SHOEBOX

I had the idea for this story after something similar happened to a friend of mine in Paris. I thought it was good grounds to expand it and give it a larger perspective so I started working on the story and adapted it to a Los Angeles setting.
This project depicts a journey, beyond the goal to reach. How will the character overcome the invisible walls surrounding his life and transcend the transition from his own personal experience into the world. For once a step forward is taken, there is no going back.

The idea for the main character did resonate in me particularly as I left home very young to go study abroad and I was quite reserved myself. And various experiences including falling in love did change the course of my life as I discovered parts of myself I didn’t know existed.

Being a photographer and growing up in Paris, aesthetic is therefore important to me. This is why I wanted SHOEBOX to be a visual experience as much as a musical one. Hence the choices I made in terms of equipment, lenses, way of filming…. I also took on personally the challenge to find the best locations to suit my vision. As for the musical experience, music being the third main character of the story I really wanted this film to have a beat, a rhythm. The Chase scene from Midnight Express was the primary inspiration for the music my composer created.

Why SHOEBOX? I wanted this film to have a poetic dimension, as if suspended in time. In French there is an expression that says “finding shoe to your foot”, meaning finding love, someone who fits yourself perfectly. Therefore by extension, the idea of a shoe box, literally as two shoes can fit inside and make a pair; also because it does trigger the idea of a memory, a moment suspended in time.

The meaning behind the names of the characters, the wheel, the emphasis on the chain are so many elements that layer the film and add depth to it without being pretentious, so hopefully people will see more than what it appears to be: a bicycle race across town.

Because this is a film about taking action, I wanted the direction and pace to reflect the emergency of the moment. The pace accelerates throughout the film. It starts slowly to speed up drastically at journey’s starting point to enhance the idea of movement and action. The camera put on the bike was meant to add an impression of liberation and impulse. The color tones from beginning to end evolve from cold to warm as main character progresses through his personal journey.

Even though the dialogue between the two protagonists gives enough information for the main character to find the other these lines are just the crumbs for Alex to find Sasha, and in the end, to find his own path and only music could universally express the emergency of the moment in a poetic way, hence this synthy 80s style choice.
The comedic dimension is here to relieve and bring air to the story in the form of two characters that may appear to be clichés in the American society but portrayed positively. Clichés are interesting for they carry patterns that do tell something about people without defining or judging. These two characters also are a reminder of the main theme of the story: love as they are a couple.

Lastly, I wanted this short film to be as entertaining as engaging emotionally and psychologically. Love is a form of deliverance and empowerment. It makes people go beyond their limitations which often stop them from experiencing profound emotions. The message is that love gives direction in life and courage; that a haphazard meaningful encounter can put perspective in one’s life transgressing cultural, religious barriers and any upbringing. It’s about opening up to the world. Being vulnerable to get stronger and accepting to let go to embark fully into one’s own life journey.