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Remembrance of Things Past
The idea of filming my family has always been on my mind. At the end of 2023, I developed a deep passion for studying essay films. While researching, I stumbled upon Jonas Mekas’s "Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania," which left a profound impression on me.
During my two years studying in the United States, I received bad news from home, mostly about my grandparents' deteriorating health. After returning to China, I began preparing for related filming. During this period, I went through an internship and a short stint at a job. Fortunately, I managed to purchase four Nizo Pro Super 8 cameras and approximately 20 rolls of Super 8 film.
When the Lunar New Year arrived, I brought two Nizo cameras and about 18 rolls of film back to Danzhou, Hainan. The filming process went smoother than expected, probably because I was filming my family members, making it easy to get interview opportunities. Of course, the technical limitation of the Super 8 camera, which couldn't record synchronous sound, posed a challenge. This was my first attempt at creating a documentary with complete "image-sound separation." It forced me to constantly think about the relationship between image and sound: Should I film specific images based on the interview content?
So, I captured images spontaneously, trying to "forget" the audio content of the interviews and not be influenced by it. This approach was quite similar to my state during editing. Initially, I tried to craft a rough storyline based on the audio, then match it with "fitting" visuals. However, I later realized that the visuals and audio were too well-matched, sometimes making it feel like the visuals were merely serving the audio.
In my ideal vision, the relationship between sound and image should be balanced, not dominated by one over the other. After recognizing the issues in the initial editing phase, I adjusted my approach. I removed all the audio and edited by purely watching the visuals, seeking connections within the footage. I imagined it as a silent film where I only needed to tell the story visually.