Obstructions Omnibus

Assigned in Anne Misawa's ACM 410: Advanced Cinematic Production course and inspired by the documentary "The Five Obstructions" (2004) by Lars Von Trier, this experimental exercise aims to challenge students' storytelling capabilities when film artifice is selectively impeded, or in other words, obstructed. It does this by tasking them with creating a 2-3 minute short film that follows a prescribed set of obstructions based on their respective technical and thematic weaknesses and strengths. My obstructions were "dialogue can only be found on set" (no scripted conversations) and "repeat the same shot twice; the second time it reads different by context." Students were put into groups of three and were expected to center their individual stories around a overarching group theme. The groups were then required to edit their films into a larger omnibus film, treating their individual shorts as "chapters" in that omnibus.  My group's theme was "your protagonist is caught in a recurring nightmare you yourself have had." A challenging one indeed, for I deliberately choose not to remember my nightmares.​

 Presented below is my chapter of the larger "Obstructions: Nightmares" omnibus, which I fondly titled, "Passion Orange Guava Stalker". I am also including stills from some of my classmates' obstructions projects that I worked on.​