IVN - TASK 4: FINAL PROJECT

2025-2025(week - week)

FANN WONG JING EN｜0382237

Design Principles | Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Illustration and Visual Narrative COM61304

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TABLE OF CONTENT

MIB        Task 4      Techniques Applied       Reflection

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MODULE INFORMATION BRIEF (MIB)

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TASK

"It has been said that time heals all wounds. The truth is that time does not heal anything. It merely passes.It is what we do during the passing of time that helps or hinders the healing process." - Jay Marshall

Mood-Board

Characters Falling into a Time Tunnel

• Focus: A strong sense of time, the Roman numerals seem to be scattered in the flow, and the characters fall from the middle, as if they have lost control of time.

• Inspiration: I imagine that my character can also experience a similar "falling into time and space" scene, and get lost in the sense of weightlessness. This can become a transition in my animation, or represent her falling into the depths of memory.

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Purple pocket watch and moon

• Design I noticed: The purple tone is very dreamy, and the light treatment is also very delicate. The pocket watch is like a part of the universe, and the moon seems to be pulled in, full of mystery.

• Influence on my work: The clock face I am drawing also has the universe and stars. This picture makes me think about how to strengthen the "relationship between time and the universe", such as making my clock emit a halo or float in the starry sky. 

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Gear pocket watch and mechanical space

• Details I see: The structure and color of the gears are very layered and have a "sense of order", like a mechanical world in operation.

• What it reminded me of: In the third drawing I made, the character was carried upward by the gears. This drawing made me realize that I could present the gear space more boldly, for example, by making them rotate and glow, turning them into a language of time.

Sketches

Rationale

This group of works explores the theme of "time and self-healing" in an animated way. I want to convey a concept: we mistakenly believe that time can take away pain, but in fact, the real healing comes from what we do during that time. This is also the process of the character starting from the pocket watch, gradually sinking into the gear world, accepting, and then turning to calmness - a kind of spiritual awareness and placement.

Animation Process

Keyframe Setting

• I adjust the dynamic performance of each character or object frame by frame by setting keyframes of Position, Scale and Opacity.

• In the timeline, I densely arrange keyframes to make the characters float, slide or rotate, creating a dreamlike sense of fluidity.

Character falling animation

• The girl character uses path animation and Easy Ease to make her slide into the gear space with a natural sense of gravity.

• Decorative elements such as bubbles and water drops are used to enhance the lightness and fantasy of the dream atmosphere.

Gear running animation

• I set the rotation direction and speed of each gear individually, some are fast, some are slow, to make the whole more lively.

• Some of the gears also have a "zoom and bounce" effect, showing the unstable and jumping rhythm in the dream.

Final Output

Final Animated Video

Documentation 

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Techniques Applied

What are the techniques you learned in class that you have applied in your works?

In this work, I used a variety of animation techniques learned in the classroom, including Keyframing, so that the position, rotation, scaling and transparency of the character produce a coherent dynamic performance. For example, on the clock, the mouse and the ghost rotate and move with the pointer, which is completed through parent-child layer binding (Parenting), making the animation more natural.

I also learned to use Easy Ease skills to adjust the animation rhythm to make the character's movements softer and less rigid. In addition, I also adjust the position of Anchor Point to make the rotation axis of the clock and gear more accurate; and through the Pre-compose function, I can stratify the complex picture to improve work efficiency.

Did you include additional techniques that you researched on your own?

In this work, in addition to applying the basic animation techniques learned in class, I also researched and tried some new techniques and successfully integrated them into the two main scenes. The connection between the first and second scenes was made by the same clock, so it was necessary to ensure that it was accurately connected to the second scene. It took many attempts to match it. The second scene used the principle of scaling to create the effect of coming out of the clock.

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REFLECTION

What did you like the most in the assignment? 

 I am most satisfied with the overall atmosphere: the colors and characters fit the dreamlike feeling very well, and they also successfully convey a gentle philosophical meaning. When making the gears and the starry sky, I consciously added different levels of transparency and rotation to make the animation more profound.

What can be improves based on your submission?

The connection between the first and second scenes can be improved. No matter how I adjust it, I feel that the connection is not smooth enough. In addition, the time limit makes the whole work feel like "to be continued"