overview
A personal story,
told cinematically
As an immigrant myself, I arrived in the UK and found something unexpected: a few houseplants in my room made a tangible difference to my mental health. That personal truth became the core of this project. Healing: A Manifesto is structured as a cinematic advertisement — moving from depression and isolation through to connection and peace.
Brief
Manifesto Video
Produced as a cinematic advertisement — consistent with my practice as a commercial graphic designer.
Inspiration
Yan Wang Preston
‘With Love. From An Invader’ — a photography project linking the immigration experience with nature as healing.
Personal note
“I bought plants when I arrived in the UK.
It helped.”
It helped.”
The manifesto grew from lived experience, not just research.
Message
Get a plant.
Get a friend.
Get a friend.
Simple premise. Cinematic delivery. Emotional truth.
“The piece conveys the contrast between the serene and the tragic, the joy and the sorrow, the life and the death — a natural arc from isolation to belonging.”
On the music — Nemo Egg (Main Title) by Thomas Newman · Finding Nemo OST
02
Visual Direction
Frame layout as
emotional language
The video uses asymmetry and symmetry as active storytelling tools. The shift between them is felt before it is consciously registered — one of the core cinematic decisions of the project.
Segment 01–02 · Depression & Loneliness
Asymmetrical layout. Two cameras filmed simultaneously from different angles. Unbalanced compositing in After Effects mirrors the subject’s inner disorder. Desaturated blue-grey palette reinforces isolation.
Segment 03–05 · Plants, Friendship, Peace
Symmetrical layout. As the first plant enters the frame, the layout shifts to perfect balance. Full cinematic colour washes in, depicting the vibrancy of life with good mental health.
Colour grade arc — three emotional states
Depression
Pale · Desaturated · Blue-grey
Transition
Colour washes in with the plant
Healing
Full cinematic colour · Warmth
03
Challenges & Solutions
Making emotion
visible
I
Challenge
Translating psychological imbalance into frame composition
How do you show that a person’s inner world is fragmented — without dialogue, without voiceover?
Solution
Two cameras filmed simultaneously from different angles. Footage was composited into asymmetric, unbalanced split-frame layouts. The viewer feels the dissonance spatially before consciously registering it.
II
Challenge
Building a three-act emotional arc without dialogue
The narrative needed to move from depression to hope to peace — purely through image and sound.
Solution
The entire editorial structure was derived from Thomas Newman’s Nemo Egg — a piece that naturally moves from sparse and melancholy to richly orchestrated and resolved. Every cut, transition, and grade was mapped to the music before a frame was shot.
III
Challenge
Solo production of a cinematic shoot
No crew. No production budget. A professional camera package to manage, cast to direct, and a 90-second timeline to fill.
Solution
University equipment loan (Canon 5D MIII, C100 MkII, tracking dolly, gimbal, lights). Cast from close friends — all immigrants from India — who understood the subject personally. Shot entirely in my own room over a single weekend. A hand-drawn timeline chart managed 43 After Effects layers across five segments.
04
Project Map
Five-segment
timeline
The video was divided into five segments before shooting began, each with a defined layout logic, colour grade, and emotional purpose — mapped directly to the arc of the music.
| No. | Segment | Description | Layout | Colour Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Title | White title card: “Healing: A Manifesto” — fades to black as the next scene begins | Full frame | White → Black |
| 02 | Depression & Loneliness | Forward tracking shot toward subject alone in dark room. Multiple asymmetric shots of stress, loneliness, anxiety. | Asymmetrical | Pale blue/grey |
| 03 | Addition of Plants | First plant arrives in frame — colour washes in at this exact moment. Watering. Second plant added. Symmetry begins. | Symmetrical | Colour enters |
| 04 | Playful Moments | Singing, laughing, sleeping — life expanding with plants and friends present | Full frame | Full cinematic |
| 05 | Happiness & Peace | Multiple backward tracking shots edited to feel like a single continuous movement. End title: “Get a plant. Get a friend.” | Tracking shot | Full cinematic |
Final output — storyboard frames (representative)
Title
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
End
05
Production Notes
Everything from
scratch
Equipment
- Canon 5D Mark III 24–105 f4 (primary)
- Canon EOS C100 MkII Cinema Camera
- Samyang 35mm f/1.5 Cine Lens
- Canon 50mm f/1.4 EF
- DJI RSC 2 Gimbal Stabiliser
- Hague Tripod Tracking Dolly D5
- LEDgo 600 Daylight Lighting Kit
- Manfrotto 595B FigRig
Post-Production
- Adobe After Effects — primary NLE
- 43 individual layers across 5 segments
- Asymmetric / symmetric frame splitting
- Three-state cinematic colour grading
- Forward & backward tracking shot design
- Audio synchronisation to music arc
- Pre-production timeline chart as editing guide
Music
- Nemo Egg (Main Title) — Thomas Newman
- Original soundtrack · Finding Nemo (2003)
- Chosen for personal emotional resonance
- Natural three-act arc: sparse → rising → resolved
- All cuts, grades, and transitions mapped to melody
Cast & Location
- 3 friends cast — all immigrants from India
- 1 principal subject; 2 representing the plants
- Shot in my own student room (personal touch)
- Additional scenes around the residential building
- Entire shoot completed in a single weekend
Get a plant.
Get a friend.
Manifesto video · TMA1431 Creative Studio · Masters Year 1 · 2024