In Bridge 2, I interviewed my partner, Yubin Lee, on camera with ten questions that were edited and manipulated by me to create a short film that contains themes parallel to Funes the Memorious and her personal memories.
In Funes the Memorious by Jorge Luis Borges the narrator is faced with a man named Funes, who falls from a horse which causes his ability to recall everything in complete detail, the short story follows the transition and how Funes must shift his life from this accident. Funes is now cursed with infallible memory which creates a burden to live in generalizations which reduces his ability to think abstractly and can only live in a life that is concrete. Much like Funes’ shift in daily lifestyle, coping with his lack of sleep due to the compact details in his mind and inability to think abstractly, Yubin’s geographical shift has forced her to gain independence and gratitude for life everyday.
Throughout the filming and interview process, I asked simple questions that had the potential to be answered with personal stories. Some of the most provoking answers were responses to questions that had to do with the past and how that has influenced Yubin’s present and future. I used Yubin’s drastic transition from a the suburbs of New Jersey to the bustling city as the structure of the film. I found that throughout the footage, Yubin had filled quiet moments with “Umm”, “like” and “I don’t know”, which illustrated uncertainty, which contrasts the person that Yubin is in reality. Yubin is confident, graceful and determined in her work and in her life, I used her relaxed moments from the footage to create a false image of Yubin. I found that as the film editing progressed I created a continual answer that came full circle at the end of the film. The black frames depict moments of obscurity which juxtapose with the person that Yubin is.
SHIFT: There was slight difficulty in deciding how I wanted Yubin to be seen by the audience. Originally, I had planned to use a more straightforward approach in using the interview footage and creating a profile on Yubin and who she is now, but I wanted to challenge myself and take smaller moments and create a larger symbol of Yubin’s false identity of indecisiveness and lack of confidence. I have had the pleasure to work with Yubin multiple times this semester and have known a confident and composed person.
