Interview: The Making of the Tree Monster

Interview: The Making of the Tree Monster

Print Able interviewed Cherian Joseph, a talented young man who co-directed his first short film, “Vrisksha Rakshas” (Tree Monster).

Editor’s note: Watch the short film to add richness and context to the interview.

He completed a course in Communication Design from the National Institute of Design, Kurukshetra. Cherian shared that he was selected to NID based on his originality in solving the given problem. With pride, he shared his first Malayalam short film “Vrisksha Rakshas” (Tree Monster) with his art teacher. Back in 2018, his art teacher Ashwini had recognized his creativity and his unique approach to art, which was a blend of personal experience and style.

Cherian wrote the screenplay and co-directed the film. In addition, he is also the protagonist.

The concept of Vriksha Rakshas was inspired by Malayalam folklore where ghosts are chained by the trees. “The movie explores who is really the tree monster,” shared Cherian. He talks about the role stories play in helping people to cope with reality.

Cherian shared the process of taking the screenplay into the production phase: “When I sat down to write it, it was important to me that it was a minimalistic story. When the cinematographer first read the screenplay, he really liked it. Then, I created a mood board with stills and images from movies I liked to communicate the tone of how my movie should look like. I wanted many repetitive frames.”

Click on the link below to listen to his complete interview where he shares his journey of working on the short film. 

He shared, “With every project, I want to challenge myself.” Cherian is currently working on the screenplay for his second film which will be significantly longer in duration.