Week 1

flash back

During shooting, I experimented with jump cuts and natural lighting to enhance realism. Initially, I tried to shoot the “past” scenes in the same location as the present-day ones but found that the visual difference wasn’t strong enough to make the flashback feel distinct. After reviewing my first edit, I decided to revise some shots by changing the time of day for each sequence. I reshot the flashback scene during golden hour to provide a warmer color tone and more emotional resonance.

I also revised the pacing of transitions between past and present. My first edit made the timeline slightly confusing because the cuts were too abrupt. I added a slow dissolve and a soft sound bridge to guide the audience emotionally between the two timelines. The sound of laughter in the background fading into silence helped deepen the contrast.

Week 2-Camera Movement

My creative focus has shifted to deliberately employing camera movements as a tool for narrative and emotional expression. I am attempting to explore how various types of camera movements, such as tracking shots, dolly shots, handheld shooting, and close-ups, influence the audience's perspective, emotions, and immersion in the characters' experiences.

I also attempted to use handheld shooting techniques to create a more intimate and documentary-like atmosphere. In one of the key scenes, the camera followed an object from behind for the shooting. This slightly unstable action added a sense of realism, vulnerability and unpredictability, visually reinforcing the concept of emotional instability.

Post-production and technical optimization

After reviewing the footage from my first round of shooting, I noticed that some shots were either too shaky or too fast, which distracted from the emotional rhythm I intended to create. So I made modifications to these shots, slowed down the shooting speed, and used tripods to stabilize certain scenes while still retaining the handheld shooting effect.

Week3-Lighting

My creative exploration mainly focuses on the expressive power of light in character portrayal and emotional narrative. Inspired by the technique in movies where light reflects the inner states of characters, I experimented with various different lighting arrangements to alter the atmosphere, tone, and depth of psychological perception of each shot.

I shot a series of scenes where the same character was illuminated from different angles - front, side, top, and bottom - each angle creating a unique emotional effect.

For instance, the soft light from the front creates a neutral and friendly appearance, while the side light introduces shadows and mystery, making the character seem more contemplative or conflicted. The hard light from above makes the character appear smaller and more vulnerable, while the backlight brings an uneasy or inner darkness feeling.

I also adjusted the color temperature - using warm tones to create a sense of comfort and nostalgia, and using cold tones to express a sense of alienation or melancholy. Light became a psychological filter, presenting different emotional "versions" of the same person.

Week4 -Sound

<Where are you>

In my creative exploration, I focused on the aspect of sound as a means of narrative and emotional expression. I paid particular attention to the repetition of dialogues and the tension in the auditory space. Unlike non-verbal soundscapes, this project highlights the emotional weight contained within a single repeated statement - "Where are you?" - as the main narrative element.

This week's experience has made me realize that deliberately arranging repetitive parts in dialogues can generate extremely powerful expressiveness. Even a single line of dialogue - if it can be interpreted with rich emotions and maintained sensitivity during editing - can become the core support of the narrative. Emotional stories do not unfold through plot twists, but are presented through tone, breath, pauses, and the reverberation of the voice when shouting.

Week 5

Start / straight narrative focus 2. Coverage for subtext

Through body language, facial expressions and the positioning of the camera, we can understand that there is some unspoken communication between them. The two are silent to each other. The emotional distance between them is clearly visible.

I want to test how many stories I can tell without explicit explanation, and then rely on the coverage of the camera to construct subtext, show character reactions, insert shots and scene arrangements to complete the narrative.

Implicit meaning - through visual presentation.

The close-up shot captured the movements of her hands as she shuffled and dealt the cards. These details revealed the inner tension and unspoken anxiety of the character.

Although there are hardly any spoken dialogues in the play, the underlying meanings are quite rich: Perhaps they are engaged in a kind of game; since the content is never mentioned in the dialogues, it allows the audience to make their own speculations and interpretations, which is exactly my intention.

This week's experience has made me understand the principle of "less is more" in film narrative. A story doesn't need too many action scenes or verbal explanations - as long as one uses the language of the camera skillfully, the subtext can be conveyed. I also learned that starting a story with silence is more likely to attract the audience than a dramatic opening, because it can stimulate curiosity and create a sense of intimacy.

Week7-Directing Actors

My attention shifted to the art of directing actors, particularly how to guide the performance in dialogue and non-dialogue scenes. This video is divided into two parts: the first half presents a situation where there seems to be a mirror between the two characters; the second half fully enters the stage of non-diegetic physical performance, relying on gestures, body distance and movements to convey emotions and the dynamics of character relationships.

Part One:

There are two characters, with an invisible mirror in between them.

When directing this scene, I focused on subtle changes in posture and eye movements.

Part Two: Silent Physical Dialogue

The latter part of the video shifts to a completely silent performance format, where the two actors convey the constantly changing power dynamics, vulnerability, and intimacy through their body movements. Since there is no speech, all the expressiveness is concentrated on the body movements - stretching, retreating, hesitation, tilting, balancing, and so on.

As one of the actors, we conducted a structured improvisational performance. The final presentation was a highly infectious performance segment, where the relationships between the characters unfolded in a rhythmic way - like a no dialogue contest.

I also paid attention to spatial arrangement - who takes the initiative to act, who gives way to space, who follows up - each item became a rhythm point in the narrative. The emotional climax was not expressed through speech, but through stillness, changes in distance, and the eventual body language deadlock

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