Hollow Ground
Directed by Maya Osei. 18 min. Shot on 16mm. A thesis film about institutional silence and the weight of what goes unsaid.
Every frame answers for itself
I spent three weeks watching the corridor before I put a camera in it. The light at 2pm made one decision for me. Everything else I had to earn.
Hollow Ground builds its tension through restraint — static camera, available light pushed past its rating, cuts held two beats longer than comfort allows. Nothing decorative survives the cut.
Osei chose the corridor as her primary location not for production ease but for what corridors mean architecturally: transit without arrival. The blocking enforces that reading.
Maya Osei, BFA Film Production, Class of 2024. Hollow Ground screened at three regional festivals in its first six months.
The sound design — silence as active texture, not absence — was rebuilt in post across four sessions. The final mix strips the score entirely from the last six minutes.
The work holds up. See for yourself.
Hollow Ground
Format: 16mm, 1.85:1. Runtime: 18 min. Sound: Stereo mix. Year: 2024. Festivals: Three regional screenings.
This film is on the same page as the professor's own produced work because it earned that place — through revision, critique, and the cost of every choice made on set.
Camera: Bolex H16. Stock: Kodak Vision3 500T. Lenses: Kern-Paillard Switar primes. Post: DaVinci Resolve.