A Figment of Existence

University student Alex struggles with the sudden loss of his best friend, seeing visions of her everywhere around the house until he is finally forced to accept that she is now only a figment of his imagination.

The director and I chose to combine digital and analog formats to shoot the film, believing that the eerie dream sequence would look better through the gritty texture of Kodak 500T.

The Aaton LTR was chosen as our film camera, and was paired with an ARRI Alexa Mini for the digital portions of the film. The high data rate from the Alexa allowed us to push our colour grade a lot more than we ould have been able to with other cameras, which was essential to us as combined with a heavy grade, the film would utilise digital diffusion through the use of the ‘Scatter’ plugin from VideoVillage. The depiction of Roya as a ghost was further developed by closely working with the costume department to create an outfit for Roya which would glow heavily when the ‘Scatter’ plugin was applied.

The film premiered at The Vue cinema in Westfield, London in July 2025, and received praise for it’s in-depth and unapologetic look at the difficulties of overcoming grief, as well as the creative and eerie depiction of the ghostly Roya through camera trickery and good-old-fashioned analog film grain.

Director: Millie Shelton

Cinematographer: Chris Tailor

Producer: Lily Allmark

Editor: Akash Beri