The title Atman refers to the concept of true self in Indian philosophy. The film consists of the camera aggressively rotating around a figure wearing a hannya mask, inducing an intense dizziness in the viewer. Matsumoto created a grid around the figure and varied the shot scale and exposure parameters, while shooting on 16mm infrared film. He later rephotographed the material a few frames at a time based on detailed calculations. Because of the infrared film stock, the image has a surreal colorization. The accompanying score was provided by the electronic composer Toshi Ichiyanagi.