You must hold your quiet center, 

Where you do what only you can do. 

If others call you a maniac or a fool, 

Just let them wag their tongues.

A plant is an eukaryote which exists to live a quiet life - one which we don't usually take notice of, which is likely how they prefer it. It is when humans interfere that they become a victim to violence and experience extremities such as deforestation.

These play a key part into the metaphorical outlook of a plant's perspective of quietly growing until human intervention. This links directly to the poem's original theme of enduring hardship yet maintaining a "quiet center".

Act 2 - Peace: The plant starts growing, multiple angles and close ups could take place, which then shift into a time-lapse of the plant sprouting.

Act 3 - Destruction: Change of pace - quick cuts demonstrate symbolic imagery such as paper tearing, wood burning, a flickering flame. All emphasize the violence of the action. Symbolic imagery of how people are 'wagging tongues', with external forces impacting their existence.

Act 4 - Final: The sprout we witnessed grow is suddenly trampled or burned in a dramatic sequence, echoing the poem's theme of life being interrupted by external forces.

With it being so close to buildings, it also highlights the ongoing threat of human interference in their delicate existence, threatening their solitude.

This also opened up the exploration of the motif of vulnerability, with the trees being in the open, susceptible to the involvement of humans.

Either way, the plant continues to exist without shame, just as it does in Ha Jin's poem.

-Flames, sparks, and torn paper.

-Elements that highlight the dark outcome of a tree's life.

Act 2 - Stillness

-Trees holding firm, leaves blowing, light filtering through trees.

-Nature withstands all adversities, standing strong despite human interference.

Sounds - Calm

-Gentle sound of leaves blowing in the wind.

-Bird chirping

-Background piano, to create a feeling of strong emotion for the audience

Along with this, we wanted some aspects of tracking shots to create a feeling of intimacy - highlighting the life behind nature, and how it can transform itself.

Originally, we wanted to portray this growth in character through a time-lapse of a tree growing, however we quickly realised that we lacked the time and resources required to make this possible. It was due to this that we wanted to focus our attention on the meaning of the shots and how we can use them to connect with the subject.

Throughout the entirety of the film, we also conducted a series of focus pulls in order to efficiently change from a narrow to large depth of field. This allow for further focus on detail while still offering an element of interest to an audience - transitioning the focal point seamlessly as opposed to incorporating even more cuts. In the case of this film, we needed a more calm feeling to be evoked, so rapid cuts was not an effective way forward, making us use more panning and focus pulls.

From here, we decided we would attempt to mix between Macro Lenses and Wide Lenses. This would allow for the ability to create a composition and narrative based on the location, while still creating the personal feeling of noticing the minor details.

Based on this, we decided to film mid-day, as this was when the sun was located nearly directly overhead, allowing for light to be visible through the leaves of the trees - thus creating a feeling of life being present.

This element of motivated lighting meant that we were able to utilise the natural light source to enhance the emotions behind the film.

This led us to finding an assortment of images to use as inspiration, including those of trees, plants, grass, and bark - all of which acted as a guide during the filming process

One such element we took into consideration was the colour palette - which was dominated by various shades of green and brown. These colours are found to highlight organic life, with those colours being commonly associated with feelings of calm and solitude.

Other considerations were put into how this could change the LUT and grade. The main outcome we decided on was that the frames should consist of soft contrasts between the lights and shadows, with warm tones preserving the gentle lights of the moment. One thing we wanted to avoid, was harsh cool tones as that would create a feeling of separation from the tree, when we want to make the audience feel closer.

Along with this, a focus was put into the textures; whether it be the rough surface of tree bark or the smooth leaves, we wanted to portray the endurance of the poem through those visual motifs.

This Moodbaord also informed our decision into what lighting techniques we would be relying on. From this, we decided it would be best to rely solely on natural lighting, as this allows for the ability to express how nature acts in its natural environment without human influence. We felt that adding our own source of artificial lighting would go against the very nature of the film and the poem we were inspired by - as we wanted to portray the brave existence of plants despite human interference, with the authenticity shaping the image, so introducing further interference would be counterintuitive.

We also used the Sony 28-135 zoom lens, which allowed for greater attention to detail and made close-up shots much easier. This made it so the audience could feel far closer and personal with the tree, highlighting how it is more than just a brainless piece of wood, but a living witness to life's changes, rooted in place with the ache of survival.

Shooting Mode - CineEl

Colour Space - SGamut3.cine

Scan Mode - Normal

Video Format - 1920 25p

Codec - XAVC-I

SDI & Internal - MLUT Off

Shutter - 1/50 & 25fps

Thus, despite human disturbances to nature being a known issue, it continues to prevail. Such research only continued our goal to produce a film displaying the beauty of trees and their lives, since their entire existence continues to be threatened.

Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). United Kingdom deforestation rates & statistics. Retrieved May 15, 2025, from https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/GBR/

This particular poem explored the importance of maintaining an inner calm, encouraging readers to ground themselves in their daily lives.

Not only does this increase the emotional connection created due to this allowing for audiences to feel a sense of familiarity, but it also allows for the plants to further highlight how they are willing to exist despite how us humans view them.

We did still attempt to tint the film with an orange undertone however in order to make it appear far warmer - thus evoking feelings of warmth and optimism - both of which are themes which relate to the hope of a tree in trying to continue to exist in peace.