SHREYA BOSE
Q
uirks &
ueries
Anushka
MANCHANDA
The video for Don't Be Afraid is exceptionally
symbolic. With all the metaphors, do you think
it could be overwhelming for the viewer?
With this video we have been true to our expression,
without thinking about what kind of viewer we were
catering to. We did not tailor make this video for anyone.
However, we were clear that we wanted to produce a certain
kind of quality, and we wanted to create an emotional
connection and impact. As artists we want you to feel
something. As viewers we have access to so much visual
information, being constantly bombarded with content,
we have become desensitised. Something has to shake
you out of that to make you sit up and take notice.
Tell us a bit about the ethos you have created
with the music and the visuals.
Sonically I started layering the track quite a bit at a later
stage. I wanted it to be dark and moody, and then fill with
life when it arrives at the chorus. I worked on it more after I
started editing the video, doing a kind of musical foley work,
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because I wanted this to be an audio visual experience. Once
the visuals started coming together on the edit table, the
opening had started to look eerie. It was then that we decided
to push it all the way in that direction, picking shots and
treating them to be freakier than they actually were, speeding
up and reversing bits, jumping them, etc. Even the grade
of the video has a story to tell. Going from dark and moody
in the opening, to dreamy in the underwater section, and
finally quite saturated and full of colour in the end section.
Amidst the overarching elegance, there is an undercurrent
of darkness. Things ending, people in pain. How often
do you see the world through this lens of suffering?
Art is a reflection of the times. Look around you. What do you
see? We are in a state of destruction. I could create art that
helps you to escape it, but we are distracted and apathetic
enough as it is. What I see in the world around me, is what
you see through my art. The photo story I did called Mute,
the first project I did via Nuka, is also in the same line of
thought. I never really thought about this though, that
this is the way I view the world, and this question evokes