For my second project, I wanted to create a piece that revolves around light and its constant presence in our lives. In this short film, I want the light to represent hope; hope for a better day, outcome and future. Consequently I also focus on myself and have a double entendre happening with the leaving of the main figure in the story and the journey of finding hope. The main figure, sees all the hope in the world however, ends up giving up on it or pursuing it, which I would like to leave as an interpretation from the audience. Furthermore, I want the effect of light to be constant throughout the piece in each frame. I also experimented with the passage of time and the way in which time is perceived throughout the film. I wanted to show how a multitude of different things happen within one action or second and how insignificant one action could be compared to the billions that are happening consequently.
Therefore, I experimented with different types of transitions and cuts and also with slow motion.
For the equipment I used in my piece, I used my iPhone 14 Pro, as I wanted to shoot a lot of in-between sequences outside while exploring the city and seeing different lights. Furthermore, I wanted all of my shots to be in the same dimensions. Therefore, I resorted to filming everything in landscape mode on my iPhone.
I only needed around 1 to 2 days of shooting my sequences, as the main storyline scenes were filmed in one day and the res of the shots were captured outside. I wanted the different sequences to also be from a range of day to night. The first location for the shoots was my dorm room, where the main storyline took place. Afterwards, the sequences that flashed throughout were from all the different places I walked to and saw around NYC, such as SoHo, Tribeca, Meatpacking, Hudson yards, 5th Avenue… I was mostly outside, however I also wanted to include inside scenes from when I visited different restaurants and stores.
Thus as I actually have found “my light” since moving to New York, the use of the super imposed candle shows the warmth that I am experiencing and how I have found the hope that was once missing from my life.
Initial Storyboard:
