Why Do I Study Physics?

// Brown-RISD Graduation Film

I decided to study Physics in college because, since childhood I have been enchanted by the idea of perfection. However, while seeking a rational world, irrationality shadows every step of my journey. Is this a pursuit destined to end in a dilemma?

Year	2013
Client	Personal
Role	Director, Writer, Animator

Full Credits

RISD Advisors Steve Subotnick, Amy Kravits, Dennis Hlynsky, Agnieszka Woznicka, Brian Kane
Brown Advisors Richard Fishman, James Valles, David Targan, Robert Pelcovits, Chung-I Tan, Brad Marston, Leon Cooper

Director's Statement

When I left home for college in the US, I was fortunate to be selected for the very first class of a new Dual Degree program, presented by Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. WIthout predecessors, and in trusting embrace of Brown's open curriculum, I was pretty much able to design my own education. While it may be too early to discuss the effect of that autonomy, in the past five years in this program, I have had chance to focus on a consistent pursuit - to bridge the arts and science. I chose to major in Physics at Brown and animation in RISD. With graduation, and the arrival of new responsibilities e.g. having to make a living on my own in the crazy New York City, I have to put a temporary hold to this pursuit. And this animation, a year long afford of making, is an attempt to reflect on this ever-intriguing subject.

The film is a Graduation Project at Rhode Island School of Design and a Science Communication Project at Brown University Department of Physics.

Making of

Deleted Scenes

An important theme of the film is the paradoxical coexistence of symmetry and asymmetry in this world. To communicate this feature, one of the initial ideas was to personify the force for organization and force for chaos as a pair of old married couple. I tend to think of the idea of God to carry more association with intelligent design, and the idea of Nature to be wild and unreasonable. But because everyone has different interpretation of the meaning of “God” and “Nature”, and I do not have the luxury of time in the film to develop them as tangible characters, they were eventually cut from the story.

Personification of God and Nature as an old couple

Conversation between grandpa God and grandma Nature regarding the narrator’s obsession with symmetry.
G - sigh...I don’t understand why she’s so obsessed with this.
N - (laughs) Give her some time. She’s just trying to know your thoughts.
G - My thoughts? I have no plan for her. (Pause) She should try to know YOUR thoughts.
N - Oh she wouldn’t want to know that.

Hornors

[Special Jury Prize] CinéGlobe 2014 Official Selection (Switzerland)
[Jury Award] NYC ACM SIGGRAPH MetroCAF 2013 (USA)
[2nd Place Student Award] ASIFA-East 2014 (USA)
[Jury Award for Best Short Film] Gold Coast International Film Festival (USA)
[Guest Feature] Cusp Conference 2014 (USA)
[Official Selection] Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2014 (France)
[Official Selection] The Life Sciences Film Festival 2014 (Czech)
[Official Selection] 1st Ahvaz International Science Film Festival (Iran)
[Official Selection] 2014 İstanbul Animation Festival (Turkey)
[Official Selection] 2014 Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival (USA)
[Official Selection] 15th annual Woodstock Film Festival 2014 (USA)
[Official Selection] International Science Film Festival Pariscience 2014 (France)
[Official Selection] 16th Très Court International Film Festival (France)
[Official Selection] Tricky Women 2014: Up & Coming Talents (Austria)
[Official Selection] Noida International Film Festival 2014 (India)
[Official Selection] Disposable Film Festival 2014 (USA)
[Official Selection] 20th World of Women’s Cinema: WOW Film Festival & Tour 2014 (Australia)
[Official Selection] 10th NYC Downtown Short Film Festival 2013 (USA)