This is a story of a young woman who knows who she is but the world tells her otherwise.

A story about the power of manipulative language is more important now than ever. What happens when those in positions of power get to control the truth? Not only can this regulation be threatening to a society, but falsely modified "truth" can be weaponized on the individual level. This act, gaslighting, has the potential to obstruct someone's headspace to the extent of questioning one's own sanity.

This story is very important to me, and I am confident that it is relatable to many, especially women. Therefore I found it valuable to make the narrative abstract. In Chroma, much is left unanswered. The man who conducts the gaslighting is never specified by age, name, position or objective. I have also not grounded the story in a time period or location. Aligned with Sky, the audience will not receive answers pertaining to the motive or the limitation of this man and the power he holds. I have incorporated unusual imagery and a peculiar soundscape as surrealist components to further suggest a cerebral setting. A strict color palette is also in place. With an abstract storyline and surrealist execution, I hope to draw parallels to other narratives, and open the film up to several interpretations relative to its viewer.

Chroma is the story of a woman named Sky with synesthesia. I used synesthesia as my subject to be gaslit for two main reasons. The first is, I have it, and the second is, I can't prove it. I can be tested for it, and my brain can be scanned, but my lived experience with synesthesia is not something I can show someone else. Yet it is such a present player in the way I perceive in my day to day life. Sky cannot prove this truth, just as many survivors cannot "prove" their assault. Or a wife cannot "prove" the psychological manipulation of her husband. Or a citizen cannot "prove" the linguistic manipulation of a president.

In this film, to track Sky's experience and headspace, I incorporate it as a physical location. When Sky is experiencing her synesthesia, she is in a giant tank filled with water (built by my incredible team). This tank has color fall through it, coordinated with Sky's hearing of pitched sound. Throughout the film, we cut back and forth between the instances of gaslighting, and this manifestation of Sky’s headspace. As we watch Sky question her perception, we witness the tank and their respective colors quite literally fall apart. 

This project is incredibly important to me not only due to subject matter, but because it is my senior thesis film at Wesleyan University! I hope to utilize all that I have learned in previous filming and classes to successfully execute this story. 

Thank you so much for supporting me! I am so excited to see where this goes (: