Remembering is the most unique film in the Live Action Short Film race this season in how it utilizes technology to enhance its story. When we grow up, we lose the essence of our childhood, but director Elijah Allan-Blitz wants us to get back in touch with that inner child. Why do we lost sight of that innocence and allow adult expectations take over our lives? Remembering wants us to get back to a simpler, imaginative time.
In my conversation with Larson, she explained how Remembering came out of humble beginnings. The Academy Award winner is always interested in interactions with the imaginations of children, and Remembering was born out of the simple concept of playing and exploration. She and Allan-Blitz won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2020 for another augmented reality project with The Messy Truth VR Experience.
“Elijah [Allan-Blitz and I] had talked a lot–during the pandemic–about what it means and feels like to be an artist. How it feels beyond you, and how you almost feel guilty taking credit for things that come your way. Second to that, during the pandemic, a mom in our neighborhood asked me if I would give art lessons to one her daughters. It was so much fun, and it gave me a sense of purpose. Once a week, I would teach kids in the neighborhood about jewelry or photography, and Dusty [Peak] was one of the younger sisters of one of the kids.
Dusty would say the most remarkable things because of the lack of self-consciousness. Her mind was so alive, and she was so willing to do anything. I would record the things she was saying, and I would send them to Elijah to say, ‘You have to use her in this story.’ It became a combination of her coming over and me giving her Play-Doh so it wouldn’t mess up the sound on the mic. We would just ask her questions like, ‘What is the World of Imagination look like for you?’ and she could just go on and on about it. Kids can do that without any direction from us. Elijah worked with an artist to build assets like the dolphin clouds or the rainbows you could slide down. We originally thought this was going to be a thing that we did on our own, but it coincided with the folks at Disney. Suddenly, this thing became way more behind it, so we had access to technology that elevated it to the next level.”
Allan-Blitz continued on that sentiment when we discussed how children are unafraid to dive into play time. When we get older, we establish inhibitions–kids don’t have those. They can pretend to be a warrior or a princess or anything they can imagine, but that creative spirit needs to be tapped into more as we age.
“I used to work with kids, so that is very essential for my own heart,” he revealed. “That’s the genesis of it. What happens to us and when do we lose touch with that? A huge inspiration for me, when I was writing it, came from Elizabeth Gilbert’s work. She talks about how the planet is inhabited by plants and animals but also ideas. They don’t have a body or are made of physical matter, but they do have consciousness. They choose a human vehicle to come forth in the world, so I wanted to explore that. What happens if you forget one? That really drove me. How do we make an idea physically manifest and bring that into your inner child?”
When you are a kid, you sometimes emulate acting like an adult. If you see your mom on her phone gabbing with a girlfriend, you might transform your thumb and pinky into a phone during playtime hours later. Larson acknowledges those connections, and that reinforces the notion that exploration is never dead to us.
“It’s tough with the amount of distractions that we have,” she said. “I love the metaphor of the phone, because this “traditional” piece of technology that we use every day is an incredible tool. We forget that sometimes. The thing that we are communicating with all the time is distracting us from that creative essence. What are the ways that you can incorporate playfulness into your day and feel yourself soften a bit? That’s what I get from the experience of making it. I love working with kids, because you can’t get too serious. They aren’t dipping into what things mean or where is it going to take my future? None of that. They are there for the fun, and it’s infectious. They never think, ‘I wonder if they liked me?'”
When you look at the visual language of Remembering, it also taps into something nostalgic. When Larson’s character is in The World of Imagination, she stumbles upon a cottage that feels very familiar–as if Allan-Blitz yanked it out of our brain. It feels like something we read out of a beloved storybook, and the short’s hues of pinks and blues are very warm and comforting.
“It was such a process, and there was so much focus on what that would look like,” Allan-Blitz said. “Filming on the volumetric stage, it’s all about balancing the physical with the digital. That wasn’t blue screen and it was all done on the LED volume, so we were able to do months of preparation and then work with the production designer to get the look and feel of what it’s going to be on the stage. That’s so essential, not only for the look and feel but also for having a 6 year-old on set. I wasn’t calling action, and I just told her that the camera was her robot friend named Alexa and they were in a staring competition. It was about letting her be in that world to allow for play. It’s not a sterile, rigid thing. It had to lend itself to that playfulness.”
Halfway through the film, you are instructed to use your phone to enter this world. I won’t spoil what happens, but it transforms your living room into this magical realm. Even though you are holding a piece of technology in your hand to bring yourself into this world, it never feels tacked on or like an afterthought. That was paramount to both Allan-Blitz and Larson.
“To me, it always comes back to the story,” Allan-Blitz said. “The technology is there to advance the storytelling, because, if it’s not that, it’s a gimmick. The World of Imagination and everything about that childhood essence absolutely comes first and then we can go deeper to make it special. For adults, when you hold your phone or iPad up to the TV, it’s almost like a trojan horse. You’re expecting a cool, technological thing, but then is sparks something in your imagination or reminds you of something when you’re younger. We have a friend who watched it, and, afterwards, she went up to Brie [Larson], and said, ‘When I was little, I always knew that I was a mermaid.’ That was one of the greatest compliments I could’ve gotten. What was the moment when you decided to not believe or the world beat it out of you? If we can use the visual medium of storytelling and incorporate this new element to bring you into your heart and your inner child. Life mission achieved.”
If this is just the beginning when it comes to AR storytelling, we are in great hands. Larson reveals where she would like to see this technology go, but it all comes back to telling a compelling story.
“We’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of what we can do on the volumetric stage,” she said. “Remembering is a great combination of artistry with beautiful sets with the Disney Imagineer quality. It makes you feel so good. But it’s mixed with so many levels of technology like projection mapping for the idea when it’s swirling around me. I’d love to push on that, because it gives actors the experience of immersion unlike anything before. I’m do used to looking at a tape mark in a blue room and using my imagination. It’s not to say that I won’t want to do that again, but to know that we are all talking about the same thing and we are in the same dream together is a really special thing to feel. I want to see where that goes. I don’t know where all of this is going to go, but continuing to use pieces of technology that create emotional experiences is a good thing. It’s a powerful tool, and we need to lean into it to create deeper stories. The AR part of it is incredible, and, of course, it’s not part of every story. We are developing a few more projects right now, and the AR aspect is there to get you deeper inside of the story.”
At the end of the short, Larson has an emotional moment with her younger self. She looks on as she watches her innocence quite literally going back to The World of Imagination, and her face tells is filled with joy and sadness. I couldn’t help but ask Allan-Blitz what he might tell his younger self if he had the opportunity to reconnect.
“I personally do work very hard to not lose connection to that inner child,” he said. “It happens, though. I get caught up in the hustle and bustle and all the emails and all the things that we need to do. The message to my younger self would be, it’s all here. You might not be aware of it, and you may have prioritized something else. But it’s not gone. Just that allows the space for me to stay open to all of it–whether it’s the ideas coming through me or the heart of little kid inside me who wants to make movies and tell cool stories. He lives in my imagination in my head. We can lose touch with it, but that doesn’t mean we have lost it.”
Remembering is available on Disney+.
