HAVEN is an experiemental film that explores the encapsulation of various human emotions, with a special focus on the journey through anxiety toward self-reconciliation. With its overall structure based on Plato’s cave allegory and theories taken from Carl Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche, it seeks to disclose the personal, unseen inner struggle that many people have experienced at some points of their lives.

The self in HAVEN is depicted in an architectural manner: it is not only the mind, nor the body, but the mixture of both, along with all the dynamics both inside and outside. I would like to impress this idea upon viewers, hence I decided to utilize mixed reality technology. Through an experience devoid of wearable constraints, my goal is to expand the possibility of creating an atmosphere that blurs the line between the viewer and the subject.

Furthermore, since my theme surrounds the issue of anxiety and the achieving of self-reconciliation and inner peace through reflection, I would like to lead the audience through this journey through symbols, shades of colors, and sounds that create resonation at every stage of this journey.

I created storyboards and animatics for the film with allusion to Plato's cave allegory. The protagonist escapes, navigating a 3-level architecture within a fallen angel's body before entering the dreamy forest where her inner peace lies within. My scene designs draw from Surrealism, Yin-Yang, and 19th-century impressionism, using different colors and lighting to represent the ambiance and the underlying tone of the story.

The architecture mirrors the body, serving as a metaphorical prison for the mind and spirit. The first level, "the Cave," features the protagonist and identical companions chained. The second level, with Roman-style Hall and surreal eyeballs, which the protagonist climbs through metal chains to the top. The spine tunnel of the third level embodies vast emptiness, with white "ribs" against a black backdrop, representing solitude and an uncertain future. The forest outside the architecture is the materialisation of the protagonist’s peaceful mental state as they finally reach self-reconciliation.

In my film, there’s only one protagonist, but she will become anew after she leaves the cave using her own strength and shedding off her old skin. In the cave, she is the angel being locked in the cave allegory, with an angel wing and silver thorns throughout her body. After shedding off her old skin and the thorns, she becomes a pure form of herself in her world of inner peace, a girl with bling-blings throughout her body.

I spent three months completing this project, using Unreal Engine 5 for environment setup, lighting design, and cameras, combined with Maya and Blender for 3D modeling and animation production.

I conducted many explorations in order to find the style most suitable for my project, And also try to find a most time-efficient and effective virtual production methods to achieve the desired results and aesthetics. In the end, it was successfully accomplished.