In the age of social media, young people are lonelier, more anxious, and more disconnected now than ever before. It is all too common for people to fall into vicious cycles of chasing social highs, only for the high to collapse leaving them feeling more alone than before. They are doomed to die a slow spiritual death by a thousand cuts. As we continue to become more technically connected but emotionally distant from one another, our worlds become smaller than ever before and to the mind of a young person who has never known anything else, the act of sending a text can feel like life and death while the act of making a plan with a friend can feel like a struggle for their very existence.

And the nature of this struggle is that it is taken on alone, behind a plausible face, rarely glimpsed and almost never spoken of. Sometimes we forget it’s even there. Our mission with Smoke Don’t Clear is to not let people forget; to get inside the experience of anxiety and disconnection, to capture what it feels like to be alive in the world today, to stare it in the face and reflect it back to the world and say to those people who know this existential struggle all too well: “what you are experiencing is real, and it is brutal, and you are not alone.” 

"Smoke Don’t Clear" follows Danny, a 19-year-old college student, through a day filled with interactions, awkwardness, and introspection. Danny’s story starts with him holed up in his room, filled with anxiety over texting an unresponsive Hinge date. He is interrupted by his outgoing best friend Raf who drags Danny out for a night of socializing in the wake of the implosion of his situationship.

The narrative moves through a series of social encounters. A trip to a smoke shop to pick out a bong. A chaotic pregame with Raf’s friends. An overcrowded party involving bong hits on a rooftop. Amid all this, Danny runs into Amy, a former classmate who never became more than a casual acquaintance, sparking a potential connection. Danny chases the high of the connection, but his momentum comes crashing down as Raf spirals into emotional turmoil leaving Danny both a witness and a caretaker.

Danny’s night ends with him feeling empty and isolated, left alone in a quiet park, waiting for something more in his life—a text, a connection, or perhaps just a sense of belonging.

The tone of “Smoke Don’t Clear” is rough, messy, and firmly grounded. Nothing is embellished. What should be dramatic comes out awkward and matter-of-fact. Interiority and naturalism are north stars for our actors.

The visual style of the film progressively evolves throughout the film as Danny’s emotional state changes from one scene to the next. A guiding phrase we used when developing the look of the film was: “one visual language, many dialects.” We stay firmly within Danny’s perspective from the first frame to the last with a heavy emphasis on closeups, but the frame grows more dislodged and unstable as Danny becomes more intoxicated through the night.

In the opening scene, Danny is completely inside his own head and we see the action almost entirely through locked down closeups. His phone, the object that all of his anxieties are funneled through, is seen in such extreme closeups that it spills out of the frame and towers over everything else.

When Danny leaves his room with Raf and ends up at the pregame, we stay in locked down closeups but other people are in motion all around him, cluttering up the frame and drawing contrast to Danny’s stillness.

When he arrives at the party with Amy, Danny starts to loosen up and we start to get long lens, long take, locked down pans. The movement of the frame grows in intensity as he gets deeper into the party and by the time he gets to the roof the camera is fully handheld.

The shakiness reaches a peak when he takes a hit of the bong and we move into an experimental sequence of abstract colors and textures in motion as Danny briefly loses consciousness.

When he returns to reality in a daze, the shakiness is replaced with a smooth, floating camera and an expressive sprinkling of slow motion to reflect the crash of his social high and the weed’s influence on his perception of reality.

Rooms feel organic and lived in, and each new space that Danny enters tells a story about how its inhabitants live: A naturally messy person struggling to impose structure; the clutter of a living room born from lack of care and communication between roommates; A well furnished put together space, overrun by the waste and excess of a party. Design is rich, textured, and always flows downstream of character and conflict.

Sound is a crucial element of the world of “Smoke Don’t Clear”. In keeping with the theme of naturalism, we want to prioritize the reality of the atmosphere of these social spaces, even if it means losing some element of clarity. Parties are loud and confusing and you might not pick up every single word of a conversation with someone, even when they are standing right next to you. Since our visual style leans heavily towards closer shots, the sound design of each location is essential to communicating the size of the room and the activity taking place within. The layering of background tracks create a sense of space and depth. In some ways, the sound design will fulfill the purpose that an establishing shot would normally serve.

The only time we break from the principle of naturalism is during the bong scene where, as with the visuals, the sound will dip into the psychedelic and experimental. The natural ambience of the city flexes and distorts and grows into a roaring stream of noise–another way to place us inside Danny’s perspective.

As the filmmakers of “Smoke Don’t Clear”, we aim to craft a potent cinematic experience. This involves a variety of locations all across NYC that will require various fees and permits. In addition, our Director Bryan Chu and Cinematographer Yao Xiao have envisioned intense, novel  visual sequences which will require the rental of a Steadicam among other specialized lighting equipment. Furthermore, we want our production to run with a 100 percent professional workflow which will require ample food and efficient transport for all cast, crew, as well as storage for equipment. Additionally, to deliver professional filmmaking quality we plan on hiring a professional colorist and post-production sound mixer. 

Lastly, “Smoke Don’t Clear” is not just a production but a movie which we aim to deliver to premier film festivals all around the world. Your contributions will help us with all the above production costs as well as post-production and festival distribution fees to bring this vision to life. 

"Smoke Don't Clear" is a film that aims to capture the zeitgeist of our times and deliver an unexpressed modern day truth. Please help us make this vision a reality. 

Director - Bryan Chu

Bryan Chu is a writer, director, and editor studying Film and Television at NYU Tisch as a senior. His past projects include "Bathroom Poetry" (Writer/Director/Editor), "Virgin Talk" (Writer/Director/Editor), and "Heaven/Nevaeh" (DP). He is drawn to the combination of grounded realism and stylistic experimentation in order to immerse the audience in the interior experience of a character. His stories paint portraits of isolation and disconnection in the internet age.

Lead Producer - Ali Pervaiz Malik

Ali Pervaiz Malik is a Pakistani born, Long Island raised writer/director/producer. Most recently, his music video “Knot in my Chest” has won the award for Best Story at the Experimental, Dance, and Music Film Festival in Toronto. Prior to that, his short film “Man of the Hour’ premiered at the New York Shorts International Film Festival. He is currently a senior at NYU Tisch, where he concentrates on directing and producing. No matter the project, Ali lives for forming close partnerships with collaborators and building visions into reality. Furthermore, Ali brings his professional production experience to every project he works on. He has served as a locations assistant for Apple TV and CoMPANY Films as well as a member of the creative development team at CAVIAR in LA. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar and competitive table tennis.


Producer - Lucy Tian

Lucy Tian is a rising producer and director currently studying Film and TV at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She has previously engaged in both cinematic and theatrical productions, working on projects across genres. Her most recent musical short, “So Far, So Close,” is screening at various festivals and received wide acclaim. With a passion for musicals, comedies, and dramas, she challenges herself with each new project. She’s especially dedicated to telling stories that celebrate the ups and downs of life, exploring themes of dreams, adulthood, and beyond.

Producer - Priyanka Kuckian

Priyanka Kuckian is a senior at NYU Tisch in film and television. She has recently interned in creative development at JuVee Productions (Oscar winner Viola Davis’ production company) and Immortal Cinema International. As producer for Bryan Chu’s “Smoke don’t clear” she feels passionately for the film’s themes around student mental health and navigating one’s identity and is excited to bring Bryan’s vision to life.

Associate Producer - Georgia Overby

Georgia is a Southern Californian Producer and Writer/Director with a background in Stop Motion animation. She is currently a Junior at NYU Tisch Studying Film and Television.
Georgia has developed her skills as a producer most recently on Intermediate films “So You Out Here Alone?” and “The Tragedy of Jessica Reeds” and advanced film “hunting season.”
She brings her passion, drive, and creativity to all projects she works on.

Director of Photography - Yao Xiao

Yao Xiao, currently a senior film student at Tisch, aspires to specialize in narrative cinematography. Originally from China, Yao moved to Australia at the age of 14 to further his education and later relocated to the US to pursue film in college. He has primarily focused on narrative projects, with occasional work on music videos. Yao is a firm believer that meticulous planning is the key to great visual storytelling. Yao loves a project that has great potential in utilizing the power of visual storytelling.