7’32”

2019

NEON was a thesis project for my studies. It is a visual experiment balancing on 3 levels. The first, the desideratum of my thesis, refers to the way costumes form (influenced by past eras), react, and transform depending on changes in lighting and the use of alternative materials. The second level is about the fight between who we show and who we really are. The exaggerated costumes represent the cultural, social, and political backgrounds in which we have grown, while the free bodies incarnate our real selves. The third level is the experimentation. During the rehearsals, the actors were building their roles themselves, improvising based on stimuli like sketches of their costumes, and parts of the music. The first time the actors wore the bulky, warm, uncomfortable costumes was during the shoot. I aimed to capture the real, ultimate feel of discomfort and awkwardness of the “pretend” self.