Sex dolls could be a new subject for hotel movies

The documentary "Silicone Doll Zone" examines the emotional flow between people and the city from the perspective of silicone dolls and explores step by step the changes in contemporary body, eroticism and space.

The editor of ESDOLL.com invited Su Mingyan, the director of the "Silicone Doll Zone", to share the motivation of the film with the theme of the silicone doll hotel, and talked about the creative ideas for shooting, editing and storytelling. how not to cut into the topic but to look back "Consciousness" itself collages the fragments of broken memories. Director Su Mingyan's profile rarely says: "I studied journalism in college and lost faith in the world constructed by journalism. On the contrary, I think fantastic films are closer to reality." "Listen, Honey" and "Silicone" The Dolls Zone attempts to approach a certain reality in an unusually realistic style.

The "silicon love doll area" is the brain tissue that controls human language, and when damaged it can lead to expressive aphasia. The documentary "Silicone Love Doll Zone" looks at the emotional flow of people and the city through the eyes of aphasia sex dolls and explores step by step the changes in contemporary body, eroticism and space.

What was the motivation for making this film?

I'm not interested in the role, I don't want to focus on the "silicone love doll", I'm more curious about the "consciousness" itself. I often wonder why I have some ideas. When the images I make come back to the core and the subject, I often find that I seem to be doing something called "consciousness."

In fact, I struggled for a while at the beginning because many people photographed silicone love dolls. The United States has "Love of Inflatable Dolls", Japan has "Aerial Dolls" and "Love Dolls" with Aoi Yu in 2020, the problems will inevitably overlap. But I don't like cutting problematic things, so I wanted to try a different angle, with a silicone doll as the background.
As for the title and main axis, they are from an active recording I made a long time ago. It tells the story of a picture book artist who was sexually abused by his family as a child. He is now in his 40s. The memories of the past are still filled with tears. A slide was placed on site with cross-sectional views of two heads, one separated and one in the silicone love doll area. It just so happened that I once wrote a short story "Divorce", so I always remember it.

Just like writing, you start with a topic. After you set a header, push yourself to respond to that header. After setting up the scene, you will predict what the ending point of the scene will be. Seriously, it's "creative discipline." You always have to check if you're getting back to the core issue. Without a set topic, it's easy to stumble upon it and not understand exactly what you're talking about.

How did you first approach the Silicone Doll Hotel Company and get permission to film?

In the beginning I had the producer write a letter and the company quickly agreed to shoot. I met and spoke to them and said they didn't want to take photos of the privacy of their guests. They also expressed that they understood what I wanted to do, so they casually let me take my picture. I've been shooting there for about four or five months and they're used to it.

The guest's photo was taken on the first day. I cannot understand the circumstances of that day. I don't know how the hotel works. I follow anyone the love doll online staff asks me to follow. When Mr. came I followed him but didn't know it was a guest. After filming, he asked if he could help make mosaics, and I learned that the hotel had already told guests it was going to be filmed. I haven't taken any photos of guests since then. Every time a guest comes the staff will tell you a lot of things in advance that you should know and I caught both of those times.

The way I'm shooting this time tends to stick the camera in, click the film and walk away. The camera is often out of focus. In the film, the rear view of the guests in the corridor is shot like this. In fact, many of the guests are very similar to the people you see on the subway. There is no specific ethnic group, many of them get together with two people, male and female, male and female, male and female, husband and wife, all kinds, very beyond imagination.

I think every film has the right cinematographic language, location and location. In the early days I couldn't find a better way to position the lens. One day I put it very low and suddenly it felt right. In this position I can see many things clearly. I didn't want to add it at first but later found it seems good. I feel like I can always try new things, I don't have to do everything I've thought of before.

I'm particularly curious about Zixun's role in the restoration of the silicone doll.

Zixun learned to repair dolls himself. He is interested in buying and playing with them. The agent found out why this man was so good and how good he repaired, so he cooperated with him and let him repair and study these dolls. In fact, he has multiple jobs. The main business of the family is the manufacture of door frames, in addition, he enjoys writing programs and taking photographs. He would go from about eight or nine in the evening until eleven o'clock to fix the dolls and then continue when he got back from vacation.

It matures earlier than the average human and has a strong protective color. Although he agreed to film, it was actually difficult to get an appointment. He also pays great attention to the chemical formulations and processing methods he has developed. He won't tell you how he developed it. I later felt that perspective was just right, so I stopped talking, which matched the mysterious nature of the whole film and also the distance between me and it.
Originally, when the silicone doll area was broken, I could not speak. Originally I wanted to do a version where no one speaks, but I found out there was no way because the young people running the hotel were too loud and talking every minute. I cut a version but the lens was broken and I changed it a couple of times to get what it is now.

What was the source and inspiration for the narration in the film?

Narrative inspiration comes mainly from people's memories, like me, my friends, my sister's dreams, books I've read, movies, etc. The sentences are deliberately rearranged, and most of the sentences before and after belong to different stories . You can also say that these things are a kind of "sense of sight" that everyone has experienced and that can also reflect a lot of everyday life and consciousness.
In fact, I prefer to play with "narrative". For example, the narration in Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Millennium Mambo" mentioned: "She broke up with Hao Hao, but he has a way to find her, call her, ask her to come back, repeat, like a charm, like hypnosis. . . . …” Who are the narrators of these stories? I found this very interesting, so I wanted to try this technique in this work as well. However, in the film I still focus on a character and use their perspective to tell the story, but I don't want to be too explicit in the presentation and I hope that the audience is free to imagine and interpret.

Does this arrangement have a special meaning for Sex Doll?

One of the sub-themes of this work is “memory”. When people remember the past, many memories are actually fragments. My memory is not very good and I often wonder if certain memories are fictional or real. The reason why I chose the material for the landscape of Shuri Castle in Japan is because I have been there and left a good memory. As a result, shortly after my return, I saw the news on TV that Shuri Castle was burned down, and I began to reflect in my heart. Do those memories still exist? I transformed this feeling and brought the material into a rhythm during editing that suited the narrative.

In the work I turned the silicone sex doll into the image of a lover. One of the lines of dialogue reads "I keep my best memories there" and also mentions "My memories and secrets can live in this palace forever", reflecting my memories of Shuri Castle.

What inspiration can sex dolls provide during the creation process?

My editorial structure was actually very strict, including "Fu Liu", but no one believed it. I'm super strict and I have all the attitudes. I'm very strict about giving hints and giving answers. You must find the question mark before you can find the answer you want. You will feel blinded and bored.

I find it difficult to adapt. I still usually have to take ads to make a living. Ads and community videos are fast. When I return to my own creation, I must make a major adjustment to my condition. I think that's a big challenge.

It's a bit like adjusting the feel of speaking. When I go back to editing, I have to decide when each shot will be seen by the audience. I also edited a 120 minute version and there are very short versions as well. I further tweaked and corrected it and it became what it is now. However, I think that some shots could be a bit longer in this version. I think it's quite difficult. Editing is an exercise that requires constant practice.

Which directors were you influenced by?

In fact, I don't watch a lot of documentaries. What I appreciate most is the way the director sees things. By watching this film, I can see how he understands the world. As for influence, maybe Naomi Kawase and Kidlat Tahimik! Lately I've also felt that the way I think about things is very similar to director Shen Kesha.

Also, I really like Denis Villeneuve, although he mainly does commercials (Blade Runner, Dune), he uses a layered structure to tell stories, which is also lost. The question, the answer, has to have a big gist, a theme, a sub-question, and I think he's doing a great job.

Must know about sex dolls too

Q: This is a case of "opinion recording" by a public broadcaster. Do you have any suggestions for the work?

Actually almost none. Editor-in-Chief Mr. Trump Zhang will make some comments, but he will not tell you to learn anything. It doesn't matter if it doesn't change. I think every reminder helps me a lot. The most helpful advice this time was when he said he wanted to see "the human spirit."
The last version I didn't cut out was the missing "people". The original clip is short and has no sound. It looks pretty in shape, but after being pretty, the content is empty. Sometimes the table comes first and we are blinded. He used many classic films to describe what "the human mind" is. I later went back and opened the film to see what the subjects were doing and what they were saying. After a long time everyone's thinking becomes very clear and you can really see what the subject is doing.