Why2k

 

Why2K is a short film that pays homage to the teenager you always thought you would be. Influenced by the early 2000s teen movies that shaped a generation and the teen stars we modelled ourselves off, this short is designed to prescribe you a dose of nostalgia for the “good old days”.

The film centres around Chelsea, a teenager struggling with the impossible debate of whether or not she should go to the party. It’s fluffy, it’s inconsequential, and it’s totally taking over her mind.

Remember what it’s like to be a teenager? To have the world at your feet and not care about anything other than the cute boy in History, or the hot girl that gets on at your train station? Why2K invites the viewer to step away from the realities of real life and adulthood and become entranced within an impossibly simplistic celebration of the past.

As a child, we all have a view of how we imagine our teenage selves to be. We all think we’re going to be Regina George (Mean Girls), or have Seth Cohen fall head over heels with us (The OC). Why2k is an homage to the girl I thought I was going to be, who (by the nature of time and its relentless procession) never came to fruition.

Upon researching, I’ve found this concept lies under the term “past futures”. Or, in other words, the image of the future that you had whilst still living in the past. This form of nostalgia fascinated me as it seems to be a nostalgia for a time that never was. Perhaps it was shaped after a time in the past, but by seeing this place only through our rose-coloured glasses, it becomes a place of fiction, so idealistic that it lacks any hint of reality.

That world of past futures that lives somewhere in between the past and the present is where Why2k lives.

Edited in Premiere Pro and using music licensed from EpidemicSound, this short film is a snappy, fast paced window into the world of Chelsea. Intended to emulate a classic VHS style, overlays and colour correcting reigns supreme in the editing suite, with a particular focus on shot grain and noise to capture the nostalgic aesthetic and portray it in every frame.

Whether it’s nostalgia for the past, or an homage for who you always thought you would be, Why2K has space for you to live in whatever version of yourself you wish to be.