CPS Folio 1 - Miles Zheng

Week 1: Observation

URL: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week1-1

When I watching cars on the street, I was thinking about that what if there are something invisible engage in our life？I started to imagine that things around us may be not controlled by human. So I did a practice about what is the real reason the car can drive. I drew a demon on the top of car which shows the car is played as skateboard by a demon. This practice makes me think about a possibility of combine 2d animation and reality together.

Week 2: Tinkering As Method

URL: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week2-tinker

In my studio project, AE will be an important software to add many frame change effects. However, I was not familiar with AE before. So I just tried to explore different functions and possibilities in AE. I also want to make something I didn’t made before. Then I use some random graphics to make a 3d model in AE, as I always use AE to make 2d works. The practice makes me more familiar with this software which will be helpful in my future operation in AE.

Week 3: Found Object

URL: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week3-3

In the theme ‘found object and Materiality’, I was looking for the objects around me, suddenly I saw my messy earphone cable, then I comes up with an idea which apply to my studio project which is an animation about Multiple personality disorder. In my practice, I made my earphone cable into a character which remind me that I can draw simple lines in my animatic and then make my characters born from the line. So in my animatic, I started to make the brain of the character who has multiple personality disorder looks like that it made up with simple lines. Then these lines looks like platforms, different personalities will be born from these lines and compete together.

Week 4: Place

URL: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week-4-2

In the theme ‘Place’, I tried to explore whether the same facial express will have different meanings with the changing of place (or context). For me, place means more like a context in an animation instead of a specific location. So I design some different place which contains some interesting elements, like my first picture shows that a couple is kissing in front of a hotel. It is more like a situation I create for my character. And I use one character with one facial express and put him in these different context to see how the meaning of facial express will change.

My own feeling about the result is that my characters’ facial express will have different meanings when the context changed. In the first picture, he looks like envy the couple. Then in the second picture, he looks like feel boring about his girlfriend (or sister?). For the third one, he looks like feel confused or sleepy in class. Number four, he seems feel speechless or annoyed about the trick of the young guys. Final one shows that he feels upset about the behavior of people around him.

So through this practice, I recognize that a facial express may lead to misunderstanding in some situation. In my studio project, facial express is a very important part to represent my character’s emotion. In order to reduce the misunderstanding of the emotion express, I finally make my character’s facial express more exaggerative which makes them looks more specific.

Week 5: Objects

URL: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week5-1

In the theme ‘Objects are not exhausted’, I made an animation about brain’s activities. In my studio projects, I represent the brain as simple lines. But I am still exploring how the brain will be looks like when a person is doing something or thinking something. I cannot see what a brain actually looks like when it is acting. What I only know is the brain’s activity is strongly related to its master. Follow this idea, I made an animatic to present the brain’s activities by using lines. Brain controlling human’s behavior let me think that there is also a drama plays inside the brain. This thought becomes the main idea of my studio project. I will make two scenarios in my animation, one is inside the character’s brain, another one is the character itself and the around environment.