Jessie Jiang

1. A shot facing the person, and the entrance is behind her

This is a medium shot, which faces Alice directly, and the shrine entrance is sitting behind her shoulders. The framing puts her body in the front and the gate slightly out of focus behind, like the real world is still holding onto her for a second. Somewhere near the entrance, though the camera doesn't catch it clearly, the stone fox is already watching.

2. The same scene, but farther away, and it's empty

This is a wide shot of the exact same spot, but Alice is gone now. The distance makes the entrance look smaller and quieter, almost like it swallowed her already. It feels like she has already stepped through, and the world is just showing us the empty doorway a second too late.

3. Entering the torii gates, which has endless rows, shot from above

This is a high angle shot, which looks straight down at the red gates that seem to go on forever. The person walks small and slow inside this endless line, and the repeating shape of the gates makes it feel like a loop, like she is walking in cycles without knowing it. This is the part where the fox's voice would say that every way here looks the same, so she might pick one.

4. The same shot and angle, but a different pose

Same high angle shot, same gates, but her pose has changed slightly, like a few seconds passed. The use of the same frame twice makes the walk feel like time is looping instead of moving forward.

5. The end of the torii gates, high angle shot

This is another high angle shot, but now the gates form a square frame around the scenery ahead, like a window opening into somewhere else. The shape of the frame draws the eye straight through it, like the gates themselves are asking her to keep walking through.

6. The road in Arashiyama, fields on both sides, a wide shot with a tilt

This is a both wide and long shot of the countryside road, with fields on either side and the person small in the center. The camera does a slow tilt, moving the view from the sky down to the road, which shifts the mood from quiet and open to grounded.

7. The same spot, but the person moves at a fixed spot

Same location and framing as before, but now the person moves a little within the same spot. This small movement, shown from the same fixed spot, gives a sense of time passing.

8. The Hello Kitty slide, focused close on the slide itself

This shot focuses tightly on the pink slide. The bright color and close framing make the mood suddenly bright and playful. It's a sharp jump from the calm countryside.

9. The market, wide shot

This is a wide shot of the busy market, which is full of people, stalls, and movement, but everything stays a little distant and small. The wide framing makes the crowd feel endless, and somewhere in it, a woman who looks a little like her mother appears.

10. Tsutenkaku Tower, switching between day and night lighting five times

This is a fixed shot on the tower, which cuts together so the lighting flips between night and day five times in a row. The tower can't decide what time it is, and neither can the story anymore.

PS: the order from 1 to 10 follows the order the photos appear in the video.

This is a set of photos from Kyoto and Osaka. I want to use the path as the main symbol. I took pictures at different places and put them together to make one long journey. The journey goes from the entrance of Fushimi Inari, to Arashiyama, to the slide at Universal Studios Osaka, to a busy market, and then to Tsutenkaku Tower.

My idea is simple. A person (that's me in the video) walks into the entrance of Fushimi Inari and enters a mysterious world. Kyoto feels mysterious to me. It is old and quiet and full of forests and shrines. It feels a little like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. I walk along the red torii gates and move into the countryside of Arashiyama. The mood changes from a dark, quiet night to a fresh, green morning. I used several shots from the same spot to show the movement of the person walking through and losing herself.

Then suddenly I enter the Hello Kitty slide. This mood is totally different from before. It is bright and fun. It's a sudden jump as well as a happy one.

After that, I go into a market full of life and noise, and I see Tsutenkaku switch between night and day. Everything feels busy, almost like a dream. The music I used is "Blue Apple" by Japanese singer Kakihara Akemi. It makes the video feel more like a strange or dreamy walk.

I made this because it was my first trip to Japan. At that time, things between China and Japan were not as tense as now, so the whole trip felt happy and light. Moving from old Kyoto to modern Osaka also made me feel far away from home, like I was in another world.

Besides, there is another reason. This journey feels like me looking for my mom. After that trip, she became very busy. We haven't traveled together in almost two years. I miss those days a lot, like drinking matcha with her in Okochi Sanso Garden in Arashiyama, or eating beef rice in Osaka. Making this video feels like I am searching for her and for that memory again.