Campaign
3–4 min
A Campaign for World of Asaya
Concept
A true-crime mockumentary for Asaya
For seventy years, crimes have been committed against Indian skin. The tube that promised fairness in seven days. The sunscreen that turned us grey so we stopped wearing it. The retinol built for Scandinavians. The besan, the lemon, the toothpaste. The wedding broker with a shade card.
Nobody was ever charged.
The Melanin Files opens the cases. One episode, one crime. A detective who treats a dark spot like a homicide. An interrogation room. A wall of red string. Witnesses who still won’t admit what they did.
The suspects keep coming back. The aunty with a new home remedy every week. The ad man who wrote the jingle and is still proud of it. The chemist who sold the tube and asked no questions. The broker with his shade card, marked Exhibit A.
And one person on set who isn’t acting. The forensic dermatologist. When the evidence reaches her, the jokes stop and she says what the skin actually needed all along. Forty seconds of truth in a room full of fools. Then the stamp: case closed.
The verdict is always the same. It was never your skin.
Why it works
Comedy gets shared. Explainers get skipped. The science lands harder as the one straight voice in the room, and the uncomfortable things about the category get said by the culprits, not the brand. Asaya just commissioned the investigation.
What you get
Every case yields the interrogation, the aunty, the forensics and the verdict as standalone cuts. One set, one cast, a catalogue that runs as long as there are crimes to solve. Which is a while honestly.
01 · Introduction
The idea does the persuading on its own: a true-crime parody that lets Asaya’s science be the payoff rather than the pitch.
Studio Guerrilla will make this as a tightly cast, single-set procedural spoof, played completely straight by the camera and completely absurd in content.
The comedy is structural. The film moves through interrogation, suspects, forensics and verdict, so the audience knows exactly where the sincere part is coming and leans in for it.
Our focus: make the forensic dermatologist the only sincere voice in the room, so the science lands harder for being the one thing nobody is joking about.
02 · Creative Treatment / Visual Style
Tone: Deadpan true-crime parody. The camera never winks; the content does all the work.
Structure: Five movements. The Crime (narration sets up the case). The Interrogation (the detective grills a suspect). The Suspects (witness testimonials, each one incriminating). The Forensics (the dermatologist’s forty seconds of real science). The Verdict (case closed, the tagline).
Cinematography: Procedural crime-drama language. Handheld in the interrogation room, mockumentary talking-head framing for the testimonials, and a stiller, cleaner camera for the forensic segment.
Sound: True-crime scoring cliches played entirely straight, then a tonal reset (silence, or a single sustained tone) under the dermatologist, so the audience hears that this part is real before she says a word.
03 · Key Scenes (Broad strokes)
The Crime - Cold open. The crime is stated in true-crime narration: on a Tuesday in 1998, a tube promised fairness in seven days.
The Interrogation - The detective grills a suspect across a metal table over a piece of evidence.
The Suspects - Talking-head testimonials from the aunty, the ad man, the chemist and the broker, each one digging themselves in deeper.
The Forensics - The one sincere scene. The dermatologist explains what the skin actually needed, played completely straight.
The Verdict - The stamp comes down. It was never your skin.
04 · Casting Plan
The Detective: a comic actor who can hold deadpan procedural seriousness without winking at the camera.
The Suspects: the aunty, the ad man, the chemist, the broker. Cast for comic timing and total commitment to the bit.
The Forensic Dermatologist: cast for credibility over comedy, ideally a practising dermatologist. Her sincerity is the hinge the whole film turns on.
05 · Colour Grade Plan
Interrogation and testimonials: Warm, rich, naturalistic documentary grade. The visual language of prestige true-crime, played straight.
Forensics segment: A cleaner, cooler reset. The grade itself signals that this part is not a joke.
Why: The audience reads the tonal switch from the light alone, so the science lands before the dialogue starts.
06 · Production Design / Reference Frames
Generated mood references for tone, casting and set direction only. Not final frames.
The investigation
The suspects
The forensics and the verdict
07 · Locations
One primary set: a bare interrogation room, built or hired as a small studio in Bengaluru
A clinical corner dressed for the forensic dermatologist segment
Talking-head backdrops for the suspects (the aunty’s living room, the ad man’s office, the chemist’s counter), all buildable within the same studio
08 · Deliverables
Hero film, 3 to 4 minutes, 16:9
60s, 30s and 15s cutdowns for pre-roll and social
Each suspect testimonial and the verdict cut as standalone vertical 9:16 pieces for Reels and Shorts
Stills from the set: the evidence wall, the suspects, the case file, for print and social
