The Story Behind My 10 Photos

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.