FILMS: EBTL & THE FARMERS COLLECTIVE
Collective Brand Video • Farm Life • Livelihood • Forest Restoration
Elephants By The Lake, a Rainmatter Foundation initiative, brought together a collective of local farmers to develop a sustainable packaged foods business. Alongside designing the brand's visual identity, I was commissioned to create a short film about the initiative, weaving together stories of the forest, the orchard, the farmers and the community’s vision for bolstering livelihoods in their village of Chinnathamandrapalli.
I worked on a full horizontal film and a shorter vertical promo, both meditating on the interconnectedness of ecology and livelihood and amplifying The Farmers Collective's background, vision and resilience.
TIMELINE
ROLE
ROLE
SPONSOR
March - May 2025
Director, Editor, Colourist, Sound Designer
Elephants By The Lake
COLLABORATORS
Varun Balakrishnan: Project manager, concept, additional sound recording
MV Shreeram: Cinematography
TOOLS AND SOFTWARE
DaVinci Resolve
OUTCOMES
Full film -watch here-
Vertical Promo -watch here-
GLIMPSES OF THE PROCESS
The films were conceived and executed as an independent shoot on-site, working closely with the farmers, who were initially shy about being filmed. Building trust was an integral part of the process; often conversations began off-camera before gradually becoming part of the narrative fabric. Varun and I discussed the aim and the flow of the film extensively before and during the shoot dates.
The film’s structure emerged through this collaborative rhythm: observing daily routines, planning sequences around the natural flow of work, and layering in interviews that revealed both personal desires and larger ecological themes. Rather than imposing an external script, the story was shaped in dialogue with the community and the landscape itself and is reflective of EBTL’s ethos of collective stewardship. Here are some notes and edit logs from my project journal (every project has one! Or two.)
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