Expectation and analysis for the new experimental project

     For my new experimental animation project "Sky Lantern", I would like to challenge myself by bringing more elements into a short animation. As a conclusion of my previous work, "Frame-Romance", I have had some experiments with digital cut-out animation created in Photoshop, and I am quite pleased with the unique visual quality that my 2-D digital puppets added into the animation. I am also very excited that I have come up with my first ever created music composition using Garage Band, as the fact that I have zero knowledge of playing any music instruments or reading composition notes. I think digital cut out is a current technique that I am starting to find satisfying with, and I would like to keep exploring further potential with this specific animation technique and visual outlook. Therefor, for the new project "Sky Lantern", I would like to continue using digital puppets for cut out animation.

     My current passion about animation is its storytelling method. Maybe it is because I am also working on my grad film, and I am still on the storytelling stage. I found it is very difficult to tell a complete story that is clear in terms of communicating to its audiences, but also contains a good level of subtle underline. Just for recently, I have been editing the script and notes about my grad film and its story line like crazy. My grad film is based on real life story carrying intense scenes, but I have very limited amount of screen time of the film, something like under five minutes. The fact that I have way too less experience in constructing a complicated story with convincing and concise scenes has become my huge frustration and worry.
    
     As for this upcoming experimental animation project, I would like to try to stretch my limit to tell a large story in a short time without showing the audience a complete beginning, middle and end of the story. I would like to challenge myself to be able to tell a story that is not so linear while having powerful enough scenes to really evoke the audience's emotions. I would like to challenge myself about the subtlety of the story by creating a more detailed and sophisticated character animation.

      My concern about this challenge that I have set for myself is whether if I could finish this story on time. I will try my very best though to finish it up. Sound track could also be a huge challenge, since I would like to include an argument between a couple inside to story to reveal a pair of irresponsible parents who completely ignore their child's feelings. Also, for visual quality, I would like to have some further improvements in my animation, and I would like to try After Effects. Yet the learning process is very slow. I have no knowledge about this software at all, and so far what I have learned from Youtube and online tutorials are still basic opening a clip inside After Effects. The great thing is that my professor Martin Rose has been very kind and supportive to me and he is willing to even show me this Monday some basic stuff about this software to make the software less mystical to me. I am looking forward for what I could create in this project.