Secret Detours: A Garden in Singapore

Visions of East Asian mythology materialise in a decidedly modernmetropolis, a place without a past – two worlds collide. Secret Detours engagesthe audience with over-whelming vistas in a full spherical presentation,encompassing the viewers from all angles. The movie short is set within a lushChinese garden, adapted from the great traditions of imperial landscaping (cf.[3]) – in the Yunnan Garden in the West of Singapore. Four dancers, dressed inthe colours of the cardinal directions, examine the spaces, the paths and thedetours of the green scenery (cf. [1]). The spherical video relates to theexperience of being surrounded by mythological creatures and their tracesinside the garden. As the beautiful layout of the grounds is composed from arange of intersections with multiple meandering paths to choose from, theomnidirectional video invites similarly to explore the atmosphere between anexquisite selection of trees, shrubs, bushes and pieces of architecture. 

In360° environments, the camera is almost objective and the viewer becomes theeditor of the piece (cf. [2]), different to the directed camera and edit of‘traditional’ movies. 

The question arises how the author can direct the eyes ofthe audience with different camera settings, perspective, focus, direction ofactors, transitions and in this way, prompt emotions?