In a city like Chennai which is culturally rich and vibrant, and where life moves fast, we come across streets filled with people, each carrying their own stories, their own struggles, and their own journeys. In our busy routine, we miss out on such stories. Many of these stories remain unseen and unheard.
My classmates Rishab and Shruti along with me (Prem) at ICAT College of Design and Media, Chennai, came up with an idea "Souls of Madras" to complete our final-year BSc Visual Media project which is part of our academic journey. This project is a meaningful effort to bring out the voices of individuals and their stories which are often overlooked and unheard.
Ideation of the Project
We set out to create a project that reflects both our technical skills and creative vision. The ideation phase started with mind mapping. Each of our team members created individual mind maps, often revolving around common inspirations such as films, storybooks, and news, and also driven by the central question: "Why not a project for an Instagram-based platform?" All these processes were recorded in a documentation called RVJ (Reflective Visual Journal) and pitched in front of a panel consisting of faculty members. The faculty committee reviewed and discussed these ideas. While several concepts were impressive, time constraints required careful selection. "Souls of Madras" emerged as one of the most promising and ambitious ideas.
Figure 1: People we meet everyday in Chennai
"Souls of Madras" is an Instagram-based documentary-style storytelling through short-form reels. The core idea is to capture real lives of people we meet everyday in Chennai, from tea stall owners, to street vendors to helpers and small business workers. These are individuals we come across in our daily routine but rarely stop to understand. Through this project we bridge the gap by presenting their stories in a raw, honest, and engaging way.
Extraordinary Stories to be Told
We did not rush to production. Instead, we embraced the Reflective Visual Journal (RVJ)—a structured process of generating ideas, observations, and reflecting on emotions. This process turned all raw data into insight, giving importance to human stories over flashy edits. Classroom theory fell short, so we ventured into the field to meet people in their daily life, thus our first step was a survey. We started to meet individuals who we come across in our daily routine but rarely stop to understand. Results stunned us. We had a number of stories that needed to be heard. Our next task was deciding on how the stories could be told. We decided to make each story into bite-sized episodes, taking into account modern attention spans.
Our objective is to give audiences a new perspective on life, highlighting real human experiences, encouraging empathy and understanding. In a world dominated by content that is curated and idealised lifestyles, we in our project want to focus on authenticity and present our stories honestly, and in an engaging way. We wanted to create meaningful digital content with purpose. This gave birth to "Souls of Madras" and at its core, the project is driven by believing that every individual in our daily life, no matter how ordinary they are, has an extraordinary story to tell.
Figure 2: Souls of Madras - A welcome note
Execution and Approach
We decided to tell the stories through instagram reels, using a documentary styled approach. Each reel focused on real conversations and genuine emotions instead of scripted content that emphasised natural storytelling. Each reel was designed in such a way that it leads the audience to feel personal and immersive. The reels are edited in such a way that the audiences get connected directly with the participant. To achieve such connectivity in our story reels we made a point to have minimal interference during the conversations. We used natural settings while shooting the interviews, focusing on expressions, tone, and authenticity of the participant. The stories were short and concise with impactful narratives.
Challenges Faced
Our first challenge was, how the stories could be told. We decided to make each story into small reels, taking into account modern attention spans. Approaching people who are complete strangers to us and gaining their trust was the biggest challenge. It required a lot of patience, communication skills, and sensitivity. Additionally, capturing authentic moments was a challenge, while maintaining technical quality in cinematography. We as a team collaborated together to overcome all the challenges and create a good project. All together it was highly rewarding.
Learning Experience and Feedback
This project was a transformative learning experience that helped us understand how storytelling and technical execution must work together seamlessly, and also taught us how to build teamwork and coordination in a real world project. Most importantly, the project taught us the value of listening, an essential skill in both media and life. Feedback from faculties and peers played a vital role in refining both the visuals and narrative. We are very thankful to our faculty at ICAT College of Design and Media for their continuous support throughout the project and to the advanced facilities available to us at college, which played a major role in completing this project successfully.
Presenting our project at the ICAT Graduation Showcase provided valuable audience insights, helping us understand better, how audiences perceive pacing, emotion, and storytelling.
Conclusion
"Souls of Madras" is more than just an Instagram page, it is a reflection of real life, real people, and real emotions. It serves as a reminder that meaningful stories exist all around us, waiting to be heard.
It is a collaborative team work. From concept, idea generation to execution, the project reflects our ability to integrate storytelling, technical skills, and creative problem-solving within real-world constraints.
The project not only demonstrates our technical skills but also highlights our dedication, teamwork, and creative approach in telling a story. Through this project, we aim to inspire people to look beyond the surface and appreciate the depth in everyday lives. Sometimes, all it takes is a moment of attention to discover a story worth sharing.
