HermiT
Hermit is a mixed mixed media experimental short movie I am working on right now (hopefully I will release it before the end of 2025). It combines widely different styles into one video, but why?
The Movie That Can Be watched Only at one location
The most work I have been doing the last year was on the set of “Stranger”, which is an action packed fantasy/sci-fi feature film. It was very exciting, and I got to become very skilled with the FX6 and the Ronin 4D. It was a technically demanding job, and I wanted to go in a different direction, something with a conceptual story and a more artistic vibe.
The movies that touched me the most this year (I am not saying they are better than other movies, it just that they provoked my artistic fiber) are La Grande Bellezza and Sunset Special 2, which are both great example of artistic freedom in the narration and still achieve to give us a lot to reflect about life.
Hermit explores the idea of life after death and the meaning of life as well as our relationship with nature, from the simple, cute and almost absurd point of view of a Hermit crab. We see him start his life on the beach, then move to the afterlife, live a day as a human, each time in a different dimension, which is the perfect occasion to use a totally different style and approach to the visual representation of the story.
The very begining is an 8bit game, which feel simple, yet like in every game, there is a sense of mission to it, repetitive tasks that comes with it. Also in video games, when you think about it, you die and resurrect often. As if death is a great motivator inside what should be a fun activity.
A filter to simulate the Hermit Crab's Vision
In the following part, there’s a bit of regular video that was taken through a filter that I developed and has an extreme macro effect and also a square diffraction of light. Because hermit crabs have squarish eyes, this is how I imagined they would see the world.
We found this filter randomly while taking apart a old projector. I could see the effects were very interesting so I took the time to adapt it to my a7s3 (it took a very long time to get the secret sauce). I didn’t want a digital filter to keep the thig as organic as possible. I still have this filter and take it for a spin sometimes 😀
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Hermit reaches the afterlife, where his level of complexity increases, and he meets with Hermit god, who tells him he can go back to live as a human, as to understand why humans can do the things they do.
Back on earth, I use regular video again with a dreamy, slow shutter effect, and I am not going to spoil more 🙂
There are still a few things that I want to perfect, especially I want to make the story more smooth and integrate a few more visual elements to complement the story and add diversity.
If you would like to watch the movie for screening purposes (as it’s not released yet), contact me: bf.masse@gmail.com For now I plan to have to movie only available in Taiwan Toucheng where it was made, to keep it local.
