Shell

A film by Emma Bravo, Madeline Allgood, Teresa Guerra and Yannick Pouokam

Shells protect what's inside while blocking everything else out. The short film, Shell, explores this concept following a teenage girl who struggles with her mental battles. Emma was the top tennis player on her team; she found refuge in this sport away from her parent’s arguments at home. As she grew, these fights only became louder. Tennis became a burden and she found her mind on other troubles. Looking for a way out of her misery, Emma was introduced to cigarettes. In order to combat her parent’s broken relationship, she begins smoking nicotine daily, using that as her only escape. While Emma knows her habits are endangering her relationships, she finds comfort in feeling numbness. Because of this, her love for tennis and the friendships she's made from it, have become only nostalgic. The calmness she once felt from her habit soon became a raging addiction that needed to be fed. Being tied down by her family issues, addiction, and constantly reminded of memories from her better days, Emma struggles to hold her life together. However, the people she left behind didn’t forget about her. Although it seems hopeless, optimistic people around her attempt to break through her shell.

*Please note that fake cigarettes were used in production and a smoke effect was added in post-production.