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The Institution of Loneliness

  • Celina Bassili

The Institution of Loneliness is a concept derived from a spatial design project, studying and exploring the theme of loneliness and what the emotion would look like if it was a physical space. The Institution is an enormous abstract and minimalistic glass building, inspired by the architecture of mountains and the shape of cubes. It is located in an arctic desert in a parallel universe, where the landscape looks like a field of duvets, filled with layers of ice and snow, and all you can see wherever you turn is complete emptiness. Each floor of the building is filled with cube-shaped cells, all reminiscent of blocks of ice. They are mirror cubes, designed to torture lonely souls. Each and every person who feels lonely in the real world, ends up in a loneliness cell at the institution in their minds, and because loneliness feels different to everyone, the cell that the lonely one inhabits, changes its appearance to resemble the place in which the lonely one feels the most lonely in reality.

Final Major Project for  University of the Arts London: Wimbledon College of Arts' Set Design for Screen course, 2018. First Class Honours Degree and winner of The Spatial Design Prize.
The short film tells the story about a teenage girl imprisoned at the Institution, due to the loneliness she is feeling, caused by technology and social media. She dreams about escaping to a magical treehouse and becomes friends with loneliness, as if the emotion was a person.
Writer/Director: Celina Bassili
Director of Photography: Dominika Besinska
Production Designer: Celina Bassili
Editor: Shiny
Costume Designer: Tonje Thorsrud
Music: Mountaineers by Susanne Sundfør
Starring: Tyra Albine as Lonely Girl and Sander Marcus as Loneliness

Sketchup model rendered in V-Ray:

Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the Hall.
Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the Reception Area.
Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the Reception Area.
Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the Hall on the 2nd floor.
Visual of the teenage girl's loneliness cell.
Visual of the young man's loneliness cell.
Visual of elderly man's loneliness cell (which is highly inspired by Edward Hopper's painting 'Nighthawks')
Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the exterior of the Institution.
Rendered Sketchup model/visual of the interior of the lonely teenage girl's imaginary treehouse.

Draughting/Technical Drawing

A1 hand-drawn

Stills from the film

Still from film (shot on location in Harads, Sweden)
Still from film (shot on location in Oslo)
Still from film (shot on location in Harads, Sweden)
Still from film (shot on location in Oslo)
Still from film/full scale set build of girl's loneliness cell
Still from film (shot on location in Harads, Sweden)
Still from film (full scale set build - interior of the treehouse)
Full scale set build: interior of the treehouse

Behind the Institution // Behind the scenes

Shooting on location: Oslo
Shooting on location: Treehotel - Harads, Sweden
Set building in a barn in Sandefjord, Norway
On set in Sandefjord, Norway
On set in Sandefjord, Norway

Graphics

Walk-through of the Institution (Sketchup model)

Early/rough sketches and experimentation

Mood boards

Mood board for the Institution (all images are sourced from the internet).
Mood board for environment, landscape and surroundings (all images are sourced from the internet) 
Mood board for the girl's loneliness cell (all images are sourced from the internet)
Mood board for the young man's loneliness cell (all images are sourced from the internet)
Mood board for the elderly man's loneliness cell (all images are sourced from the internet)
Mood board for the interior of the treehouse (all images are sourced from the internet)
Mood board for the girl's outdoor costume (all images are sourced from the internet)
Mood board for Loneliness's costume (all images are sourced from the internet)

Storyboard

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Skills