This was a student short film I made for my ATAR media project. It depicts how an unhealthy life balance can be toxic but also the struggles an ATAR student has
At the time of producing this, I was struggling, as many students do, with keeping their grades high even at the expense of my own well-being. As I was very passionate about this topic at the time I decided to make my school ATAR film about this exact thing, as my own little rebuttal and ironic jab at the school for being somewhat unfair with the workload (although I look back and it was mostly procrastination).
Although this film is not just about being overworked at school, more so that everything else was making that bearable weight much harder to carry. My social life, personal life, relationships, diet, fitness, etc. these are all aspects I wanted to talk about in my film visually and promote how helpless I felt as it all caved in on me when I failed to balance things.
I recommend If you already haven't to watch the film before reading further as I will talk about certain elements in the film. For example, visually I felt the most visceral way to display my discontent with my English was through sobbing through the pages, or more like just using the book as a pillow as the familiar sigh of stress is presented.
The most prominent example, which I think we can all relate to is the feeling of just wanting to float away, sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown out all the responsibilities we ignore. This was my intent with the final scene of the film, as well as conveying themes of suicide in youth due to bottling up these common emotions. The protagonist jumps into the river and it can be inferred that they drowned as the credits roll over calm waters, another metaphor for the reality of what lies under the calm exterior of most ATAR students.