“View” is a song I go back to constantly because of the use of time. The short is named after a syrupy korean pop song of the same name. The song and video represent going through life in a beautifully dreamy way; one that acknowledges the ennui.

In the short I wanted to take that ennui of it being another ordinary day, she’s alone, it’s empty and construct a presence around that. Though only one person is physically present, there are two main characters. The daughter scrutinizes her mother’s space for no discernible reason except that she can. Most likely to see her in the way her mother would never let her. In her mother’s space she sees a person who exists outside of her motherhood. Though she is not just a mother, to her daughter that’s all she’s known her as.

Oftentimes, in transitioning into adulthood, time feels suspended but, within that perceived tedium, nothing stays the same. Then we get older, things change, and time feels like it slips through our fingers; truly impossible to grasp. She doesn’t see that yet, doesn’t know it.

“You were so used to being bored you forgot about the specialness. Now slowly lift your head…”

Although this is my first short, and very clearly an early work, it’s still something that I’m shocked I achieved. It’s dear to my heart in that through the excessive flaws and all the things I regret, which is inevitable, I begin to see me. I value this first time so deeply. I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. I had way less worries in being unsure because I was, there was less pressure, I (almost) knew a slight-failure would be acceptable with my very first work.

I went off the dream and ennui theme. How she is in the space as a daughter and a person and the thread that connects somewhere, the room, to someone . And maybe, somehow, she knows that mother and daughter will always be fused and it doesn’t matter anyway. Still a beautiful view.

(translation of korean lyrics for SHINee’s View written by Jonghyun Kim.)