Media Project: Just another day - An interactive video

“I have to carry a pocket knife wherever I go nowadays for fear of being attacked”- my friend admitted, to my dismay, when we were hanging out. “Asian hate crimes escalated so quickly since the pandemic. You never know what will happen to you".

News about Asian hate crimes has caused my Asian friends, like Phil, to be extremely cautious and high-strung. The pandemic revealed and exacerbated the anti-Asian sentiment, which had a long history in the U.S. since the early 1800s. As an Asian student living in the U.S. with concerns about the matter, I was motivated to bring back the conversation about an important social issue that has recurred throughout history and yet, has not gained the attention it deserves.

“Just another day” is an interactive movie project that aims to raise awareness about discrimination against Asians in the U.S. Due to the complexity of history where Asians are used against other racial groups, Asian discrimination is less visible in the discussion about racial issues. A scholar once remarked, “We are neither here nor there in the black-white binary of race in America”. Research on Asian discrimination has been underemphasized compared to that of African Americans. The project, thus, aims to portray different multidimensional manifestations of Asian discrimination and raises awareness about the issues.

The medium I chose to experiment with was interactive video where viewers can choose how they want to propel the story. This is intended to create a space for critical thinking and enable more engagement in the story.

Watch the full video here:

𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬:

• Conducted interviews to gather insights on Asian hate crimes from multiple perspectives (victims/ non-victims, Asian/ non-Asian)

• Conducted research literature reviews on Asian hate crimes

• Wrote video script and created the storyboard

• Shot and edited the video