The House of Loss
The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them, but can't read their expressions. However, in one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.
Interview with Director Jinkyu Jeon
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This animation was inspired by an autobiographical experience from 10 years ago. I couldn't hold a gun (as I do now) due to a problem with the wrist bone in my right arm, so I had to do mandatory military service in a nursing home for two years.
I never imagined that I would make an animation while digging through these memories, but 10 years later, when I was in my 30s and experienced social and political friction caused by generational conflict, I suddenly felt the desire to explore the past.
What's interesting is that apart from the main theme of the elderly in this work, I realized during production that what I most wanted to meet through this work was a young me in my 20s.
This work plays the role of conveying a message, but it was also about meeting myself in my 20s who was only focused on myself in the fast-changing Korean society.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Like any 20-year-old, I was a self-centered person, and I coldly thought that the elderly at the nursing home were losers I didn't want to emulate. I also thought of myself as a loser because I couldn't be like my successful friends. So I couldn't see them. It is ironic that I, who was like that before, use animation production as an excuse to try to revive and understand them through the act of drawing them and myself.
When I think about it, I only had the “passion” to move forward. I didn’t have “tolerance” towards others at that time. The main character goes in parallel and eventually encounters the faces of the elderly only after going through the hardship of fireworks together.
And I wanted to convey the message that even though they have different experiences on the same night, the same day can be made into another day depending on one's point of view. Maybe we can recover from our loss just by truly seeing ourselves or others, even just once. I wanted to tell this to the present me and the past me.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
10 years ago, when I was working in a senior care center as a soldier on mandatory duty, I was obsessed with the idea that if I didn't do something quickly like Korean society, I might disappear like an old building that is indiscriminately destroyed. Everyone is moving forward step by step on their own path, but I felt like I was the only one tied to the place. I don't want to think much about the nursing home because it feels like I lost my time there.
Looking back now, there was resentment in my eyes like an old soldier, saying, “Do they realize how much I have sacrificed for this country?” In the eyes of someone who's been abandoned, he resents the person who deserted him. But I had the eyes of a stray dog blaming itself, “What did I do wrong?” The scenery outside the nursing home window toward which the eyes were directed was invisible because the new concrete apartment building was like a barrier, so no one could see the old people, and it was obscured by the light of the city.
Ten years ago, the elderly and the young me at the nursing home lived a lost time from the outside world. Although we were in the same space, the time outside was different, so we were in a parallel space heading to different places. I tried to transfer the memories I saw there into the movie as images, not text. It was intended to convey visual experiences, not language, to viewers.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I wanted to research the nursing home before production, but in the aftermath of Covid 2021, access to senior care centers was restricted. So I had no choice but to rely only on my memory for all the videos. But memories are bound to be distorted. Especially if it's an old memory or one you don't really want to recall.
In the beginning, I had a hard time reviving my memories into pictures, but I found out that there are images that remain vivid among them. It was the empty expression of the elderly and the distorted joints. To express it, I wanted to use sharp lines rather than colors, and I came to value the importance of line drawing in art.
Color is used to show light and atmosphere, so I limited the palette and gave each symbol a limited color. The blue, yellow, and white colors illustrate the different time zones they belong to.
Blue is a color that symbolizes the elderly, and I get the impression that they are cold both in the past and in the present. For the initial blue color, a grayish blue color close to gray was chosen considering the dry coolness felt in concrete or asphalt, not thermal coolness. However, during the editing process in the second half, the saturation was adjusted to the temperature coolness to give a contrast.
Yellow is the color of youth and symbolizes the present in terms of time. I think of the young man in the work as a person wandering in search of light. He can clearly see the yellow light, but it is a grayish yellow with smog (fine dust) that is common in industrial complexes in Korea. Therefore, I wanted to paint something where you can't even get a sense of exactly where the light is coming from.
White is the historical memory of the past. To be specific, it is an image imprinted on the majority through records. Since time has already passed, it is implemented as a still image without animation. However, I thought that the imprinted memories could be clearer than the real ones, so I depicted them in detail with illustrations.
In the work, colors are used as a whole, but there are scenes that are partially expressed only with lines. I think that when you add a sense of volume with color, you can get a live-action cinematic persuasiveness, unlike a scene drawn in line. Conversely, a line drawing scene may give the impression of a relative painting. It was to partially show that this work is my memory and that I am trying to understand it through the act of drawing it.
The music was limited to helping the video with ambient rather than emphasizing the melody. In addition, sound design relied on the competence of the music director, and in the fireworks scene, a contrast between the visible and the invisible was desired. As a result, I am very satisfied with the sound I intended.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
At first, it was difficult to maintain an objective distance because it was a movie that talked about individual experiences. There were many stories that it was difficult for others to empathize with by focusing on subjective emotions. Through a lot of feedback and modifications, the movie began to find an objective sense of distance.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Rather than suggesting a specific way, I received a lot of support and respect to finish this project. As a result, I wouldn't have done everything without it.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As a producer of the movie, I feel bad that a new Cold War is coming back after making this work that contains the trauma of the Cold War. We need and feel more of an attitude to look at other people's faces beyond the country, race, gender, and ideology, and the movie is saying that.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
This movie is a graduation work from the Department of Animation at the Tokyo National University of Arts. So I had to do everything myself from the beginning under the guidance of my advisor. I had to do everything myself. I had to build everything on my memory.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
We want people with different experiences to think about what is needed first and what actions should be preceded by individuals to coexist.
Interview: May 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The House of Loss
The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them, but can't read their expressions. However, in one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.
Length: 9:34
Director: Jinkyu Jeon
Producer: Yamamura Koji
Writer: Jinkyu Jeon
About the writer, director and producer:
After graduating from the Department of Animation at the Korea National University of Arts, JINKYU JEON obtained a master's degree from the Department of Animation at the Tokyo National University of Arts and has been working as a freelance animator in Korea.
Japanese animator, YAMAMURA KOJI is currently an animation director and a professor at Tokyo National University of the Arts.
Key cast: Sang Yoon Kim (NARRATION)
Looking for: buyers
Facebook: Jin Kyu Jeon
Twitter: @jjk871128
Instagram: @jjk_jeon
Website: www.jkjeon.com
Other: YouTube
Funders: SBA(Seoul Animation Center) www.ani.seoul.kr