An experimental opening sequence that investigates the nature of our shadow selves, a term that in Jungian psychology is an unconscious composition of repressed behaviours.

An inability to confront our shadow qualities leads to patterns of psychological projection and insecurity. Our shadow self begins to control our habits, our ways of thinking – thus the ‘pattern’ of physically invisible, ‘virtual’ imprints simulated by our unconscious minds. 

Hidden layers of the unconscious are defined in this work as physical 3D realities, evoking moods that progress from quiet and mystical to eerie and tense. 

The sound narrative follows a person diving underwater to soothe their tinnitus, resurfacing at the end. Whilst the viewer’s ears are engaged in this experiential real-life narrative, their eyes follow another, more surreal, on-screen narrative. We watch as a human’s mind takes in everyday sounds and transforms them visually in its struggle with the ‘shadow’.

The room, a space within the unconscious, holds two large windows representing the human eyes. When we later zoom in on the same room with a third window, viewers get an ominous hint of a creature within us that sees the world with its own twisted perspective.

Ironically, as our swimmer embraces the calmness of blue water, in here it is a colour of suffocation – repression of ugly unconscious desires, cocooned by the suspended red balloon, that aren’t allowed to have a voice. These scenes start off muted, quiet, and tense.

The contrasting red and blue colour duo represents the conflict between searching for these hidden desires, yet simultaneously wanting to uphold a pristine outward persona. 

Metafiction is introduced when the computer displays a montage of swirling words – a visual representation of our brains comprehending language and speech. 

As we dive further into each layer of the unconscious, welded together with match cuts and the continuous sound bridge of underwater ambience, we get an underlying sense of something so fantastical and unexplored, yet also eerie and dangerous. 

A crescendoing mix of irregular sounds merge into a high-pitched ringing, as the tinnitus, announcements over the speaker, and other real-world sounds begin to leak into the mind.

As the tension rises, we think back to the balloon, on the brink of discovery in our unconscious, and also of our swimmer, whose lungs are almost out of air, and of the calm pool surface which hasn't been broken yet. 

The building sound is punctured by the popping sound of the balloon, just as the protagonist breaks the water's surface tension and pops their ears. A calm relief ensues, leaving us wondering as to what exactly was released.