Logline
An inquisitive young lady on a quest for purpose and meaning asks a series of questions pertaining to her existence and identity. Answers lead to more questions and soon to disparity as she loses herself down a rabbit hole of existential quandary.
About
Absurditea! is a short narrative musical film I created entirely by myself in the midst of the pandemic while taking virtual film classes at SCAD in 2020. It was selected as one of SCAD’s outstanding student produced short films and awarded festival submission funding. Scroll below to learn more about my writing and production process and to view my gallery of Absurditea! merchandise available for purchase!
Absurditea! is an exploration of existential philosophy through a series of tea pun dialogue with a slew of nonsensical characters embodying different concepts of existentialism. It’s a comedic, nonsensical, and philosophical exploration of the angst, dread, and despair one experiences when confronting conundrums of meaning, purpose, and the absurdity of human existence.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been plagued by chronic existential crisis, existential depression, and philosophical quandaries. Absurditea! was conceptualized in the midst of a particularly grueling existential crisis years prior to writing the script in the form of a voice memo of me free styling my existential despair in song while I played the guitar. The original recording is much more angsty and melancholic. I was in a transitional place, at many forks in the road of my life and career, and grieving the death of multiple identities and potential lives lived through physical injury, cognitive and emotional insecurities, missed opportunities, and traumas. I was living back at my parent’s house, having dropped out of school, without a job, and I had no idea who I was, where I was going, and what was the point of it all. I was hyperfixated on existential quandaries, brewing to a point of madness, fighting for a will to survive and trying to come to a directional conclusion.
In times of extreme stress, I naturally default to dissociative defense mechanisms and all kinds of kooky characters come out with nonsensical and pun filled speech as a means of mitigating the seriousness of stressful situations. I created Absurditea! as a kind of ode to the comedic nonsensical characters and their playful attitudes that get me through existential stress. When I have existential crisis now I can more so easily and directly get to the state of embracing and accepting uncertainties and absurdities of this human existence by singing or watching this memorabilia.
Quoted existential philosophers and inspirations:
Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone de Beavoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus.
I wrote the script and recorded the soundtrack for an Intro to Sound Design class assignment at SCAD. The project requirements were to create a a soundtrack with dialogue, music, and sound effects. It took me three days to write and revise the script because I had so much more I wanted to say but the last requirement was that it had to be under 4 and a half minutes long.
I recorded, edited, and mixed the soundtrack in ProTools at my home studio during the pandemic. Later that fall, I shot and edited the video to the soundtrack as my final for an Intro to Cinematography class I was taking virtually. The soundtrack and final video is currently used as an outstanding student project example in both Intro to Sound Design and Intro to Cinematography classes at SCAD!
The characters are embodiments of different moods I've felt towards topics and concepts within existential philosophy. The dialogue is an externalization of the real thought dialogue I have with these parts of myself in an existential crisis. I just let myself fully experience the moods and embody the characters that live within. I let them dress themselves, paint their faces, act, and speak and the clowning unraveled naturally.
My housemates graciously let me take over our sun room for 2 weeks to use as my set location. I took everything out and went foraging for furniture and set decoration items around my house, in storage, and my parents' house. I borrowed some items from friends and framed some of my personal artwork on the walls.
I shot Absurditea! in a virtual cinematography class during the pandemic when I did not have access to SCAD's film equipment. I shot it on my iPhone 11 through the Filmic Pro App and edited the footage in AVID. Wanting the visuals to convey experiences of derealization and depersonalization while questioning reality, identity, and existence, I attempted to achieve such feeling states through the use of trippy lens attachments I bought online, practical effects such as a kaleidoscope, kaleidoscope glasses, and prisms, and editing effects.
Support Tandy Land Productions and my projects in development by purchasing some merch, all designed from still photos and the title cards I illustrated for Absurditea!
Visit the
and check out Absurditea! Merch!
