AFI Student Film - 2025

GOODBYE DARLING

Crafted in the fashion of a 1930s screwball comedy, a housewife takes matters into her own hands to get her husband’s attention, while he discovers the truth behind her weekly book clubs with their disheveled neighbor.

On the left, camera looks out from Frank and Vivian’s apartment to Jasper’s, which is a faux room essentially made from a bookshelf and a wild wall.

Same Room, Different Angle


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Frank and Vivian’s Apartment

The trick of this film was to use the same space as both apartments. We accomplished this by flipping the camera angle and using a wild wall, labeled figure 1 in Jasper’s apartment. Along with a bookshelf, labeled figure 2.


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We had fun creating the organized mess of Jasper’s apartment, as he’s always got some new project going, but things rarely seem to get finished. The hoops running down the top of his apartment are suspended by a chain, which are meant to carry a watering can from the window to the table plant.

Jasper’s Apartment

“VIVIAN, 30s, smooths a bed suspiciously untouched on one side. A magazine cover on her nightstand: Busby Berkeley dancers.”

The exterior of each room is shown here. We built custom framing around the windows and relied on the angle of the walls to hide the other windows that you might see when looking at a real New York apartment.

“Frank GRUNTS, pushes the ladder, which protrudes from the window, nearly touching against Jasper's plank to create a full bridge across from one building to the next.”

The apple boxes that the platforms rest on were keyed out in post. This also gives a good view of Jasper’s faux room.

Along with staging the flats and set dressing, I spent a lot of time painting the walls and floors. We stippled the flooring with a darker grey for texture, and used a varathane coating to give the floor a polish.

As was commonplace in an upscale New York apartment in the 1930s, we made tile floors with white tape and a triangle for angling the corners. We did not need to paint, as the tape did the job on its own in black and white.

Director: Hyo Kim

Producer: Ayumi Fujita

Screenplay: Maria Del Pilar Castro

Cinematographer: Silas Croddy

Production Designer: Sam Lam