aditto.

I’ve always been fascinated by the filmmaking challenges my favourite YouTubers took part in—creating a film in a day, 48 hours, or 50 hours. It had been nearly six months since I made my first short film, and though I had plans to create another based on one of my own stories, I struggled to find people to collaborate with. I also have a tendency to overthink and spend more time on things than necessary. So once again, my friend Saanvi and I decided to come up with an idea—and make a film as quickly as possible.

Coincidentally, a few days earlier, Saanvi had sent me a horror story she had written. At first, I wasn’t sure about turning it into a film—horror can be technically challenging compared to other genres. But after a lot of thinking (and mostly realizing we didn’t have another solid idea), we decided to go ahead with Amara.

We began working on the story on June 2nd. The usual casting troubles resurfaced. I asked my cousin for help, and luckily, another friend agreed to join at the last minute. By Thursday the 5th, we had nearly finalized the script. We originally planned to shoot on the 7th, but we were still short one actor. After some convincing, our classmate Shradha agreed to be a part of the project.

We started filming on the 9th of June. The final script draft was written the night before, and I was already thinking about the release date. Initially, I had planned to release it on a Saturday for convenience, but then I noticed that week included Friday the 13th—a perfect date for a horror short. I immediately locked it in, even before Shradha had fully confirmed.

Everyone was set to arrive on Monday. But there was a catch—the film takes place at midnight, and we had to shoot during the day. I spent all of Sunday blacking out windows with newspapers, making sure no sunlight crept in. At one point, I even had a friend stand outside holding a full-sized cardboard box just to block the light at the doorway and make it appear like night.

This was only my second time experimenting with lighting after a college project, and it turned out to be one of the most creatively fulfilling parts of the process. I had only one ring light, but I was still able to explore and learn clever ways to shape light and work around limitations.

Then came the fun part—editing. This time, I had an entire day scheduled just for dubbing. I recorded all the sound effects (SFX) myself and searched online to find more. Even the sound of the payal (anklet) was recorded manually—I spent nearly half an hour on it alone.

By the time I saw the final version, with every little detail as polished as possible, it felt worth it. That whole week, I consistently slept only about four hours a night. But when I watched the finished film, I was genuinely proud. I received descriptive and thoughtful feedback from viewers. This film was my attempt to focus on sound, lighting, and cinematography—and it marked a big step forward in my journey as a filmmaker.