Underwater

2021 Thesis

"Underwater" is a short animation illustrating a mental status when a busy-scheduled life gets five minutes of relaxation in a bathtub. The title "Underwater" refers to the leisure time in our life, it seeks to highlight the importance of work-life balance to our mental health. By experiencing an imbalanced life from the first-person view, this piece focuses on using an abstract visual style to present the character’s inner world and the desperation for relaxation.

Narratives

The story follows the hero character as she thirsts for relaxation and breaks out of the rigid schedules. The design aims to exaggerate conflicts between two mental statuses: restrained and unleashed, through incorporating the changes of scenes and colors. The climax comes before the character has to come out of her relaxation and back to the schedule.

1. Point of View

The first-person point of view shares the main character's (both external and internal) experience with audiences, also plays down the attention on the character's personality, and diminishes any potential distractions on the settings. This design decision seeks to provoke empathy and reflection in audiences themselves.

2. Metaphor

Metaphors are largely used in this design. A lamb in the flock, a processed can in an industrial factory, an endless tunnel with pendulum-like obstacles. All these imageries symbolize the character's suffering, dreary and mechanical life, creating a distinct contrast with the later scenes when she frees herself in the water, where organic shapes and objects like landscape, flowers, stars, and sky are depicted.

3. Color & Vibe

Color & vibe play a critical role in driving the narrative. Not only an aesthetic choice but also reflect the mental status change of the main character. In the opening and ending, she's surrounded by a monochrome palette, as she frees herself in the bathtub, the world around her becomes more vibrant, leading towards more saturated colors.

In terms of vibes, the movements are designed to abstractly illustrate the energetic inner world through organic, waved movements.

Process

After Effects is the main tool used in most scenes and composite the final video. Besides, Cinema 4D is used to help speed up workflow, define the spatial relationships of the objects. The frame-by-frame technique is for creating a unique liquid-style animation.