Year 2500

Written, filmed and edited by Amy Auman
Voice acting by Nathan Young

Year 2500 is a speculative fiction of a dystopian future, where the only humans in existence live on the International Space Station orbiting a now-flooded earth. A voice performs the narrative’s events. It echoes as the story begins in outer space, then becomes clearer and closer when you journey to the depths of the ocean. Dolphin clicks, sonar beeps, a rushing of water and rain—all build an experience of a sensory-filled world.

The use of subverted tools creates a light-filled visual parallel to the narrative. The footage is a progression of noise as signal. Made from aggressive transposition, it leverages reflection, projection and changes in camera focus. The human hand physically manipulates each shot. In the end of the narrative, human error eventually results in the species’ demise.

Playing with the projector and various reflective surfaces yielded surprising optical effects. Evaluating the results of various tests, I began to consider bioluminescence and objects that spin or orbit. Outer space and the deep ocean are both mysterious worlds that lend themselves to a weird science fiction. Thus the story emerged. 

For some scenes, BBC video footage projects onto cylindrical mirror paper spinning on a turntable. What you don't see in the above photo is me holding a circular shaped mirror on the end of a ruler to make an additional projection on the wall. I'll leave that part (and the rest) to your imagination.