American Dream
Experimental Film
An experimental short film exploring ambition, identity, and the emotional distance between pursuing a dream and preserving the parts of yourself that shaped it.
Role:
Concept Development, Narrator, Performer, Editor, Colour Grading
Tools Used:
IPhone 16E, Canva
Directed By
Adwait Chowdhury
Written and Filmed By
Adwait Chowdhury
Performed and Narrated By
Tamanna Sinha
Editing By
Tamanna Sinha
Colour Grading By
Tamanna Sinha, Ananya Jain
About the Film
American Dream was conceived as a story that anyone chasing a long-term goal could relate to. While preparing university applications, the protagonist's passion for Mohiniattam gradually becomes reduced to a line on a personal statement. Interwoven with concerns surrounding immigration policies, H-1B visas, gun violence, and family expectations, the film reflects the emotional disconnect that can emerge when a dream begins to consume everyday life.
Storyboarding
Every shot was meticulously to establish visual rhythm through repetition, symbolic framing, and transitions between dance and daily life to production. The film emphasizes recurring visual motifs over dialogue, with overlapping elements like Mohiniattam movements, laptop screens, mirrors, childhood footage, and app portals, drawing parallels between performance and the quest for opportunity.
Visual Identity
Colour Palette
A palette of warm browns, amber yellows, and muted blues mirrors the contrast between the familiarity of home and the uncertainty of life beyond it.
Colour Grading
While the film maintains a naturally warm grade, the Mohiniattam sequences feature enhanced golden highlights that isolate the dancer from the surrounding darkness, reinforcing dance as the emotional anchor of the narrative.
