A recent addition to Viddsee's stable of films and
part of Viddsee's recently-launched Singapore Film Channel is Ways of Seeing, directed by Jerrold
Chong, whose CV includes an internship on the film Anomalisa.
Ways of Seeing is a visually striking
claymation short film following two strangers who are visually impaired. The
precise use of color and movement in the piece is powerful in evoking
sensations as the two characters recount to one another their memories of their
younger selves. One, a woman born blind and another, a man who loses his sight
in his adolescence.
Whilst the visual design is evocative, it
is also married with beautiful sound design and music as memories of the beach
and forests are fully realized with sound through the stories recollected and
narrated by the characters.
This study of perception and communication, told in cubist and expressionistic styles conveys touching emotions and a sense
of mystery, as we are carried along by ideas and recollections of imagined and
perceived sensations of its abstracted clay characters. A further charm is just
how tactile it feels, going back to the glory of stop motion, with beautiful
rough ‘flaws’, a stark difference against your calculated glossy Hollywood CG
work.
Whilst relatively short, running only for 4
minutes, all of the elements in the film are still thematically focused and
poignantly realised.
Director/animator
Jerrold Chong graduated in 2016 with a BFA in Animation at California Institute
of the Arts (CalArts.) Currently based in Singapore, Jerrold has interned at
Zhao Wei Films, assisting on live-action feature films including Eric Khoo’s In
The Room and Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice. He also interned on the Charlie Kaufman
film ‘Anomalisa.’
Catch “Ways of Seeing” by Jerrold Chong on
Viddsee.
Written by Rifyal Giffari
For the full list of January 2017's 10 films under STOP10, click here.
Written by Rifyal Giffari
For the full list of January 2017's 10 films under STOP10, click here.