Beyond Memory and Dream
After writing the film with Eilythia, I collaborated with Lindsay and Anuj to refine and blend our intended messages for the piece. Lindsay and I cast our friends and spent two months shooting in numerous locations around Los Angeles. Exploring themes of identity and time structures, the films intertwine dreams, memories, and personal relationships, creating abstracted reflections of Anuj’s subconscious and upbringing.
what is it / you want?
Using Anuj’s archival footage from his childhood, it was a perfect way to begin the project. Overlaping these archives with b-roll and snippets from the upcoming films, What Is It and You Want? serve as an introduction to the musical, visual and metaphorical themes of the overall project.
i fall
I Fall begins the narrative with whimsical imagery of falling in love, subtly foreshadowing a painful and almost frightening outcome. Shot in slow motion—an amazing idea by Lindsay, who choreographed it with this in mind—it beautifully portrays the slow burn of this process. Using Sony’s Alpha A7III camera with my DJI Ronin S3 Pro, the crisp and floating image helps convey these emotions on screen. To achieve the idea of 'memories from a cloudy future,' I processed the image through After Effects, using different texturing methods for random blooming and an uncanny vintage feel.
i think
I Think questions the singular and existential byproducts of falling in love, presenting an abstract mass of uncertainty and mixed emotions. For the production of I Think, I built on the work from I Fall and employed my comfortable, multi-camera approach for a wider variety of abstraction and texturing. The setup included a Casio digital camera, an iPhone 14, a Sony Alpha A7III, and a Nikon D4. Using TouchDesigner and my array of After Effects abstraction methods, the outcome is an energetic moving painting that enhances these themes.
how long?
How Long? is the longest piece and arguably the central question of the project. Anuj worked on this segment for about two years, if not more, and it was the starting point for everything. I first heard it when he performed it for our Performance Technology class in 2023. It was the piece that inspired me to start writing and brought all these ideas together as evolutions and premonitions. The darkest in theme and most dynamic in style, How Long? explores the subconscious through dreams and nightmares, featuring abstracted memories and ritualistic overtones. The piece blends my multi-camera approach with varying intensities of image processing, utilizing TouchDesigner, Runway AI tools, and my Adobe After Effects’ methodical texturing techniques.
i know
I Know builds on the final questions posed in How Long?, leading to an accepting, almost open-ended, and circular resolution that unearths the themes and visuals of What Is It?. Abstracted memories, nightmares, and dreams that evoke uncertainty and an uneasy feeling of 'letting go' cloud the imagery, creating a sense similar to I Fall but less pragmatic.
