My Master’s project focused on the aesthetic relationship between a film and its audience as a means for creating a multisensory animated film, The Scent of Blue Uiseong (2020) that reflected my childhood memories.
Adobe Creative Award for Adobe Creative use of Software 2020
Finalist in the Student Moving Image Section of the NZ Best Design Awards 2021
Director: Monique Hyobin Park
Voice: Monique Hyobin Park
Music: "The Scent of Blue Uiseong" by Sungbin Park and "Childhood" by Scott Buckley
Supervisor: Miriam Harris
Behind The Scenes
The Scent of Blue Uiseong (2020) is created throughout 14 essential stages. I constantly made adjustments from the initial storyboard below to refine the film. Matte painting, Modelling, and Visual effects were involved for a few specific scenes.
Narrative Voiceover
#1 Memory
My parents took me all the way down to your place in the Uiseong country from Seoul every Summer. In the middle of straggly weeds, I could sense you before even walking through the door. The musty wallpaper dyed deep blue, the air that was heavy with the whirr of the dusty fan, and the burning smell of mosquito coil near the room. As I walked across the sticky floor on tiptoe, I could hear you welcome me with the accent I couldn’t understand. Back then, I couldn’t find beauty in your old place.
#2 Wooden Cane
I remember the lonely wooden cane guarding you near the small garden. It was taller than me and I turned my face up to it. Through the way of the winding track with my brothers, we fed the next-door neighbour cows, we made a whistle with the fine-edged leaves, and we secretly jumped into the rice field. Back then, I was happy carrying the cane with me until the sun hid its face behind mountains.
#3 Blue Mould
Even in August, it’s Winter here in Auckland. Over the horizon, I can smell the deep blue ocean in my memory. Yes, I remember that time. The black bubbles sneaked into the room to wake me up, and I inhaled them. The breathless nights when endless coughs were floating in front of my eyes. The white breaking wave chased me and choked my neck without warning. The swirling storm finally rushed into my throat, and I saw the trace of you in the blue mould.
#5 Epiphany
I should have tasted the handmade noodles that you always cooked for me. I should have listened to the radio with you on the rooftop, lit by starlight. The letter from me to you in messy handwriting. I should have noticed that you have read it hundred times. Now I realise I was part of your life. Things would’ve been different if I hadn’t had asthma, if I’d been close to you, if I’d been able to touch you.
#6 Hope
The sound of cicadas that cascade like a shower stops slowly. In the unexpected silence, I realise how beautiful your old place is. I miss the smell of you, and everything turns upside down. The smell of blue and the smell of our old summer days. I want to enjoy the time I can be here. Perhaps I might be with your cane that is also missing you.
