[Pale Fiction #2]

My heart feels empty since I've finished my latest animation.....so I start organizing my final year project.

well....

I'M TAKING MY ENTIRE RISK FOR THIS ANIMATION:

1. I've never done an animation without any logical sense with pure emotion

2. Tons of animal motions that I have to find tons of reference

3. Japanese Buddhism idiom is involved which means I have to do lots and lots of research

4. I might get in some emotional trap in this animation since this animation is about life and death

5. I have to consider whether the audience understand the story

6. HIGH-ANIME Quality should be made

But good news is....I got 1 year to finish this animation.

In this blog I will be shared:

1.The plot of my story

2.Research I have done so far

3. Technique I've been exploring

'Pain makes us grow up and death is just a beginning.'

The story is about a boy wears a fish jar lives underwater named TORU who lives underwater with two black cats. His fish jar will rupture if he feels upset, if the fish jar explode, he will die. Fortunately he doesn't have much emotion all these year. But one day he found out the cats could take other souls which lend him to escape from them.

Toru went to a sky mirror(over water) and meet his new friend THE ROBIN BIRD. The very first time he feels joyful and happiness. However, the black cats can still find him. Toru doesn't know what to do and grab the bird back to water....but he doesn't know bird can't live underwater.

Toru was so painful and he slept with the body for a long time, also his fish jar has been seriously damaged. When the black cats found him, Toru's fish jar is exploded. The cats knows this is the time to complete their mission-----they transform into a 'BLACK TORU'(Minoru), then feeds his soul to the Toru with a kissing.

Toru is rotted...became a skeleton...and start growing grassesAt the end, the black Toru woke up with a student uniform at the sky mirror and looking at a school of fish.

This story has been separated by three parts:

1.School of Fish

2.Bird

3.Toru and Minoru

last for 6-8mins

I want this story to be easy to understand by audience and worth to be analysed by professional....well I always wanna do this kind of story...but I'm too afraid to fail Q_Q

2.Research

About WABI SABI(侘寂)

Ever since I heard of the concept of Wabi Sabi, I've been studying this theme for almost 2 years....but still I can't fully understand much.

Wabi and Sabi represent a Buddhism concept of imperfect,impermanent and incomplete. Everything is going to fade away, nothing will be existed forever but these is just a normal life being ever. In the Japanese tea ceremony, the professional will solve the tea with shabby tool since it shows the respect of nature and time. Nowadays, company such as Apple and Muji both are designing their product based on the concept of Wabi Sabi.

I was wrote a story based on Wabi Sabi before but I'm kind of disappointed of the result....since it is not really highlighting 'impermanent' and I didn't understand the idiom of Wabi Sabi that time. But after the death of my teacher....I know I'm going to do another Wabi Sabi story again.

In Semester 1, I've thought of a horror story to keep life forever after. Now I would like to do another story to reject that story----Nothing is forever after, but everything is recycling.

2.Taiji兩儀

Wabi Sabi is about incomplete and imperfect. I would like to show this to the robin bird...but the conflict is 'Growing up needs something to complete'. Then I do some research of 'I Ching':'great; grand; supreme; extreme; very; too(易有太極，是生兩儀，兩儀生四象，四象生八卦，八卦定吉凶，吉凶生大業。)' The idiom of 'I Ching' is also about life but to find the best way to live successfully. And that need the 'light' and the 'shadow' to balance all the spirit. In my story, the black cats actually are Toru's spirit. They has been waiting Toru to break his fish jar so that they can give Toru the actual spirit to make him complete.

Toru in Japanese means 'Transparent' and 'Minoru'(the boy that the black cats transform into) means 'actual'

Toru and Minoru are realated to Taiji.

-----I've also got some research of fish and cat....but I have to record them next time cuz the blog now is too long haha xDD--

3. Technique I've been exploring

This motion testing video I've been showing to my friends and tutor many time haha xD then I found there are some problem I need to solve:

1. Efficiency

This little testing video I have done for two days....and don't even have enough frame rates!

2.Perspective

The fish jar is actually just copy and paste all the time, it's shame that here's no dynamic involved

3.Quanlity

I have to complete 6-8 mins with that quality of style and now is already has some bugs within such little testing video

Luckily, my friend helped me to get this magazine from Japan. It shows how nowadays anime work effectively. They always combine with CG simulation.

Also Lucky Luckily, my higer diploma major is 3D animation. So I have some basic skill in Maya(hopefully I didn't forget much...notes are important!!) XDD

First, I have to do Toru simulate character all by myself. Since I've changed a bit anatomy to show the art style. Such as I'd like the ear to be a bit lower, longer foot.....like some sort of anime anatomy. Then I download the cat model online because it must be accurate to show the actual cat motion.Then I will rotoscope the cat with ink.

Also, I'd like Toru's clothings be flowing all the time since he lives underwater. So I must do the nclothing.

Certainly, the fish jar perspective problem has been directly solved with 3D simulation.

And here the testing concept art I've done.

3D simulation provided an efficiency environment for me to finish this animation.So I might also use this technique for my animatic....cuz that's way fasterrr!!!

On the next blog, I'll be shared:

1.The symbolic of fish, bird and cats

2. Concept art(brain storming process)

3. Schedule

Seeya!haha!!

#PaleFiction