Restless

With the restrictions of going outdoors and with socializing in general, our imagination and emotions have become increasingly more tactile. ‘Restless’ examines an emotional journey as the protagonist’s mind travels through a series of mental landscapes, yearning for hope and freedom.

Director / DP / Editor:
Tony Wang

Stylist:
Emiliana Lahrssen

Actress:
Sidney White

Makeup artist:
Stella Wunder

Assisted by:
Rhea Li

Special thanks to:
Leo Jin

The inspiration for the film came to me from the personal experience of social distancing. I found that as I spend a long period of time by myself, my mind tends to think a lot and drift into a vivid loophole of imagination, yearning for hope and freedom. To represent the spontaneous thought process of the mind, the editing process involves an experimental use of sound and varying paces.

The shooting only took 2 and a half days in total, with a re-shoot! A big keyword for us is spontaneity. I do not have movements planned, we figured out what to do on-location based on specific emotions. In a sense, the shoot is like spontaneous thoughts of the mind.

The real work starts in the editing room. Because the footages are messy, a lot of time went into categorizing and reviewing. Once editing starts, it still doesn’t get easier. Trial and errors are required for the clips to flow. It is hard to decide where to put footage on the timeline because the editing process, like the shooting, is based on what feels “right”. After 3 months of trying to perfect the edit and critiques from friends, the film is finally ready.