"Technophilia" is Rianne's fourth film. It is her first film to be shot outside the Philippines. She shot this award-winning short as a personal project during her film training program at the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) in Seoul, South Korea. Through KOFIC's help, alongside the support of the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) and Korea University, she was able to get enough resources to produce the film.
This project is her first 16mm film outside film school. It was shot with an Arri SR2, which means the production had to shoot without any video assist. However, they tried to be resourceful enough by using a MiniDV camera carefully placed near the SR2 to provide a means to review the acting performances.
The concept for this film started after her first three months in Seoul in 2008. She noticed that most people in public usually listened to music, watched TV, or played games using their mobile phones while in transit. Whether in the subway or bus, people walked with earphones in their ears without much caution on what's happening around them. She saw how people in public always preferred to be "plugged in" instead of conversing with their companions. As an excited foreigner artist from a third-world country, she realized how much she lost after focusing too much on shooting with her camera than enjoying the very experience of her globetrotting endeavors through her very own eyes. One night while inside the subway, she looked to the right and suddenly had an epiphany when she saw "robots" using cellphones and iPods. This readily prompted her to write the script, which eventually got KOFIC's support.
Shooting this project allowed her to go way beyond her comfort zone, as she had to find all production requirements in a foreign land without her trusted colleagues, friends, and family. She knew that she should shoot the film within her means and resources - from coming up with a feasible budget to forming a solid production team to getting access to the best location. She was able to gain the trust of some young, promising filmmakers in Seoul, which made it possible to mount this film as planned. She was able to cast newfound friends, classmates, and friends and friends despite her relatively small network, as her concept allowed her to utilize mostly non-professional acting requirements from people who should simply be operating their gadgets inside a coffee shop. Interestingly, after more than a month of looking for the right location throughout Seoul, she saw the perfect fit at the upper floor of the building where she usually spends her class breaks in Korea University - a students' lounge area that can pass as a neat and sterile coffee shop location.
Knowing that the film requires a very techie physicality, the filmmaker describes her stylized treatment as "human factory" where the mise-en-scené is dominated by straight lines instead of curves or waves. The colors are in the neutrals - mostly whites, silvers, blacks, and grays. All shots feel mechanical by exuding strictly linear and snappy motions. The characters' movements progress like a factory moving as a part of the larger whole. Sound effects of gadgets are arranged into its own digitally inspired "human factory" sound design and musical score.
This picture exudes a tinge of quirkiness reflecting the techno, geeky, droll, and zany aspects that technology brings. The robotic treatment renders a gadget factory feel through character movements working like exaggerated and uniquely outlandish machines in action.
