https://vimeo.com/168103561
Smoking is all around us, impacting nearly everyone of us, but specifically for an individual that is a victim of the addiction it becomes more of an impact. It’s hard for a bystander to convince a smoker to quit or slowly give up a cigarette, plainly because the idea of the cigarette is more or less etched into the person’s lives. There’s a reason for the smoker to pick up a cigarette and in order for them to put it down it takes more than convincing them of the effects. Through my video, I don’t intend to convince the smoker, but give them a visual of their reality. I intend to show them that there is meaning in their lives and that they are blind to a repulsive act because they see beauty in it. When in actuality the beauty is a distortion of their reality. This beauty slowly but surely deteriorates, alongside their relationships and most importantly themselves. For this piece I decided to use the dichotomy of reality and illusion to tap on the idea of how smoking affects individuals in more than one way. The reality part of the video is shot to reflect the individual in his regular routine, smoking one after the other in one sitting. The purpose of using black and white is to convey this idea of sorrow and uneasiness in the act itself. The scene that transitions from himself to an encounter with his friend is an emphasis on how the act affects people around him and therefore the reason for his slow disappearance. While the elements in the illusion or animation conveys the idea of time being precious, and why the smoker might see beauty in smoking through the colors and movement of smoke. The smoke also quickly moves over the people associated in his life to portray this idea of wiped away relationships. The spoken word piece that goes over the entire video was used to establish a certain emotion. The piece is written in a way that talks to the audience as well as the smoker. Almost like a voice in the person’s head that isn’t convincing, but narrating, yet convincing the audience that doesn’t smoke.