DESCRIPTION
Fear comes from uncertainty. Along with fake news and conspiracies, it spreads like wildfire. People stay at home and stay away from the pandemic. But everything just come too fast such that break us into fragments. We have too many hardships these years. So in 2021 we resort to dream and are numb to everything.
You can’t awaken someone who is pretending to be asleep. To some degree, we know what is happening around us. To some degree, we escape from it with dreams.
The video essay serves as an allegory to warn us not to have such a mindset.
SCRIPT
*No one*
*Typing*
All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream. —– Edgar Allan Poe
(News clips)
(Name and UID)
*Eye movement*
DREAM.
*Covering my eyes*
Me// Everything is so uncertain. It just comes too fast like a wildfire .
Me// Or the pandemic itself.
Me// Not sure if real news telling fake stories, or fake news telling real ones.
*Closing my eyes*
Me// So many voices lurking in my head.
Me// To get rid of them, all I need is sleep
YOU CAN NEVER WAKE UP SOMEONE WHO IS PRETENDING TO BE ASLEEP.
STAGE 1 : TRANSITION
Between being awake and asleep.
*Walk up to the door and open it*
(Visions of SARS in 2003)
Me// Looks familiar.
10:56pm
4/5 Mon
STAGE 2: STABILISATION
People become less aware to their surroundings.
*Go down the stairs and turn to the lower floor*
11:07pm
4/5 Mon
STAGE 3: DEEP SLEEP
Dreams occur.
(Random visions)
Me// I wish
*Rapid eye movement*
STAGE 4: REVITALISATION
Paradoxically, the brain becomes more active, the body becomes more relaxed.
01:50pm
8/5 Fri
Someone// Wake up! Wake up!
Someone// Wake up…
*Smiles*
SOME NIGHTS I CAN’T SLEEP. SOME MORNINGS I DON’T WANT TO WAKE UP.
WELCOME TO 2021.
DREAM.
*Eye movement*
SOUNDTRACK
Horror Ambience – ESN Productions
Cinematic and Emotional Background Music For Documentary Videos & Film – Morning Light Music
Keyboard Typing Sound Effect – SFX Cloud
Cafe Nervosa – Too Ugly
All I Have to Do Is Dream- The Everly Brothers
BLIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/mike-pompeo-donald-trump-coronavirus-chinese-laboratory
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/06/asia/coronavirus-china-wuhan-lab-origins-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-four-stages-of-sleep-2795920
https://depositphotos.com/169840806/stock-photo-diagram-of-sleep-cycle-stages.html
Lok Man Poon
3035696896
As an allegorical piece about the fluid realm of dreaming, the content of your work is intriguing and executed with creative flair. The editing of the narrative is extremely well done, with a good range of montage that changes pace in a meaningful manner. The organization and sequencing are easy to follow yet does not fall victim to being predictable. The change of “dream stages” as indicated by the change of music is thoughtful and demonstrates your sensitivity to the importance of audio in video work. Also, appreciate the selection of soundtracks that correspond to the topic, and in particular, the experimentation of audio /voice over “wake up”!
For references, this is a good beginning. You are already selectively looking into reliable news sources such as CNN and branching out to form cross-disciplinary knowledge in psychology to understand stages of sleep. To further your research process, it is worth reading more in-depth about the sleep process (e.g. research papers, journal publications are fantastic credible sources to begin with), and try to come up with your own conclusions as to how the realm of sleeping/dreaming/unconsciousness relates to concepts and or theories of space…hence, returning the focus to our course focus of architecture.