Indigo by Chris Chand
Creative Director. Writer, Photographer.
With Tejas Panchal.
Recording artist Chris Chand was taken by the work I was able to do for new village and was looking for help in doing the same for his upcoming EP Indigo. When I first sat down with Chris, he wasn’t tied to any specific product, but rather his desired outcome was for us to visually create a world for the themes of Indigo to unfold in.
After an impassioned brainstorming session, Chris, Tejas and I all agreed that the themes and motifs for Indigo would make for an excellent short film. Our challenge was that the resources and timeline we had weren’t sufficient enough to execute our lofty vision to bring Indigo to life.
What started off as a rhetorical question, posed in a discussion about how to achieve our grand creative vision with equally grand limitations became the basis for the entire narrative experience for Indigo: what if, with our restricted resources, we did almost all the work of a short film without actually making it?
Then the work began; we distilled the motifs from Indigo into a broad narrative. From there, Tejas and I examined each song as a the score to a scene and started to draft a script.
Once edited down and polished we began to storyboard key moments in the script: Chris feeling isolated in a crowded room of his girlfriend’s friends, a foggy memory of a joyous dates and the dangerous game Chris plays during the latest part of the night.
Next came the fun part: casting, costume, production design and most exciting, photography. The production of Indigo presented us with a myriad of creative challenges.
How do we create the illusion of a bustling house party by manipulating the blocking of just a few extras? How can we ensure the capture of a beautiful sunrise shot with just two short days of production? What is the best way to present photos alongside scripted dialogue and direction?
Next came the fun part: casting, costume, production design and most exciting, photography. The production of Indigo presented us with a myriad of creative challenges.
How do we create the illusion of a bustling house party by manipulating the blocking of just a few extras? How can we ensure the capture of a beautiful sunrise shot with just two short days of production? What is the best way to present photos alongside scripted dialogue and direction?
The journey of traversing these challenges resulted in a distinct product; the story and it’s medium matched the unique aesthetic of Chris’ music. Shortly after the release of Indigo on streaming platforms, fans and newcomers were able visually and narratively experience the world that we built around the songs.
