I still believe simplicity is the essence to arousing viewers' deep emotions. Simple moving images can be meaningful, emotionally compelling and stay in viewers mind forever. As to the videos on my website, they are based on the similar themes: Self- identity and human psychological experiences.
I've worked with videos for three years and made mostly experimental videos. I firmly believe experimental video has its own compelling impact and psychological influence on the human behavior, it can be raw, eerie, quiet, as long as it delivers the message to the viewers.
My inspiration comes from my curiosity of everything in the world, I get inspired when I travel, I get inspired when I go to a concert, I get inspired when cooking an omelet. Everything and anything can be my inspiration. I am also influenced by Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage because their works are poetic and metaphoric. I also enjoy Chris Cummingham's works. They are very visually powerful and I appreciate their fast and eeriness style.
"Still" is the video that uses the photo stills to present a poetic, fluid imagery about memory. Still images are projected onto fabric, creating fluid, moving effects. The goal is to invoke a sub-conscious psychological experience in the viewer. Simple images such as a river, tree, and clouds make a universal connection with the viewer's memory. The video itself is a metaphor for a person's memory; it seems static but contains a lot of happenings. Effects are used to create the dreamy feeling at the beginning of the video. Special attention was paid to the rhythm of the piece, which I felt was key to its psychological nature.
"It's Me" is a video piece where my body is used as a brush to write my name with red ink. It’s a piece that deals with self-exploration. In Asian countries, names are very important. Therefore, parents always spend a lot of time coming up with names for their newborns. My name was given to me by my parents, as was my body. I feel that there are certain connections between these two elements. A person writes their name as a representation of their identity. Thus I came up with the idea to use my body as a tool to write my name. Each stroke of the character was written with a different part of the body, my own process of self-exploration. The video itself has a very raw aesthetic. My goal was to deliver the concept as an experimental and primitive feeling. The red ink, a representation of my blood, is also part of my body. In this video it serves as a medium to connect my internal self, my body, with the external, my name. Blood is also used as a metaphor for the circle of the life. The video was shot handheld because I wanted the viewer to experience the full emotion involved in the process of writing these characters firsthand.
"Self Portrait" is an experimental video about inner self-discovery through the reflection of a mirror. The concept comes from the idea that people can never truly understand themselves. I use the mirror to represent myself because of its honesty. You cannot hide your true self in front of it. In this short piece, the angle between the mirror and the face is crucial to it’s feeling of intimacy. The zooming shot at the finish is key to delivering the final message. The length of the video is crucial to the final shot and it’s powerful and unexpected feeling. When editing, I had to keep in mind the viewers limit for watching the repeating moving image. The timing was crucial to setting up the viewer’s expectations.
"Tore" is my first collaborated video. It deals with urban loneliness and the human craving for the freedom and love. The apartment, the wall, and the ladder are metaphors for the loneliness and searching. I used jump cuts and repeating images to present feelings of uncertainty and insecurity in the human mind. I also had the camera follow the actor to create a feeling of intimacy with the viewer. Because of its use of pop music, Tore also has a music video-like quality. One of our goals was to try and incorporate traditional video art into the medium of the music video.
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