In 2022 during my exchange studies at the Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, I worked on a development of an independent short film My name is Hope, written and directed by Sherwan Haji. I created concept art for this fascinating film about freedom, war and hope. The artwork served as a guideline for the production designer (Ville Väisänen) and the director of photography (Mate Papp).
visualizations
A missile is carried by two SOLDIERS wearing full field military uniforms. The soldiers walk towards a missile launcher and insert a rocket inside of it. One of the soldiers adjusts the target based on the coordinates he is given on a walkie talkie.
He fires the missile.
The sound of the missile flying will be present throughout the film, despite the change in locations, gradually growing in loudness. The missile creates a small horizontal line of fire that splits the screen from the middle.
A YOUNG COUPLE is sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere. They are deeply in love and this is the first romantic date. They look at the horizon waiting for the sunrise to appear.
The line is clearly reflected on their eyes. The young girl thinks it is a shooting star. With her fixed gaze she asks her young lover to make a wish.
We hear footsteps approaching from the left side, the sound of two men talking while passing by. The image clears up as if the lens is a human eye that is opened after a sleep. The vague line of light is revealed to be a food hatch in the door of a prison cell. A solitary confinement cell. We see the surrounding world through the eyes of a prisoner.
The two guards drag a young man out of his cell. Amer has obviously been there for a long time, but the system has not been able to break him yet. One of the guards hits the prisoner's head from behind with his weapon. He loses his balance and falls on his knees. The guards are pulling him up to take him away.
The janitors come shortly after. They start scrubbing the wall, trying to remove the dried blood on the wall.
Suddenly we hear gunfire from the outside. The sound of alarm sirens fill the space with terror. The janitors collect their tools and run out in panic. Fully armed guards rush inside. The sound of the missile (that has been continuously present) seems to have reached its max. It hits the building, before any one of the rebels mange to leave the corridor. We hear a massive explosion that destroys the entire building. The world collapses.
A sound comes from the left side. The sound isn't clear, but it is clearly a human voice, a female voice. She is struggling under the heavy walls that have fallen over her. Streams of blood are running over her dust covered face, but her eyes are still open and sharp. She is pushing something out of the rubbles, something she has been trying to protect with her body. We see a little BABY, a newborn covered in blood and dust.
The prisoner stands up with the baby in his hands. He walks away, crippled and worn out by his experiences. He walks away through the rubble and dead bodies, holding the baby in his arms.
As he is about to disappear into the smoke, we hear the baby crying. Dara stops for a moment, the baby is alive.
Then he continues forward disappearing into the smoke.
Then he continues forward disappearing into the smoke.
