Cinematography

don’t blink

* This video contains flashing visuals that may not be suitable for viewers sensitive to light or effects

This short film explores perception through abstraction and distortion. Shot across Boston, the project captures everyday environments and transforms them into something unstable and unfamiliar.

Using After Effects, I manipulated motion, layering, and color to create a sense of tension inspired by thriller aesthetics. The visuals shift between clarity and disorientation, reflecting how reality can feel fragmented depending on perception.

The recurring phrase “Don’t Blink” reinforces the idea of fleeting moments and altered awareness.

Highlights

Blurred nighttime city street scene with light reflections and a silhouette of a person walking.
Interior of a subway train or bus with a horizontal metal pole and a window, along with a safety instruction sign on the side.
A dark street at night with colorful glitch-like effects and reflections of lights.
Nighttime photo of a tall building with illuminated windows, taken from below with a wide-angle lens creating a distorted, swirling effect.
A brightly lit street lamp at night with digital distortion effects.

The footage was intentionally captured with movement, light contrast, and texture in mind to allow for manipulation in post-production.

In After Effects, I experimented with distortion techniques such as motion blur, chromatic aberration, and layering to fragment the visuals. These effects were used to shift the viewer’s sense of space and time, creating a more immersive and unsettling atmosphere.

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This project was created for educational purposes. Some visual assets may be sourced from publicly available materials and are used for non-commercial presentation.