Can you personify addiction? If addiction was a living being, what would it tell you? Would it tell you to stop, or entice you to continue smoking? These questions were addressed in a unique video that won this year’s Singapore Cancer Society (SCS) Inter-school Competition.
Latisha Sonia, Budiman Hakeem (Kimi) & Alyssa Gajeto were the dream team behind this artistically unique presentation on the topic of smoking addiction. Beyond just the usual educational videos, the team wanted to create something that spoke to the hearts of smokers – questioning their decision but at the same time acknowledging the struggles that come with quitting the addiction.
Looking at the video, you wouldn’t realise that this was the first time the three had ever worked together. For Sonia, this was down to the dynamics of the team, where everyone was open and despite minor disputes always got the job done.
“Each one of us wanted a piece of ourselves in this,” said Alyssa, explaining another reason why the team worked well together. There was a common desire to express their talents while making a difference.
With a videographer in Alyssa and two dancers in Sonia and Kimi, the team set out to create something different.
“When I see videos about smoking or lung cancer, it is always very educational and informative and nothing really enters my head because I am an emotional person,” said Sonia. For them, emotion was key to making the video different.
However, this criterion was also influenced by something more personal. Both Kimi and Sonia, revealed they have relatives who are heavy smokers and with this campaign they had a chance to express their feelings of fear and concern for their loved ones. To do so they sought inspiration from a unique concept known as spoken word dance – a combination of storytelling, acting and contemporary dance.
It was through combining this unique concept with their talent for dance and videography that the team came up with the winning video Behind The Mask.
The narrative explores the emotions surrounding smoking addiction and the struggles addicts face when they want to rid themselves of the habit.
Highlighting a side of smoking that is not often talked about, the team impressed the competition’s judges. They were not just victorious in the competition but were given the opportunity to make a full-fledged campaign based on their video.
To tap into that full potential of their message, they used the campaign as a platform to expand their video into a bigger narrative on Instagram, one that not only emphasises emotions but also provides educational information and most importantly, invites the audience to take an active role creating a smoke-free society.
Check out @behindthemask_ on Instagram for their full campaign and see how you can make a difference too. And don’t forget to check out their video here.
