0:00 2:20

Tai nghe để nghe trọn vẹn · best with headphones — phim được vẽ trực tiếp trong trình duyệt, không phải tệp video.

Chương 1 · Chapter 1

Quê hương và gia đình

Homeland and family

Nguyên văn chương 1 hồi ký của ông Trần Văn Sơn. Bản tiếng Anh dịch sát bên dưới mỗi đoạn. The full chapter as he wrote it, with an English translation under each paragraph.

Còn tiếp… to be continued in Chapter 2.
← Mục lục · all chapters

Người trong chuyện · The people

Gia đình họ Trần Văn

The Trần Văn family, as far as chapter 1 tells it

Only what the chapter says. The tree grows as new chapters arrive. Portraits are drawn from family photos where we have them; the rest are imagined.

Dòng thời gian · Timeline

Ba trăm năm ở Mỹ Sơn

Three centuries in Mỹ Sơn, from chapter 1

    Ký ức · Fragments

    Những thứ nhỏ còn nhớ mãi

    Small things never forgotten — tap one to see it in the film

    Thực hiện · Making of

    Cách bộ phim được làm

    A film with no video file

    This chapter's film is a small JavaScript program, like its companion 60 năm. Every frame is drawn live on a canvas from about forty paper cut-outs and twelve painted backdrops. The pieces jitter at twelve frames a second, like stop-motion under a rostrum camera, and each scene arrives on a torn sheet of paper. The sound effects are synthesised in the browser: wind, distant shelling, the scrap collector's detector, chalk, the rattan switch, crickets, rain, the temple bell and the harbour. The two recorded tracks are the narration and the score.

    Câu chuyện · StoryHồi ký Trần Văn Sơn, chương 1 “Quê hương và gia đình”
    Kịch bản, dàn dựng, hoạt hình · Script, direction, animationClaude (Anthropic), hand-coded canvas engine
    Minh hoạ cắt dán · Collage illustrationGoogle Gemini 3 Pro Image, from family photos where we have them
    Giọng kể · NarrationGoogle Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS, voice “Algenib” (a stand-in until we can use his own voice)
    Nhạc · ScoreGoogle Lyria 3 Pro, two cues: đàn bầu, đàn tranh, felt piano, bamboo flute, strings
    Âm thanh · Sound designSynthesised live in the browser (WebAudio)
    Bản dịch · TranslationClaude, kept close to his wording

    Illustrations are an artistic re-imagining, not historical photographs. Names, dates and events come only from his memoir. Anh Bốn and anh Ba Đắc are not drawn yet: we are waiting for photos of them.