LIFEWTR - #LifeUnseen
We open on a wide shot of drummer Gina Chávez in her bedroom sitting at a beaten-up drum kit.
She’s beautifully backlit by the window behind her, which also lets in the ambient hum of busy city life. We can tell from her stillness and stoic expression that she’s building up energy for an epic performance.
We quickly flash on iPods, headphones, unspooled finger tape, and music paraphernalia around her room. The entirety of her identity as a drummer is condensed into this space.
Then we’re back on her, she raises the drumsticks over her head, hits them together *ONE, TWO, THREE*, and brings them down in a frenzied series of silent strikes.
Now we’re across the street, in front of a large white slab of wall. Muralist Shanée Benjamin, wearing a facemask, stands before it. Brush in hand, she taps off the excess against her handheld paint can, and after a brief moment of appraisal, begins her first steady stroke. The sound of the bristles against the wall is pure ASMR, and we watch her draw a deep green line across the canvas. But just as she lifts her brush, the stroke seems to evaporate like disappearing ink, leaving the wall just as bare as before. Even still, she goes into the can again, taps off the excess, and begins another stroke.
Cut to a shot slowly trucking across fashion designer Christina Mallon-Michalove’s workshop. She’s sitting in front of a mannequin that wears a stylish, but unfinished, hybrid pant-skirt prototype. Pinned to the walls around her are beautifully rendered drawings of disabled people wearing her inclusively designed clothing, and a bottle of LIFEWTR (complete with a metal drinking straw) sits on a high stool nearby. Using her mouth, she attaches a safety pin to a dangling strap and then affixes the strap across the garment. Just as she secures it the safety pin evaporates into thin air, and the strap falls away. Christina, without skipping a beat, goes back to her desk for another pin.
As she works, we see text fade up over the film.
CD VO: 75% of America’s creators are under-represented in the arts.
Next, we’re in a large warehouse, dollying into the set of an art film mid-shoot. The director, Stonie Blue whose style is equal parts wildly creative and practical, is seated in a chair talking to his sound guy and DP. A PA crosses camera to hand a LIFEWTR to him. He takes it and gives him a quick appreciative nod.
The set itself is fashioned to look like a bountiful garden. Two female actresses, dressed in colorful high fashion gowns, with wild flared out eyelashes, are seated close to one another, elegantly posed, awaiting their cues.
Stonie moves to camera, and in a POV shot we see him looking into the eyepiece, and the set before him is suddenly a bare white cyc.
Over the cyc we see the words appear:
CD VO: Their creativity goes unseen.
We’re back with Gina again, except this time, she’s brought her drumkit out onto her balcony. She’s ready to be heard. Once again, she raises her sticks over her head, takes a deep breath, and strikes them together *ONE, TWO, THREE*.
She brings them down, harder than ever, and kicks off the driving track that will take us through the rest of the film. After a drum solo that would leave any onlooker astounded, she smiles and vibes out, letting the beat move through her body unimpeded.
We cut back to Christina’s studio. Fully clothed mannequins in a wide array of vibrant outfits populate the space. Christina herself is putting the finishing touches on a radiant floral dress. She takes a step back and takes in the full vision of her creativity. She smiles wide, but ever the perfectionist, she steps back towards the mannequin and uses her leg to adjust its pose slightly.
We match cut on the mannequin’s dynamic pose to a POV through Stonie’s eyepiece of the dress being worn by one of the actresses. A slate claps in front of frame, and we push into the scene as the actresses perform to one another, moving in time to the drummers beat. We cut to a reverse shot of Stonie looking through his eyepiece. After a beat he calls cut and we follow him as he moves towards the actors to deliver some direction. We again match cut to the mural, which depicts a similar garden scene. Shanée’s skill has drawn a small crowd, and a few people record her finishing up with their phones.
A young Black girl watches from the audience in awe, but is too shy to make her way to the front. Shanée turns around, sees the girl, and with smiling eyes, motions for her to come over. We end on a shot of Shanée directing the new young artist on where to paint next.
We fade to black, and text appears:
CD VO: But they never stop creating.
CD VO: LIFEWTR believes it’s time we all got to see their vision.
Titles + VO: Search #LIFEUNSEEN to see their collection.
End frame: Packshot featuring the work from the 4 artists shown.
