Those Who Breathe in the Margins

Project 6

Course Name: Convergence Communication 2 Course Code: MSJ11215 Project Type: Video Art Project Name: Those Who Breathe in the Margins Project Date: Fall 2025

Project Description:

This video art project, created for Convergence Communication 2, explores the concept of necropolitics through a poetic and symbolic visual narrative. Titled Those Who Breathe in the Margins, the work presents a dreamlike yet unsettling world where individuals continue to exist under conditions that slowly erase their identity, agency, and presence. Through ten carefully structured shots, the video uses imagery such as abandoned spaces, faceless figures, invisible borders, and repetitive labor to portray subtle violence and systemic neglect. Minimal dialogue and immersive sound design enhance the emotional depth, allowing viewers to interpret the silent suffering, displacement, and endurance of marginalized lives within controlled environments.

Project Justification:

This project is justified by the urgent need to explore how power structures invisibly shape human existence, particularly for marginalized communities. Instead of direct representation, the video adopts abstract symbolism to engage audiences on a deeper emotional and intellectual level. By avoiding explicit narratives, it encourages viewers to reflect on themes of control, erasure, and survival within modern societies. The use of minimal resources demonstrates how powerful storytelling can emerge from simplicity and concept driven execution. As a student of communication, this project allowed the integration of theory with creative practice, addressing contemporary socio-political realities through an experimental medium that challenges conventional storytelling forms.

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Department of Media studies and Journalism

MSJ11215 Convergence Communication II Section: 02 Fall 2025

Concept Paper for Video Art On “Those Who Breathe in the Margins”

Submitted To Mr. Mohammad Shazzad Hossain, PhD Director | Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Assistant Professor | Department of Media Studies and Journalism Alumni Coordinator | Department of Media Studies and Journalism University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)

Submitted by Fahteen Hossain - 201012076

Date of Submission: 20th November, 2025

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Concept Paper for Video Art

• Title:

“Those Who Breathe in the Margins”

• Idea Behind the Video Art:

Show a world where people keep moving, working, and surviving, but their environment slowly erases their life, agency, and presence. Instead of showing death directly, the video uses symbolism: shadows, erasure, decay, repetition, and silence. This captures the subtle violence of necropolitics — people alive, but controlled, neglected, or abandoned by power. The video should feel dreamlike, poetic, and slightly unsettling.

• Visualisation:

Shot 1 A slow dolly-in shot of an abandoned, half-constructed building. Fog or dust moves gently across the frame. Everything feels paused. Symbol: Spaces where life is “left behind.” Sound: Very low ambient hum.

Shot 2 Human Presence Without a Face Visual: A silhouette of a person standing with their back to the camera. Their breathing is visible. No identity. Symbol: People are reduced to bodies, not individuals. Sound: Breathing, distant construction noises.

Shot 3

The Invisible Line Visual: A long straight road with a red tape line across it. People walking stop at the tape and turn away. No one crosses. Symbol: Borders, restrictions, state-imposed “zones of life and death.” Sound: Wind + the faint beep of a scan machine.

Shot 4 Visual: Close-up of a person’s hand writing their name on a dirty glass window. As soon as they finish, water drips across and erases it. Symbol: Erasure of identity, citizenship, recognition. Sound: Soft water dripping, echoing.

Shot 5 Livelihood in Decay Visual: A worker sweeping garbage. But everything falls back behind him in reverse motion, making his labor pointless. Symbol: People are forced to survive in conditions of slow death. Sound: Slow metallic scraping.

SHOT - 6

Breathing Space Shrinks Visual: A person inside a transparent plastic curtain (like hospital/industrial plastic). The curtain slowly closes in as they keep breathing harder. Symbol: State-induced suffocation — literal and metaphorical. Sound: Breathing becomes louder.

SHOT -7

The Archive of the Unseen Visual: Stacks of documents with blurred-out names. The camera slowly moves over them. Symbol: Bureaucratic control over bodies. Sound: Paper flipping, an electric fan.

SHOT -8

The March Without Destination Visual: Several people walking in circles in an open field. Footsteps form a path in the dust, but it never leads anywhere. Symbol: Endless waiting, displacement, stagnation. Sound: Footsteps, slight echo.

SHOT-9 Life in the Margins Visual: Close-up of a pair of hands holding soil. The soil leaks slowly through fingers. There’s a small seedling inside the soil, barely staying upright. Symbol: Life struggling on the edge of collapse. Sound: Soft rustling.

SHOT-10 Final Image: The Disappearing Body Visual: A person stands still as a projector casts moving footage of city life over them. Slowly the projector’s brightness increases until the person disappears into the light. Symbol: People become invisible in the structures that govern them. Sound: Rising white noise that cuts abruptly to silence.

• Production Plan:

• Cast:

• Rifah Islam mounata

• Ashik Hossen Turjo

• Fahteen Hossain (me)

• Props, Costume & Makeup:

• Line making cloth

• Plastic bag

• Casual dress

• Worn out dress

• Glass and other stuff

• Camera & Equipment:

• IPhone 15 Pro Max

• Lights

• Tripod (gorilla pod)

• Location:

• ULAB Campus

• Dhanmondi 07/A

• Editing:

• Fahteen Hossain

• For a Helping Hand:

• Ashik Hossen Patowary will guide me for the shoot

• Rifah Islam mounata as cast

• Budget:

• The budget has been kept at approximately BDT 2,500 for the time being, including food and transportations

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Learnings:

• Understanding how symbolism can communicate complex ideas
• Exploring visual storytelling beyond dialogue driven narratives
• Learning to create mood through sound and silence
• Managing low budget production efficiently
• Developing skills in experimental video editing
• Balancing creative vision with practical limitations
• Reflecting on representation and ethical storytelling
• Strengthening ability to translate theory into visual form
• Gaining confidence in conceptual and artistic decision making

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