The theme for this experimental film emerged naturally: the cost of living crisis. With JJ settling into a new home and Xin preparing for an upcoming move, we felt the weight of rising housing costs keenly. Still, even amid these pressures, we recognize our privilege in being able to call any space ‘home’ in a time when fundamental rights feel increasingly fragile across the world.

For the past few months, we’ve been deeply immersed in the digital space as our projects have taken us into the world of pixels and code. As a way to reminisce on our film for CIRCA20:23 last year, we decided to revisit the Piccadilly Lights - this time just for the joy of creating. The film depicts a ‘home’ moving through cycles of order and chaos, culminating in a violent upheaval where walls collapse, and its contents spill into a void. It’s a visual representation of the instability of ‘home,’ yet with an openness at the end that hints at new possibilities — a reflection between us on how fundamental change can’t happen without breaking away from systemic norms. This feeling is captured in the music, an original score by Luling Wang. Rhythmless, definitely chaotic, but not entirely without hope.

For production, we created a scaled-down set, our smallest one yet. Unlike previous boxes out of plywood or cardboard (just big enough to fit Xin), this box was made of foam board and holds only a miniature furniture set. Making use of Xin’s affinity for interior design, we arranged countless versions of this home, shaking them up for slow-motion footage, all filmed with an iPhone clamped to the box (a whole contraption). We aimed for a semi-animated quality - creating movement that may not seem instinctually possible without digital animation. Each shake and tilt had to be carefully choreographed to achieve the visuals we had in mind.

Turns out, there’s quite a science to controlled chaos.

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P.S. If you know of a way for us to actually show this on the Piccadilly Lights, do let us know.