November 3rd, 2005 Amy

Harmony: The Quest For Companionship was born out of my interest in Comparative Mythology and the Hero’s Journey. I was first introduced to this terms in year 2004, when I took my final course of Writing at Foundation Visual Art & Design, instructor Jennica Harper briefly explained story structure, and I was instantly hooked. After graduating, I went back to Peru where I spent some time figuring out where were my strengths and what I really wanted to do with my life.
All of a sudden, my interest on this topic grew and I found myself reading several essays on-line about this fascinating topic. Later on, I found myself writing a brief essay on the Tao-ji symbol (Yin & Yang), and in the blink of an eye – I was already back in Canada trying to figure out what to do for my final project.
In my search for more information about Joseph Campbell’s ideas, as well as C.G Jung’s ideas of the Collective Unconscious, I couldn’t find many visual aids, so I thought it was going to be a great adventure for me. But where should I begin to explain such a broad topic?
It all began by a great research on the topic, trying to focus in the most important and relevant points of someone’s (the hero’s) journey. Two weeks later, and a 3-hour brainstorming session later, I was ready to plan my story in script format. I had already a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to have, so I put it on paper, and after a week, I had already a script that didn’t change much when turned into storyboards. The storyboards turned into a pretty detailed animatic that then went to the Audio Department, where Sound Designers Liam Wong & Craig George would get a basic idea of what sounds to make. During that process, I started doing the drawings and illustrations needed for the animation.

The piece earned me a nomination for Best Project Management in the DD02 Graduation, as well as an award for Best Animation at the My Hero Film Festival.
Watch Harmony: The Quest for Companionship by clicking this link.
Posted in drawings, dvd interface, illustration, motion, sketches, typography, writing |
August 20th, 2005 Amy
Backbone Medley is a motion graphic piece by Jung-Kit Chan, in collaboration with Bun Lee and Kenny Lin.

Watch Backbone Medley by clicking this link.
It is a story written by me, about three different people – all linked by the metaphorical trascendance of butterflies.
It is a story about dreams, about choices, about the different lives of three very different people with different endings.
The creative process for this one was ideal. Jung-Kit Chan came to me and said he needed a story… a story about choices, so we sat together and brainstormed ideas, and came up with the basic idea for this. After several re-writes and the advice from Writing Consultant, Jennica Harper, we ended up with a script that Jung-Kit used to tell the story through motion.
The project earned Jung-Kit a series of awards, including his DD01 Graduate for Best Motion Design, a Special Jury Prize from ifva, the Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards, Best Motion Graphics by a Student at the CAEAA (Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts), and a mention in the Illustration Annual in July’06 of Communication Arts.


Posted in motion, writing |
August 5th, 2005 Amy

This is one of five series of mockup images for the website of the movie entitled “The Dog Walker“. We watched a number of various-genre short films in Story For Design class, in which instructor Jennica Harper assigned us a short film to work on as if it were a real client. We analyzed the movie, its elements, its structure to finally come up with an idea on what to do for some sort of website or marketing device.

Working in a film like The Dog Walker made me realized how difficult and how complex getting ideas to show the spirit of the film. Moreover, how complex characters, story structure and foreshadowing can be. I enjoyed working in this project, mostly and foremost, because I love films… and because we had pretty much creative control over the website. Working in that kind of situation or environment would be like a dream come true to me, in which I am allowed to explore a movie from a viewers’ point of view, and also to explore all the ideas that come up later as I start making decisions.
Posted in branding, sketches, typography, web design |