You’re the Apple of My Eye
A kind-hearted kid has a crush on his new classmate. He tries many to ways to get her attention, but his attempts back-fire. Finally, he has a real chance to get close to her, but his luck runs out. At a moment where he feels like giving up, he gets what he wanted all along just by being honest with himself.
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Ying Jung LiuDirector
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Ying Jung LiuWriter
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Kuo Chih LiuProducer
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Shih-Keng WeiKey Cast"Chia-Wei Chen"
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Chih-Ling WeiKey Cast"Ting-Syuan Chang"
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Project Title (Original Language):一十一
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Runtime:12 minutes 14 seconds
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Completion Date:September 9, 2019
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Production Budget:15,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:Taiwan
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Language:Chinese
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Shooting Format:Digital Sony A7sII
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Aspect Ratio:2.35:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes
Ying Jung Liu aka Erin Liu. Ying Jung is a writer-director based in LA. She was born in 1992 in Taichung, Taiwan.
From 2011-2015, she studied TV and film in I-Shou University. She was the best screenplay winner of TV and film at I-Shou University’s inaugural exhibition in 2015.
After graduating from college, in order to gain more experience, she studied in the United States in 2016. She learned much from school and went on different sets, finally getting her Master’s degree in 2019.
“YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE” is her thesis film.
Why make movies? To some, it is strictly for entertainment. For others, it is to document. Society and technology are constantly changing, maybe too rapidly, and as a result there is a loss of innocence. Filmmaking follows the same trajectory as everything else, but in many ways, it also has limitations. For example, every year movies are featuring more special effects and explosions to stay relevant, in the short term. The long term effect, which I believe is far more devastating, is that with every year and every new movie, we are losing deeper meaning for easy profit. It really dawned on me after coming to the States. What kind of movie do I want to shoot? This question repeats itself in my mind on a daily basis. Looking back, I realize that I had a great deal of trouble expressing myself in my younger years. After watching Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, I was moved profoundly. The story involved a child as the protagonist. The filmmaker didn’t judge the character, nor the society, in which he inhabited. It was simply a portrait of a normal person’s daily struggle. I want to do the same.
This leads us to today, and my journey continues with preparing for You are the Apple of My Eye. There are elements in this story which reflect my experience as I grew older. One thing
that stood out in my mind is the difference in lifestyle between the rich and the poor. Another is the big gap between city life and country life. And finally, the aging of the population is something I’ve been concerned about in one way or another for quite some time. These are the issues I would like to explore for my thesis.
My two main leads represent all that encapsulates what it means to be rich and what it means to be poor. To be rich, according to society, means to be comfortable. Or at the very least, have easy access to it, if one were to decide they need it. But for the poor, there is no second option. You are always uncomfortable, in some way. And the worst part is, this is something that follows you from the moment you are born, until you die. Chia-Wei, the “poor,” is represented by being late to trends. He is simply unaware of what is considered cool.
Visually, this is expressed by his attire, his outdated bicycle, and the architecture of his home, which harkens back to a bygone era. Ting-Syuan, on the other hand, the “rich” for the purposes of this story, represents a more deliberate and restrained temperament. The way she speaks, dresses, carries herself, and her living environment is more carefully thought out and considered. Everything about her is the opposite of being rushed.
Another underlying universal truth I am trying to explore in the subtext is the difference between city life and country life. City life conjures up images of tall skyscrapers, highways with a multitude of lanes, and pedestrians crossing hither and tither at a busy intersection. Time-lapse of non-stop hustle and bustle of say Tokyo comes to mind. In stark contrast, country life, in a nutshell, equates to no buildings, no cars, no people. In other words, symbolically it is to represent the lack of resources available in Chia-Wei’s existence.
Lastly, I am concerned about the aging of society. There is a pivotal scene involving miscommunication at a phone booth between Chia-Wei and an elderly woman. The scene is darkly humorous, but deals with a serious topic. The elderly lead lives that are largely isolated. Their feelings of loneliness stems from the speed at which society advances. They are somehow left behind, much like Chia-Wei. This telephone scene implies how hopeless both of them are. They are each lost in their own little world on each end of the telephone line. What each person says to the other has no effect. So right now, the elderly are the first victims of society’s shortsightedness. But what is happening to the old woman will soon happen to everyone, young or old. So by extension, Chia-Wei gets a taste of what life is like for her as a constant; and further still, we, the audience, get a taste by watching this scene take place.
So to answer the opening question, by watching this small film, my hope is that I will somehow inspire others to care for more than just carrying out a superficial life. My secondary objective is to preserve what is fast disappearing. But most importantly, I hope whoever is watching has a good time.