Gai Hei Yan and the balance between aesthetics endeavours and technicalities

Abstract

My Final Year Project is a collaborative effort with my fellow classmates Zou Xinru and Caroline Sia Cailing to make a short 3D animation- Gai Hei Yan. Set in Singapore in the 1980s, the story tells of a cat grieving for her dead old dressmaker master. She comes to terms with her master’s death by fulfilling the costume-maker’s dying wish of making an opera costume for his favorite actress. The narrative encompasses a Chinese belief that on the seventh day, the one who has passed away will come back to visit his loved ones. The story, wants to highlight the essence of Cantonese opera street performance culture and experience, within an animated short, inspired by this traditional art form that is becoming less appreciated. The vision to achieve these aesthetically, however, is impeded by my limited knowledge in modeling, texturing, painting, lighting, rendering and compositing and technical challenges faced by my group. Moreover, these processes, nevertheless technical, are significant to the representation of the Singapore and characters in this story in order to effectively deliver the narrative.