Synopsis/Details
If a film captures moments of the real daily events of one actor’s life and juxtaposes them with reenacted moments of the very same event sequences, but played by a different actor, would viewers be able to tell the difference and determine which moments are real or not? Does it really matter if one is real and the other is not? What if one actor reenacts the moments of another actor’s life, and vice versa, in the same film?
Actors are constantly put into situations where they must live the life of a character, believing in the moment that it is more real than their own. Further, an actor may live a moment in real life that might feel like acting in a scene, reading the lines of a character. I want to create such moments and make viewers question what it means to live a life in between a real one and a fictitious one. This circumstance is not limited just to actors’ lives these days. Some people may have experienced similar moments in their lives in the new era of texting and other messaging services. People are scripting and acting in their own lives, feeling keenly conscious of their “viewers” on the other side, just as a filmmaker often thinks about his or her audience.
In my new film project, Lines & Lives, I want to depict two actors’ real lives, along with each reenacting some moments of the life of the other. I plan to interweave these scenes in a way that will create mysterious déjà vu moments that lead to a conclusion that raises the question of what it means to be “real” or not in the lives of actors and viewers alike. The film will generate a unique story of its own; no one will be able to predict or dictate it, yet the film will lead to a climactic moment of the two actors’ lives merging into one.
I have tested the film concept a few years ago but because of limited resources at the time, the film could not quite reach its potential. However, given the experience it provided me, and my subsequent in-depth reflections on the film’s concept, I believe I am now ready to direct this new film with a newfound clarity surrounding its concept and vision. The characters in this film do not have to be the same gender. In fact, by adding a gender difference, the film will have opportunities for more interesting moments to experiment with the concept. I could even work with more than two characters, to make the plot more complicated and intriguing. There are many different possibilities for playing with the concept; for instance, the film could be made with actors who speak in different languages and are located in different countries.
With your company’s support for the film, I truly believe that I can create something utterly new and unique. It will be shot in the format of documentary, but still include additional filmmaking elements. However, the film will not require a substantial budget. Actually, it can be produced at a higher quality by working with small crews, because they can be more efficient in capturing the right moments in the actors’ lives.
In the rapidly changing new era of the virtual and real worlds intersecting, questions have emerged about life, pondering what is real and what is not. These are legitimate and significant ideas that bear consideration. The result of experimenting with actors’ lives will not be limited to these specific people, but will instead open the door to a series of fundamental questions about how people view and live their lives on various platforms based on their own choices. Today, creating multiple sub-characters with one’s real persona is a leading trend in a virtual world, and some people are starting to experiment with them in their real lives, raising basic questions about their true identities and how to define them. In my new film, Lines & Lives, when all the different characters and their real or fictitious lives merge into one sequence at the end, viewers will see what it means to be real (or not) in life and ask whether defining reality really matters anymore. As a bilingual and bicultural person living in the U.S., I also hope to have the chance to experiment with different cultures and languages in this film.
