#screenarts

[yoliyoli]

^▽^, 2024

^▽^ is an experimental short animation that explores one of the most profound and painful experiences in my life—the loss of my father last year. In this short film, I aim to convey my feelings about this sorrowful experience through a lens of entertainment and humour. For me, entertainment art—whether it's movies, animation, or games—has always been an essential part of my life. These forms of art have been my way of escaping reality and diverting my attention when I didn’t want to confront my emotions. After my father passed away, I found myself relying even more on these forms of entertainment to avoid facing the pain.

Throughout the film, I revisited some of the most painful memories related to my father, such as refusing to climb Mount Everest with him. However, in this film, I intend to reinterpret these memories in a humorous or lighthearted way—using exaggerated visual techniques and contrasting humour to transform these painful moments into something more bearable and relatable for the audience.

The film features a retro cartoon style, combining Low Poly 3D models and hand-drawn elements to create a nostalgic and unique visual experience. My goal is to use this short film to help myself and the audience better accept these painful memories while reflecting on our relationship with entertainment art—how we use it to escape reality and how, behind the humour, deep emotions can be hidden. This is a film about self-healing and emotional transformation, and I hope it resonates with everyone.

[yoliyoli]

Final Editing Process in Premiere Pro

The last step of my project was to bring together everything I had created and edit it into a cohesive film in Premiere Pro. Given the vast amount of material I had, I relied heavily on nesting in Premiere Pro. By nesting different elements that appear in the same frame into single sequences, I was able to keep my timeline much cleaner and more organized. This technique significantly improved my workflow and efficiency compared to my previous experiences with editing.

After a lot of careful editing, the final film came out to just over two minutes. I exported it in MP4 format, and with that, my project was complete.

[yoliyoli]

Choosing the music for my film

For the soundtrack of my film, I wanted something that would perfectly complement the nostalgic and playful tone of the visuals. While browsing YouTube, I came across the music of a Japanese musician named nobonoko. I was immediately drawn to her style, which blends electronic, retro, and cute elements, reminiscent of the music you’d hear in old video games.

One of her songs struck me as a perfect fit for my film, so I reached out to her on Instagram. I was thrilled when she responded positively and gave me permission to use her music in my project. I feel incredibly lucky to have found nobonoko’s music and to have received her approval to include it in my film.

[yoliyoli]

More After Effect animation

For this part of my project, I created a short animation in After Effects that depicts my dad’s ID being cut. In China, it’s customary to cut a corner off the ID of someone who has passed away, symbolizing that the person is no longer alive and the ID is no longer valid. I wanted to include this symbol at the beginning of my film to represent my father’s passing.

To create this effect, I first used Photoshop to split the ID into two parts: the corner that gets cut off and the main body of the ID. I then imported these elements into After Effects to animate them. By adjusting the motion curves in After Effects, I was able to create a smooth, quick animation that effectively conveys this symbolic gesture. This animation will serve as the opening of my film, setting the tone for the personal story that follows.

[yoliyoli]

More working process on the hand drawn 2D animation part

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Creating a Dizzying Animation Sequence in After Effects

For this part of my project, I used After Effects to combine the animations I had previously created in IbisPaint. I’m really drawn to that overwhelming, dizzying visual effect, so I decided to take the little character animations I had made, particularly the ones where they deform and move in quirky ways, and combine them to amplify that feeling.

In After Effects, I turned on 3D mode for each of the animated elements, which allowed me to adjust their positions in 3D space. By arranging them at different distances and moving the camera through the scene, I was able to create a dynamic effect where the camera weaves through a crowd of dancing, transforming characters. The result is a chaotic, visually intense sequence that really captures the eye.

[yoliyoli]

Fading Memories: A Photographic and Hand-Drawn Blend

For this part of my film, I chose to work with a photo of me, my father, and my brother, applying a fading effect to the image before adding a layer of hand-drawn elements. The reason I opted to fade the photo first is that I’m particularly drawn to the look of aged, printed photos that have faded to just shades of blue. I feel this effect symbolizes how memories can blur and fade over time, much like the photo itself.

To understand this process better, I researched why printed photos fade this way and discovered that most printed materials use the CMYK color model. The first colors to fade are typically blue and black, which is why old photos often end up with just these shades remaining. Armed with this knowledge, I used Photoshop to convert the photo to CMYK and then reduced the red and yellow channels to achieve that faded look.

After creating the faded effect, I imported the photo into CSP for some hand-drawing on top. Initially, I considered using MS Paint because I love its retro feel, but I wasn’t satisfied with the brush effects. Instead, I decided to take a screenshot of the photo and import it into CSP, where I could better achieve the look I wanted. I used CSP’s brushes to simulate the feel of drawing in MS Paint, combining the old-school charm with the tools I was more comfortable using.

Finally, I recorded the entire drawing process, which I’ll be using in the later stages of my project’s editing. This blending of faded photography and hand-drawn art allowed me to capture the essence of fading memories while adding a personal, creative touch.

[yoliyoli]

Using a Videogame Style to Tell a Personal Story

For this part of my film, I wanted to narrate the story of how I declined my dad’s invitation in a way that felt lighthearted and accessible, so I decided to present it in a videogame format. The story revolves around how my dad invited me to climb a mountain with him after reading an article about a young girl who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in memory of her late father.

I found the original article and recorded my screen as I scrolled through it, incorporating this footage into my film. To give it a nostalgic touch, I added a vintage video player frame around the article. Then, I transformed the conversation between my dad and me into a videogame-style dialogue, complete with text boxes that mimic those found in classic games.

Finally, I exported this sequence as a separate video to make it easier to integrate into the final cut of my project. This approach added a playful and retro vibe to the otherwise personal and emotional narrative.