"Merger": a warning film told about the fate of a person in the world of high technology

Most of us are sure that the development of technology in the future will make our lives easier and happier. But is this really the case? Keiichi Matsuda (Keiichi Matsuda) is a director and designer from Japan, shot a short film in which he showed what the life of an ordinary person can turn into in the world of computers and machines. It seems that a person living in Japan, where the future has almost come, can be trusted.

Keiichi Matsuda's painting Merge ("Fusion") filmed using modern technology that allows you to cover the scene 360 degrees. Using a touchpad or keyboard, the viewer can fully immerse himself in the plot of the film and see the world around him through the eyes of the hero, or rather the heroine. The full version of the film is available on Vimeo video hosting.

Keiichi Matsuda

The protagonist of the film is a girl consultant for a company that provides services in augmented reality (AR). Performing her duties, the heroine of the film tells about her life and shares her dream. Her goal is to leave her body and dissolve into the computer network in order to gain new opportunities and become happier.

In the picture, Matsuda shows an alarming trend — in the modern world, the line between the value of a person as a person and his productivity is gradually erased. This will lead to the fact that everyone will become just a cog of the system and will be evaluated solely as a functional element.

Merger from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

In an interview that Keiichi Matsuda gave to The Verge journalists, the creator of the film spoke about the sources of inspiration that helped him create an unusual short film. According to him, the main role was played by computer algorithms, the cult of productivity peculiar to Japan, and the rapidly developing automation of everything that technology can reach.

This is how the main idea of the film is formulated by its creator. Matsuda also touched upon the growing role of social networks in the lives of modern people. Anyone who looks at the picture carefully will be able to see on the monitors surrounding the heroine, among the working programs, a lot of open windows of messengers with endless correspondence. The author thus makes it clear that in the XXI century, work and online life of a person merge into a single whole.

The problem that the Japanese director raised in his film is not at all far-fetched. It is well known that many elements of dystopias that seemed absurd to us a couple of decades ago have already become part of our daily life.