Doki Doki is an exploration of the relationship between personal experiences and memories, and how they are recalled and described through onomatopoeia in the Japanese language. The aim of the film is to showcase the prominence of onomatopoeia to describe feeling, movement, and physical sounds in Japanese, and to create a subjective world of seeing, hearing, and remembering through a narrative of sounds.

This film takes us on a non linear journey of a day in Anna’s life, weaving together her experience living in NYC and Japan. For this project, we worked closely with a composer to build the score of the film first, which is constructed with Japanese words that act as onomatopoeias. It is Anna’s voice saying these words that become the verbal foundation of her personal ephemeral experience. Doki Doki, although shared in 2D, is meant to feel tactile for the viewer, inviting the audience to lean towards their senses.