Even though the world went into lockdown, Microsoft wanted to show the stories of ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the society doesn’t stop, pandemic or not.

This story had to be covered amidst a peak lockdown situation with adhering to utmost safety protocols.

3 aspects were to be taken into account while showcasing the location:

1. Empty outdoors/schools – It was important to set the mood by showcasing the empty outdoors and school, being a lockdown film.
2. Domestic indoors – The efforts students, teachers and families took to get the online classes in motion was a feat that required to be featured
3. The Video View – One of the most common features of any lockdown movie is the video chat window and the one-on-one conversations with multiple faces in multiple windows. For a film on Microsoft Teams, this could not be left out.

In collaboration with Flooid Agency, we produced a video spotlighting the Principal of Kamla Nehru Public School (Phagwara, Punjab), her efforts and unstoppable attitude that led to making education accessible and interactive for her students. All this with the help of Microsoft Teams.

Treatment wise it brought the viewpoint of both children & adults and tried to break the stigma that technology can only be used by young, city based, English first individuals.

Due to the lockdown restrictions, we  hired a local but lean crew to execute it for us while our Director, Anish Dedhia, from Mumbai was overlooking the entire process virtually. Visually we wanted to showcase a sprawling yet rustic community, a village with the infrastructure of a good school and how the community was thriving but faced an inconvenience due to the lockdown.

An emotional piece narrated by the charismatic Divya Dutta was supposed to showcase how human determination, regardless of age, geography or financial status, is able to fight through adversity.

Lighting wise we wanted to showcase the ever-evolving visceral energy of the community contrasted with the steadfastness of its individuals. We used natural lighting for most of the shoot with misty shots to showcase the early mornings and evenings. The POV shots from the aspect of the screen were given a realistic tone for the audience to feel that the character is speaking to them directly via Microsoft Teams.