A Sun, a Taiwanese film by Chung Mong-hong, is an authentic portrayal of a family bearing the hardship of unmet expectations, unspoken grief, and stubborn pride. Perseverance and healing overshadows the turmoil and conflict as the family tries to mend their broken relationship. The story is grand, yet intimate. It depicts the suffocating reality of a life that continues through the search for a solution.

Life is a complicated subject that can be represented by simple things, such as the weaving of threads. The sequence focuses on a single thread intersecting and intertwining creating a pattern of lines that form the endless knot. In Chinese culture, it represents the circulation of life and symbolizes hope for family unification. The growing and intertwining threads represent the family’s reformation after being split by tragedies. The journey of the thread is an abstract projection of life. The knot is revealed in an ordinary Taiwanese apartment, grounding the abstract in the mundane.

We started with our storyboard by sketching out different scenes of string interacting and moving to form the knot. Then, we tried different variations of the sequence to show the build-up towards the knot. For the final room, we wanted the room to feel like a typical Taiwanese family living room, so we collected a large library of references so we could accurately create the room.

Our project has been praised by professors and gained recognition from Promax, for Art Direction and Design and Best Use of Music, and Communication Arts 2021.