I believe that regardless of how whimsical and uncanny our dreams could be, a dream is actually a derivation from reality; it contains the bits of our daily lives (and sometimes they are the ones that we are even unconscious of) and is brought to our minds when we sleep in the most unpredictable manner.

But what is the actual function of a dream?

It is still uncertain, what a dream is actually meant for. Sigmund Freud, the famous neurologist states that a dream is driven by unconscious wish fulfillment while others like Carl Jung argues that dreams are messages to the dreamers. A research conducted by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in the United States states that there are  many other people, like Jung, who believe that there must be a hidden agenda between a dream; no wonder why there is an abundance of books and websites that offer information about dream interpretations!

Given its characteristic of oftenly being surreal, visualizing our dream would be a most likely bizarre experience.

Samuel Blain, the London-based award-winning film maker, designer, and animator invites you to “In Dreams”, the visualization of four people’s most vivid dreams that they remember the most as they discuss their dreams with their heads visualized as the representations of the dreams; the teeth, the hair, the tree and the eyes.

Was initially a project for Blain’s final year film graduation in Northumbria University, “In Dreams” has won various awards such as D&AD Best New Blood, Canal+ Prix at Festival des Très Courts, Bronze Osprey Award and was the official selection of movie festivals such as Melbourne International Animation Festival, Animation Block Party, London International Animation Festival, and more.

“In Dreams” is a simple yet visually very intriguing video with a hint of surrealism that will probably trigger you into asking yourself the same question: “What is my own most vivid dream?”

Text by Siti Hartinah Putri