rewind

stanford university, spring 2023

video installation
editing (adobe premiere pro) + installation design + setup


story

As someone with a history of depression, I wanted to make a video installation that expresses the murky daily experience of life that comes with it, and the light that can guide us through. Using personal archival footage, from just a few months ago all the way back to when I was just a few months old, this is the story I seek to tell.

Depression can make present experiences feel distant and faraway, while memories, even recent memories, become blurry, unclear, and difficult to recall. However, past memories often shine through crystal clear. Memories of childhood or even just the most recent years before depression came flooding in. And it is these memories of the past that help remind us of who we are, acting as an anchor, something to ground us when we feel most adrift.


overview

  • video:

    • made up entirely of archival footage edited together in Adobe Premiere Pro

    • narratively, videos progressively move back in time chronologically

      • beginning = experience of life during depression

      • middle = “bridge” between depressed experience & pure childhood memories

        • represented with (slowly increasing) lower opacity videos layered on top of one another

      • ending = my earliest, clearest memories of joy and life, simple and untainted

  • music:

    • OPENING SONG: "Greensleeves”

      • played and recorded on the cello by myself

      • audio equalization (EQ - low-pass filter) to create distant, drowned audio effect

    • ENDING SONG: improvised music (based on "What is Love" by Kiesza)

      • recorded by myself on the cello and Richard Yuan on piano/voice

      • audio equalization (EQ - low-pass filter: 300 Hz), gradually ramping up to unaltered state

  • installation:

    • created installation on Unistrut ceiling grid, accessed with electric scissor lift

      • created a room with blackout/masking curtains

      • stretched bedsheet across the top to create a ceiling

      • projected image upwards (onto ceiling) w/ Epson EX100 Projector, so viewers experience it lying down

Previous
Previous

spinning rings

Next
Next

voices