Rationale
In week 1, I was brainstorming and developing ideas for my Studio 2 project. Since I have a strong interest in traditional Chinese culture, I would like to make another piece of 2D animation related to that in some ways. In addition, I was highly inspired by Hayao Miyazaki when I first started animating, by its attention to detail in characters in the background and the smoothness of character animation. So, character animation would be another focus of my project.
Context
Before coming to Studio 2, I had a rough direction for making a story based on the ancient Chinese poem, Night Mooring at Maple Bridge. The poem itself is purely about using descriptions of the environment to express desolation and sadness. Therefore, I would be building my own fictional narrative storylines based on the content provided by the poem.
Choir of Chinese Poem is a Chinese animation studio that focuses on animating Chinese poems. The overall feelings and styles of its animation inspired me when I was building my stories. The 2D animated film ‘Love Seeds’ by CCP tells a short story of the hidden love between two childhood sweethearts, the idea of the red bean from Wang Wei’s poem, Yearning, has been used as the main theme connecting the storyline throughout the animation, as well as the poem itself.
Another related work that inspired me is The Legend of the Sealed Book, in which the animated film has used abstracted characters on the gouache-painted background, and successfully created an exquisite masterpiece featuring Chinese opera and painting.
Method
At this early stage, I was basically brainstorming on possible ways I could use to fill the content of my 2D animation, such as metaphors. I was also considering building plots to reflect the background of the poem, which was written when the poet was taking refuge from a rebellion in his hometown. The crows, the maple leaves and the fish light, could all be taken into consideration to be used as implied metaphors, reflecting the background. I was also looking at how the Chinese poem has been translated into English versions and reordered contents to make the English audience easier to understand.
Reflection
After having an early consultation with John about my project direction and inspiration, I was informed of how Hayao Miyazaki has been using tiny action and shots to establish the characters’ personalities, which could also be a focal point of my animation, subtly movements that build up characteristics.
As I was researching the background of the poem written in the Tang Dynasty, I would also be looking at the costumes people were wearing and the objects that existed at that time, what has been invented and what hasn’t, to create a more believable world set. I felt confident in the idea I was developing in week 1, refining some of the contents and writing a statement of intention.