February 11th, 2022: Ideas for our Huli Jing Animatic
- Alice Mach
- Feb 11, 2022
- 4 min read
Before my team and I think about making an animatic, we have been discussing if our story should revised or retouched a little more. I personally love the original version of Huli Jing storyboard. When I first watched it, it brings racial and gender equality on Chinese and LGBTQ. The story has a connection about how people who found themselves as transgender and/or homosexual were afraid of telling their loved ones such as their family about his or her identity. My team and I always meet each other every week to discuss about the story, and while we gather together, we discussed about our personal experiences about our race and our sexuality.
Since the Huli Jing brought Chinese cultural aspects, it reminds me about my race and my traditions. I am mixed Vietnamese and Chinese. I was raised with a traditional family, and my parents were immigrants from Vietnam. My dad's side of the family is mix Chinese. I believe my grandfather was born in Guangzhou, China which is pretty near by Hong Kong. I have always wondered about what it is like in China and Vietnam because I want to know where my family was born and raised, and as an Asian American, I want to get to know more about their culture. The reason why my family have not thought about visiting Vietnam is because my parents experienced some trauma events such as Vietnam War. My mother escaped Vietnam by boat when she was a teenager, and she became a refugee in Thailand. She had lived in Thailand for long time, but until the government found out that my mother left her country, they had to take her back. I always wondered about how Vietnam went through difficult political events including China. I have asked my parents about what Vietnam looks like over there. My mother's relatives still live in Vietnam, and I have not yet met them in person. I hope that someday I get a chance to travel in Vietnam and China.
As I was thinking about my personal connection with the Huli Jing story, I ended up making a PowerPoint presentation about History and Traditions of China for my team because my team and I explained that our views are different on race and sexuality. One of my teammates is also pure Chinese, and she was adopted with White family. She knows that her perspective may be different than traditional Chinese individual because she was raised as an American. That reminds me of myself as well because my perspective is way different than my parents' view. Another reason why I created the presentation is because I want to help my team members to understand the culture. Some do not know about what is Mid-Autumn Festival, what the objects like clothing or food from China symbolize, etc. I think making a presentation about Chinese traditions would be helpful for my team to understand the Asian culture, how Huli Jing relates to the cultural aspects, and for gaining experiences of our society.
While I was writing about the holidays in China and other Asian countries, I wrote about the Mid-Autumn Festival because Huli Jing has Mid-Autumn Festival involved in the story. The story adds about the lunar moon cycle/phase. I wrote how China and other Asian countries follow the lunar moon calendar and what do they celebrate for. Mid-Autumn Festival usually happens in September or October, and it is for family reunion. In China, they made floating lanterns. It almost reminds me of Disney's animated movie, Tangled. While we celebrate that holiday, we enjoy eating mooncakes. I have had mooncakes before. They were delicious. I hope I can bring some to my teammates and the whole DAC on campus to let them try it. One of my team members want to add mooncakes and lanterns in Huli Jing story. In addition, I have add images of Chinese individuals in a beautiful clothing style called Hanfu. I added about that because I believe one of the characters would wear the same style, but in a peasant style. The clothing style reminds me of Chinese drama shows I watched before such as The Legends, Song of Glory, The Long Ballad, and Princess Agents. There are so many ancient Chinese dramas I watched before, and I really wanted to show those who love watching Chinese martial art films. I was surprised that the DAC knows Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers movie. They were the best Chinese classics. I know other Chinese movies such as Hero, Ip Man, Jade Dynasty, and so much more. Whenever I have time, I would like to introduce my DAC program of all the Chinese films and shows I have seen.
As of today, my team and I was supposed to present an animatic. We, unfortunately, did not have an animatic because we worried about going anything further and we wanted to be sure if our story needs to be retouched. Some of my teammates want to do concept art before we start 3D modeling. During critique, I did not show my PowerPoint presentation because I was nervous to present it in front of class. I felt that my presentation was not important for the animatic review. Towards the end of class, I told my professors about my presentation and I noticed that I should've presented it because it shows progress on how I am involved with my team, and they were interested to get to know the culture. My biggest mistake is being afraid of not showing my work. I believe as I move forward, my goal is to show what I got and accept some advices from my team and my faculties because it will help me improve on what I can do better and for being brave in front of the audience.
My agenda for this week is supporting my team on making an animatic. We just started blocking the scene of the forest setting, and we talked about who is doing what assets. I am very interested on character modeling and sculpting. I admire a lot on character art, and my personal goal is being more involved into character modeling and animation. I have not yet signed up on making any other 3d models yet because I know making a character takes time, and I want to see how much progress I go for character modeling. Once I finish character modeling, I will definitely volunteer on making more assets.
Comments