According to Plan: An Introspection
Vanessa created According to Plan: An Introspection in hopes of highlighting how it feels to be a neurodivergent/mentally ill person attempting to complete ordinary tasks. Their character struggles to navigate the same daily routine and becomes paralyzed when approached with unforeseen obstacles. Over the course of five days, the character faces new challenges- shutting down at each one yet finding solutions after a reboot period. On day four, the character has resolved the issues of the past and is able to run through the list smoothly. If one were to stop watching here, it would seem as though the character is arriving at a conventional happy ending. However, the transition into day five shows the audience that another issue has arisen. The cycle will simply continue past the end of the film.
A key concept of this film is the sensory experience. Sharing this narrative through lighting motifs and different grades of a hazy mise-en-scène provides a way to feel the world through the character’s perspective. The shifts between the static versus dynamic palette and composition are used to emphasize the tumultuous emotions the character gets thrown into while foreshadowing future events. The heightened emotion of the character leads the audience to sense more dynamically what the character experiences. The finale of the film lands on the note it does because this is how life feels as a neurodivergent/mentally ill person- however, it does not take a neurodivergent/mentally ill person to understand or empathize with this.
Vanessa Morris ‘23
Advisor: Marina Mangubi
All images copyright © 2023 Vanessa Morris. All rights reserved.
According to Plan: An Introspection, Digital print, 14”x 14”, 2023
Installation, 2023
According to Plan, Claymation set, 24” x 36” x 18”, 2023
According to Plan, Claymation set, 2023
According to Plan (clip), Claymation, full runtime 4:55 min, 2023