Spotlight on Bridges – UCLA Music Video


UCLA students and alumni worked together to creatively spotlight relatable issues of trying to fit in, overcoming depression, and forging a path forward in Bridges, a four-minute music video.

Bridges addresses what it’s like to break the mold as a young adult in college and embrace that sense of individuality through music, dance, and visual effects. The story was born out of real-life college experiences depicted in three acts, from gray and disconnected to breaking out of being a duplicate and a nobody with a blurred face, to truly feeling what is possible in claiming your own better self in all types of environments.

The visual effects throughout the video were all used with deep intention. The gray blur of not having an identity started the video and evolved to duplicates with a blur of searching for an identity. The final explosion of color shows the arrival of coming to finding the character’s best self.

The director Jay Weneta, from the Unmapped Cinema production team, stated, “The video is worth viewing because it’s cool and fun and it’s nice to see what these kids do when not bound to class. Expression outside of the mold of class is where the true beauty lies. The music video sheds light on the beauty of the college student being themselves and finding their potential outside of a classroom. Raphael [the main character] is part of the mold, then he breaks it, and he’s beautiful because of it.”

Executive Producer Dalida Arakelian recruited top tier talent from UCLA who were motivated to live and tell the story. The music drives a sense of determination to discover this bridge to claim the true self and true path, regardless of the societal pressures around. The music was a collaborative effort produced by Dalida Arakelian and Stephen Spies with guest rapper, Aristotle, a student of University of California, Berkeley.

The short film is a beautiful production featuring emerging talent across multiple disciplines at UCLA such as School of Film, Television & Theater, School of Music, and the Dance Department. Scenes filmed at iconic UCLA spaces such as Powell Library, UCLA School of Law, the UCLA Anderson School of Management Center for Health Sciences, and UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior.

Watch UC Student Life: Dance Edition – Bridges (Official Music Video).