2nd short film - done!
This one definitely took its toll - I started back in November and struggled getting it together. In between these times, I worked on my zine, focused on my handhelds, social medias, Ramadan, the trials of winter, an arabic class (marhabaaaa) and a few other pieces. Focus was tough, but it happened eventually. This may be a longer email so im j gonna start -
I got the idea of Non Numeric Numbers from a dream - I had a dream where humans intercepted a message between two aliens (i believe the equivalent of a spotify link) in a format we physically could not comprehend. This lack of comprehension ended with humanity crashing out and basically destroying each other. Somehow I ended up on a space ship w some mega millionaire who was j murdering ppl it was so scary and grotesque smh.
But the idea of lack of comprehension was interesting. When things develop out of our understanding, what do we do?
The title came from the idea that our ways of identifying things don’t fully work out in the real world. We can only identify the single instance of something, but we don’t measure for the potential of what something can be. An example: imagine we had 1 stick. If we broke it in 2, it would be 2 sticks, even though all the matter is the same. If you brought the 2 sticks to someone, they may not register it as being 1 stick. The potential of that 1 stick becoming 2 sticks is not measured when we categorize it. There is no way to categorize the potential of something. Another example: Gender. We were pushed to have an idea of a gender binary, and to think of it as permanent. When ideas of gender fluidity were brought to the surface, people started tagging and labeling their identities to categorize it. I think this had an overall good of self expression, forming communities, and sharing ideas with similar people, ofc. But as gender is fluid and changes consistently between us, how can it be labeled or measured? The state of being gender fluid is the most similar to this idea. With a non numeric number obvs - a metric that measures what could be and what has been, not just something that is measured in the moment.
Throughout this movie, we see figures and an alien. The figures have a single stone in front of them, and are forced to fight over that one object as it can only exist in one persons possession. The alien, however, pulls the stone from its body and expands it to show that it can be more than just one thing. The figure and alien bring these stones to a brick. As the brick breaks, the figure can only give the stone, Stone 1, to one part of the brick. Stone 1 is not able to change, as it only exists in that specific instance. The figure can try and decide where Stone 1 goes, but it can not be split amongst the bricks. The alien brings Stone 2 to its brick, and as the brick breaks, Stone 2 expands - this stone, Stone 2, exists not as an instance but in the potential of what it can be. It can exist not in one place, but in several places. It is immeasurable in our current times, but a non numeric number would be a way to measure what Stone 2 can become.
After the alien scenes, we see the two paths of understanding - one of expansion, and one of the instance. There is a figure that is pulling clay from itself - Stone 1 floats above it unchanging. This figure exhausts itself while pulling clay from itself, and attempts to find an ending that isn’t there.
Then there are chimera/shapeshifting figures. They perform an action, and turn into different beasts and being as Stone 2 expands above them. Upon interacting with the outside world, they change. They don’t concern themselves with the consistency of the self, but instead change into various forms while still being themselves. Living as a labeled instance is not something they abide by. They are the same, but changed - they embody the non numeric number.
The backgrounds and audio also have their importance. The figures exist on a blank paper, that slowly becomes an overwhelming Rorschach test. Our isolation in existing only in an instance is maddening. We can never find the next level of ourself until we break from our preconceived idea of ourselves. We let ourselves be labeled, and we keep ourselves in a vacuum to do so. The audio contains sounds of the office - a contained area that is not affected by the outside world (at least in the US). As the figure pulls clay from its body, we hear a wheel turn. It is consistent and unchanging - it can run indefinitely as the refuses to change but still wants to see more of itself.
The alien and chimeric beings exist in the open. They react in the environment they exist in, and are open to the changing world. They don’t live in a vacuum; they are interacting with the world around them. If the world is limitless, than so are they. The audio exists to amplify the mysticism of what can be - ethereal sounds can allow ethereal ideas. Ideas of change and expansion. At least thats what I was going for.
I’ve never made a formal piece about a dream I had. This was just so bizarre but oddly relevant to me. How do I abide by the categories I put myself in? How long will my current identity serve me? Can I expand beyond labels?
everlovingly,
Faraz
ps IM IN A SHOW IN BROOKLYN SOON COME THRU
pss rip the pope bruh i loved that man i wish i could have his kindness
psss commissions?
im not adding more pictures fr yall have enough lmao