London South East Colleges’ student dispatches life saving message

An enterprising student from our Creative Media Production course at @LSEColleges Bexley Campus has researched, co-written (with his father) and directed a superb 8-minute long film to send out a serious ‘Stay at Home and Stay Safe’ message to members of the Nepalese community in south east London during the coronavirus outbreak.

Aashish Shrestha’s film, ‘Unseen Enemy’ is now live on YouTube and features his father playing three different characters – but all based on the same person. The central character is desperate to leave the house and enjoy the good weather outside but his two alter-egos – the sensible, reasonable and enlightened soul on one shoulder, and the other fate-tempting, irresponsible side of his character are battling for his attention to lead him to either staying in the safety of his own home, or to go out and risk the dangers outside and break social distancing rules.

The irresponsible appeals to his yearning for freedom and desire to escape the constraints of the four walls enveloping him during lockdown. The responsible encourages him to think again and warns him of the many possible dangers awaiting him should he follow temptation. He informs him of how the COVID-19 virus is spread and transmitted, how long it can live on various surfaces and what the consequences could be if he himself becomes infected.

Aashish, 19, lives in Plumstead and is originally from Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu. He came to live in the UK when he was just 15. He left school last year with A Levels in Maths and Computer Science and originally wanted to follow a career in science. After helping a family friend shoot a music video, he became interested in film making and changed direction by enrolling onto his course at the College last September.  

“I was so disappointed and dismayed when lockdown was announced,” says Aashish, “I had just scheduled in performers for a video shoot at College and had all the scripts ready, the cameras were ready to roll and then, all of a sudden, we were being sent home.

“Although I was given plenty of research assignments and scriptwriting to be getting on with, I had been so excited about getting down to the practical, creative work and really wanted to be shooting, directing and editing. So, pretty much after a week, I looked at everything I had – one being a former professional Nepalese tv and film actor father, and the others being my camera, computer and Adobe Premier. There was nothing stopping me.

“I wanted to produce something of its time and that would benefit people in my local community. I went to work on writing a story line that would relate to the outbreak and thought very much about mental health, isolation and that feeling of confinement. My dad Manish and I began filming at home and it all went brilliantly. The two of us thoroughly enjoyed working on the project together and it gave us something meaningful and engaging to occupy our time for the next couple of weeks.

“Now it’s done and published online, I’m onto my next project. Thank you to my supportive tutors and for giving me the skills I’ve picked up from them. Needless to say, I can’t wait to go back as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

Aashish’s tutor, Orsolya Toth, is delighted with the initiative and dedication he has shown on his course and particularly during this lockdown period. She said:“Aashish has demonstrated not only a great use of the skills he’s learnt on his course so far by making this film, but also some fantastic community spirit and social enterprise. He has been resourceful in enlisting his father to play all of the three main roles and used clever transitions, a suspenseful and rather menacing music score and a very clever script. He’s made great use of the tools and materials at his disposal too. I’m very proud of him and he is a credit to the College. Top marks for this project Aashish!”

Aashish has ambitions to become a film maker and is greatly influenced by the British-American Director and Producer Christopher Nolan of Dunkirk, Inception, Justice League and The Dark Knight fame. He has also had a personal working experience as a featured artist in the upcoming BBC drama ‘Black Narcissus’ in which he was able to work with hollywood director Charlotte Bruus Christensen.