Senior Anna Khondkaryan looked around the auditorium in anticipation. It was packed with her peers as her first film was being projected on stage at the school’s film showcase. 

Her film “Exit the Void” was one of many being played that night. 

She could see everyone’s gaze turn towards the screen as the audience took in everything that was happening. 

A wide range of reactions filled the room as some members of the audience seemed to be connecting to it, while others were confused, struggling to understand the meaning behind the film.

Though some directors might have felt discouraged from a response like this from the audience, Khondkaryan had gotten exactly what she was looking for.

She had wanted the audience to question what the film was about and interpret its meaning in their own way.

“I knew that this kind of movie would be something that would make the audience think because its point isn’t really obvious,” Khondkaryan said. “Some people didn’t know what was happening and didn’t know what the film is about, but that’s the reaction I wanted to see.”

Khondkarayan’s film revolves around Lars, an artist who gets trapped in her own mental void. 

Throughout the film, Lars must try to figure out how she got into the void and find a way to get out. The void itself is meant to represent the frustration that artists feel when they hit a mental block, where the only escape is to reconnect with their artistic selves.

The original influence of the idea expressed in the film was Buddhism.

“The main inspiration of the movie is the Buddhist theory that states that the void is one of the tools of creating your own world,” Khondkarayan said.

Khondkaryan first came across this Buddhist theory in Victor Pelevin’s novel “Chapayev and Void.”

“It’s a dystopian novel about a person who gets into the void and begins creating a world around him to try and get out of this void,” she said.

Khondkarayan and her production team took this idea and shaped it into a storyline that she and other artists could relate to. 

“The script was written by my partner William and I,” she said. “I was the one who had the idea and he helped me with the writing and grammar aspect.” 

In the original script, the production team had planned for Lars to be a boy. But plans changed when junior Adrianna Bean presented a new idea.

“The production team had envisioned Lars being a boy and when they were looking, they couldn’t find the right male actor,” Bean said. “So I pitched myself and said that Lars would actually be better as a female. The team really liked that idea and they put me in the production.”

Bean explained that after getting the chance to read the script, she felt like she really resonated with the character.

“I am an artist myself and I definitely understand what it feels like to have that block,” Bean said. “We’ve all had a point in our life where we just feel very stuck and we’re trying to figure out how to get out of that.” 

Once the script had been written and the role of Lars had been decided, the last step in the making of “Exit the Void” was filming and editing, which in total took about five weeks.

The majority of the film was filmed in front of a green screen in the video production room. The green screen was used to create the illusion that Bean was in all white space, or a void.

This posed a few challenges. Khondkaryan explains that the green screen made some of the images depicted feel flat, especially with the lower-quality cameras provided by the video production program.

“That was one of the reasons I decided to make the movie more creative than anything, because I knew that the video quality wasn’t going to be the greatest,” Khondkaryan said.

Despite these hiccups, Bean feels accomplished with her overall performance.

“I’m really proud of my performance,” she said. “I feel very lucky and happy that I was able to work on this production. Anna is an amazing director and I’m excited for my next film.”

Khondkaryan states that the process of bringing “Exit the Void” to life was made even more enjoyable by the fact that Bean was able to truly embody the character of Lars.

“I wanted to have a connection between the director and the actor, which I think I achieved because Adrianna really understood the character,” Khondkaryan said. “She understood the emotions I needed from her and it was a magical process.”

Since filming “Exit the Void,” Khondkaryan has entered the film production program and has learned new skills that she hopes to apply to future productions.

The abridged version of this article appeared in the Fall 2023 print edition. This is an uncut version.