Thesis Breakdown – wenyiguo.com

concept

This film is inspired by a nightmare my partner had. In the dream, they were stuck in a strange land, missing a flight, lost and alone, and being chased by monsters. The intense emotions and eerie setting grabbed my attention, so I took the story, edited it so it fits into a 4 minute short film, and started production.

Since the film is about a nightmarish journey, I looked for inspiration in other films that carry a sense of realism but also contain elements that seem dreamy, unrealistic, or even supernatural, in both story and art direction. I also wanted a clear distinction between “Home” and “Travel Destination”, so I gather reference on that as well.

Reference I gather from La La Land and Poor Thing

Animatic

First draft animatic

The animatic went through many changes as I tried to figure out what this film would be about. Since the original story was from a dream, it was a bit directionless and messy. A lot of edits were made to help the story flow better.

That’s the first draft, it looks very different from what the film is now