1 Word = 1,000 Pictures: 1 Gesture = 2 Screens | by Christin Kim | Sep, 2025

After that, I grabbed my tripod and Canon DSLR camera to film some test shots in my apartment. I’m not someone who films video regularly, so just the act of setting up equipment took some time getting used to. When I showed the first round of test shots to Professor Grady and the TA Nickola, the main feedback was about anticipation: don’t show the final action happening, but cut before the expected moment so the process itself becomes the point. The struggle to find peace and equilibrium is more interesting than the “perfect finish.”

I became drawn to the idea of the split screen. At first, it was a practical tool–a way to show more than one thing at once. The split screen made me think about internal vs. external states, stillness vs movement. This idea allowed me to hold ideas together and find a rhythm between two moving images. My Professor also suggested experimenting with a 2 x 2 grid and keeping the camera horizon consistent with a cleaner background for the footage. This advice led me to borrow my friend’s photo backdrop, which gave the work a clarity it was missing before.

What I found was that the process itself mirrored the idea I was exploring in a way. I was constantly negotiating between clumsiness and precision and between the mess of set-up and the clarity of the final edit. The act of making became the word itself in motion: balance.