Yeri's Animation Blogs

This week we started to choose a topic that interested us, and I chose the Subject: From an everyday object to a fantastical object. This was an excellent topic for some light-hearted and fun animated videos. I really enjoyed finding inspiration from reality and incorporating it into my work.

Subject: From an everyday object to a fantastical object

 Course： Radical Friendship, Gamified Collaboration, and DAOs

This week, we did lots of fun games, such as drawing a small animal on a piece of paper and then handing it to the next student to draw. I really enjoyed this little activity! I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately because I have to think of many designs this term. This fun activity also promotes motivation quickly.

Find a member

A fellow student who specialises in scripting and character design, and I want to make a film combining 2D and 3D animation. So we have been looking for suitable team members all week. Luckily, we found two 2D animation students who were also interested in the subject.

After deciding on the direction of the group’s project, we started working together to develop a plot and exciting ideas for the story and assigning work according to each person’s area of expertise. I, for example, am very good at building and animating 3D scenes, so my work will focus on the 3D part.

Group resource sharing

We created a google document to hold our inspiration for the project and put up a lot of references and interesting images, which was very helpful for the group to share inspiration.

Group work

This week we had our first meeting for the group collaboration, as I am very good at modelling, binding and rendering, so I should continue to be responsible for more of the 3D part. We exchanged a lot of ideas about characters, scripts and subplots for the animation in this meeting. Through this week’s discussion, our group roughly settled on a basic plot and character set for the script. A highly detailed 3D scene, and a 2D scene with a virtual twist, will be needed for the animation.

Animation style reference

https://www.behance.net/gallery/116575331/-MIRACLE-LOVE-CITYPOP-MV

Introduction

This week we talked about Collaboration Unit; in the first session, I learned about the structure and objectives of the unit and the specific assignments and projects I would be working on throughout the semester. We were exposed to different disciplines and shared various exciting topics. We were also given bracelets in multiple colours and had some games to help each field meet new people and share different interesting ideas.

Miro Board-First question

Firstly, we learnt a lot about different professions, such as VR.VFX.2D animation in the group work unit this week. We shared our professional skills and creative ideas in other fields and met people from different professions through this course. And we set up a working group to help the group work together more effectively in our areas of expertise.

Miro Board-Second question

Firstly, the first requirement for a collaborative unit is to identify the main topic of our group work and then find various members who can help us. Secondly, once the subject and key members have been identified, we communicate and refine the details of the topic, with each member actively talking about their inspiration. Finally, the group will begin to allocate work, using the strengths and specialities of their professions to draw up a timetable for each stage and start the first steps of prep work.

Miro Board-Third question

In group work, the first step is to distinguish each person’s areas of expertise and interest in order to assign group work. In the second part of the preparation, communication and sharing of resources become very important, as well as the need for group members to give dialectical feedback on different ideas, for example, by analysing the idea’s feasibility. The third step is at the end of the project when we have to deliver our respective parts on time and be prepared to work out a second set of solutions and responses if someone cannot submit it on time.

Sharing our Ideas & Social Event

It was an excellent opportunity to meet many friends from game design, special effects, 2D animation and VR who had been in the class together last term.we discussed exciting topics and ideas and how 3d animation could work with various disciplines. Some people wanted to combine 3d with motion capture, and some people wanted to use 3d technology in 2D animation. We discussed the possibilities of implementing multiple projects together. We envisioned what the projects would look like when they were finished. I also found areas and topics that interested me, and I look forward to meeting interesting people again next week.

Formation of cooperation groups

1)Title: Twist and Shout

Description of idea:

The general wish of this animation is to blend in the idea of a metaverse (virtual space and identity) and a sense of belonging. Being judged by the same standards is a nightmare that everyone shares. By doing this animation, we can show our embrace of the pain and the wish to overcome it with a sense of humour.

My inspiration and motivation for making it

At the beginning, when deciding on the project’s direction, Clio and I discussed whether we wanted to do a project about art criticism. We are in an examination-based education system in China where you must constantly pass exams to get into a good university. Chinese drawing exams are very harsh, and the system does not consider a student’s creativity or thinking ability. It means that if we want to get high marks to get into university, we must draw precisely like the photo. A student’s whimsicality would be scored as a failing grade.

When I was an undergraduate student, I tried to discuss whether early art education in East Asian countries like China and Japan was suitable for children by making picture books. For example, as a child, I loved to draw, and I loved the moments of drawing all the beautiful colours on paper. But my mum thought I needed better art lessons, so my mum sent me to a painting tuition class, but during the course, I was trained to paint all kinds of bland bottles and plaster day after day. I fell into a long period of self-doubt, wondering if I really enjoyed the painting process, and to be honest, I still don’t have the answer. We are taught from an early age to get good grades, to listen to our parents and to get a good job, but the reasons why I was so determined to choose art in the first place seem to have been long forgotten.

• Team Members: