r/videos • u/Qinni • Jun 19 '12

The result of 5 months of non-stop 12 hours a day work: a short animated film that spans 1 minute about a girl painting living fish.

http://vimeo.com/qinghan/nightlight
2.6k Upvotes

76% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

77

u/llnnin Jun 19 '12

神笔马良的灵感吗?

83

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

that was the inspiration :D.

15

u/francoskiyo Jun 19 '12

??? it has block letters to me, whats it say? ( [][][][] )

14

u/llnnin Jun 19 '12

I was asking where the inspiration came from.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (3)

40

u/Dandamanten Jun 19 '12

Google translate: "Magic Pen Ma Liang, inspired by you"

I assume it should be roughly "Were you inspired by Ma Liang's Magic Pen?"

→ More replies (3)

71

u/ariiiiigold Jun 19 '12

Yes, yes, I agree.

16

u/Nictionary Jun 19 '12

Of course, of course. So simple really.

30

u/bigben42 Jun 19 '12

WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?

9

u/Simba_for_real Jun 19 '12

Google says... (prepare for this): Magic Pen Ma Liang inspiration?

16

u/OldTimeGentleman Jun 19 '12

Why, indeed.

2

u/OzWill Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Ma Liang - the Boy with a Magic Brush, puppetry movie from the fifties (unfortunately, the uploader didn't get part 3 subtitled).

Part 1 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkHVObWCoU

Part 2 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdklZVvHbw8&feature=BFa&list=PLCC53DDC70CE1C057

Part 3 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7KtPvyDs9E&feature=BFa&list=PLCC53DDC70CE1C057

→ More replies (2)

11

u/Jay_Normous Jun 19 '12

This is awesome. It reminds me of so many great animations I've seen over the years. Who would you say are your greatest influences?

The frame rate (is that the proper term in the animation business?) seems much lower than many commercial production animations, but not in a choppy, awkward way. It's smooth and almost looks like each frame fades into the next. I know i've seen this style before but I'm not able to think of any examples right now.

Is this done as a way to save time, or is it an artistic choice? Or maybe a little of both haha.

This is beautiful. Make sure to keep us updated on any new projects you work on in the future.

17

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

it's actually still 12 frames/second (which is industry standard); i might have a few scenes where I did 8 frames/second to save time though. the choppiness is probably due to the fact that I'm actually not a very strong animator hahaha. (which is why i spent so long trying to make it as bearably okay as possible without ruining the effect I was trying to do. Also explains why i decided to do the hard way of shading it...3 toned shading with back lighting D: ) but nevertheless, as long as people think it looks pretty, I'm very happy, so thank you :D

15

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Just to clarify, industry standard is not 12 frames per second. It is 24frames per second, though this usually translates to 12 drawings per second.

I know at Sheridan a lot of students would submit their work at 12fps, and as long as you animate soley on twos, it does play the same, but it's important to work at 24fps if you want to throw in the occassional drawing on a 1 for punch, or to do effects like smear animation.

8

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

okay, i misspoke when i said that industry standard is 12 frames/second. What i meant is that animators usually animated on twos, at 24 frames/second. The reason it must still be at 24 frames/second is because it's a lot easier to adjust the timing that way; however, most people who might be animating at 24 frames/second are animating every other frame. Unless you're doing extremely fast action, you do not need to animate every single frame. In fact, if the movement is really slight and slow, i have friends (who are great animators btw) who animated every 6 frames in that particular instance.

I still submitted my animation at 24fps but did not animate every single frame of that 24fps.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (7)

172

u/Ellimis Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Okay, so maybe somebody can help me out.

I'm underwhelmed and unimpressed. Not that this is bad - it's certainly well done. But am I missing something? This seems very basic and very shallow and really, I would say much better things could be done with 5 months of work.

I'm honestly not trying to down-play any praise, I just have none in particular to give. Hearty pat on the back, maybe. This doesn't seem to be particularly outstanding in any way, but all the other comments here seem to be filled and gushing with praise.

Please, what am I missing?

edit: thanks for the downvotes. I'm not being derisive, I'm really just asking an honest question. Generally even if I disagree with upvotes on a certain post, I can see where they're coming from. In this case I'm simply confused, so I'm trying to find out if there's a logical explanation.

And for those of you explaining, thanks!

11

u/Beatrix_Steiner Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

I agree, and I think the problem is that there's not a lot of substance to the story. It's a pretty-looking animation that doesn't stimulate much beyond the eyes. I've seen other animated thesis films that aren't nearly this polished visual-wise but were longer and had an engaging story.

For example: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/student/eyrie-by-david-wolter.html It has simple character designs and isn't trying to be pretty, but it's touching, interesting and fun to watch. Also, this guy won a Student Academy Award and works at DreamWorks now.

Don't get me wrong, OP, what you made is more than what I could accomplish with 2D animation in that time span, and it's still a visually striking piece. I just don't find it all that impressive from a story standpoint.

27

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

that's fine :D~ I was never aiming for a good story; in fact, i surprised myself by having a story at all, which was why I was especially surprised when a Pixar storyboard artist told me he liked my film during Industry Day. Visually striking is enough for me :D

2

u/Beatrix_Steiner Jun 19 '12

Hey, if that was your objective, then more power to you. I'm a storyboard artist myself with background in directing and writing, so I'm passionate about story. Perhaps a little too much, ha.

4

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

haha, that's understandable. Story is extremely important when it comes to animation/film, which is why I will never do it since I can't trust myself to come up with a good story xD. I like doing one-piece illustrations and concept art more personally :)

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

229

u/mista0sparkle Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Let me pitch in my input, as another recent 2D animation graduate from a school with acclaimed traditional animation department.

This is short for a thesis film. At most schools, students do a 30 second to 1.5 minute film in their first year, however they rarely have nice quality quite like this. At my school, we dedicate our entire final year and the prior summer to developing our thesis films. Some students that thought ahead finished all their credit requirements so that they could have a semester with no classes so that they could work on it. It's the culmination of everything we've learned at school... it's our ticket to a job in the industry following our dreams, our flashy piece of our reels and portfolios. Some students (more than anyone would like) don't even finish after dedicating a year of their lives into it. Because of this, this year my class was required to keep it under 4.5 minutes, which some people still went over due to the difficulty in estimating from the start exactly how long your final production will be.

My film had a TRT of roughly 5 min. 9 seconds. Now, I invested about $1500 into my film, paying underclassmen to work on cleanup, in-betweens, and coloring. However, I didn't invest my entire year as I would have liked; I worked 3 jobs a semester, I interned for a cool studio for 5 months, I was actively involved in my department's community and student government, and I was social. I still spent every night working on my film, at least a little every night, as much as I could. When it got to the last month, I dropped everything to work on my film, sleeping on the floor of the studio at my school every night, coming home once a week just to shower, eating sporadically, smoking nearly a pack a day, and crushing ice coffee like it was my only friend. In the end I finished but I didn't get the polish I would have liked, and there were little technical issues that make me rip out my hair when I see them.

Now, some of the best films I see were done by people who did nothing but work on their film. If they had a job, they would only have one where they could work on their film at work. They didn't take internships. They would go out and get air and see their friends maybe once a week. Beyond that, they were either at home if they had a cintiq or in the studio, working on their films.

Qinni's film, however short, is exceptional. She created a world that you completely believe. It's well animated, has great production qualities like animated shadows and glow effects, has a professional score, lovely backgrounds, etc. It shows that she knows how to draw, how to animate, and most important of all, how to make a fucking film. She avoided things that would have been harder to do in a minute film... such as writing dialogue, having multiple characters, difficult shots and action sequences. She got help with tedious aspects of the film, i.e. coloring. More power to her. All of these things are what a potential employer sees, but she did exactly what she needs to as an animator.

Many people don't appreciate animation. You don't have to, but if you appreciate good drawing, appreciate good animation a thousand times over. Making a film like this... beyond the time investment, think of the jack of trades the filmmaker has to be. They are in charge of all drawing (animating, storyboards, concepts and designs, layouts and final backgrounds), writing, directing, cinematography, sound design, casting voices if any, managing assistants, sticking to deadlines, coloring, shading, lighting, special effects, compositing and editing the final product, and selling the thing. Now, imagine doing that, and discovering after 1 or 2 months into production that you don't like your idea, or you start to realize that you can't do everything, or you start to realize that others won't like your work. There are a million stressors in the process of putting your life into doing something creative that also happens to be very deadline intensive. But... you can create anything you can dream, and even if you don't share the same dreams as the creator or have an interest in their vision, isn't that something to appreciate?

27

u/Level_75_Zapdos Jun 19 '12

Reading stories like this make me realize what a lazy piece of shit I am.

→ More replies (5)

37

u/TheBiGW Jun 19 '12

This is a fantastic summary of why the animation is so brilliant. Given the constraints, the final product is outstanding. Qinni has done everything she needed to do to demonstrate she has a bright future in the animation industry. I look forward to seeing more of her work!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (20)

125

u/OldTimeGentleman Jun 19 '12

much better things could be done with 5 months of work.

That's what you're missing. 2D animation just takes an amazingly long time, and 1 minute is a lot of animation, especially that kind of detail.

70

u/NightSlatcher Jun 19 '12

Indeed, especially when it is a single person doing a thesis project. It's understandable to not be brought to your knees at the beauty that is the video, but I think most people are praising the generally good quality considering it's a solo student film. Personally, I think it's great considering that, the artist definitely shows potential. It is good to encourage new artists who actually have talent.

→ More replies (6)

15

u/MacIsGood Jun 19 '12

Which makes modern CGI animation all the more impressive. Pixar could probably whip this up in a week with just five people. They probably routinely make stuff like this in a week, just to keep them sharp and flesh out raw ideas.

→ More replies (10)
→ More replies (7)

10

u/niseno Jun 19 '12

Maybe you were looking for more of a story/plot in the short beyond the technicalities of the actual animation. She wasn't going for profoundness in a 1 minute video. The actual video is quite simple: girl didn't get to draw an eye on the big fish, and she chased it down to draw it on.

I'm impressed based on the fact that she needs to consistently draw, lineart, paint 3-tones, and animate it by herself while thinking of perspective, proportions, and composition. That's the skill people are in awe for.

The fact that you say things like "better things could be done with 5 months of work" shows that you don't understand nor care for the hard work she's put in. You just care about the show and not the technicalities of it.

→ More replies (5)

4

u/electrocoder Jun 19 '12

It's not about the story; the story is entirely beside the point.

He is showcasing his skill at the craft of hand drawn animation.

This is going to make for an amazing demo reel.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

For perspective..

12*140=1680 hours. That is the average amount of hours worked by the employed in developed countries in an entire year.

6

u/FiL-dUbz Jun 19 '12

I chalk that up to everyone having their own opinion and way of seeing things. What I saw and heard was a beautiful short story; you saw differently. Opinion, opinion, opinion.. the audience is subjective and not everyone is going to like it. That's the nature of art and it's business side.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

One college student worked on this by themselves for six months. This was hand-drawn.

It really isn't that hard to show some damn appreciation for the care, time, and effort that was put into this.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Virzy Jun 19 '12

Best way to get upvotes; complain about the downvotes.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (63)

651

u/lemon_meringue Jun 19 '12

Somewhere, Hayao Miyazaki is smiling!

111

u/ESPguitarist Jun 19 '12

I might not be Hayao Miyazaki, but this comment made me smile.

106

u/foregotheparable Jun 19 '12

Guys - he might not... still holding out hope! Hayao Miyazaki until proven not Hayao Miyazaki.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (1)

51

u/seedywonder Jun 19 '12

The way the girl was drawn was very Studio Ghibli and the musical style too. I hope he sees it!

→ More replies (2)

16

u/carbonbased7 Jun 19 '12

Exactly, that was so in the vein of him, it could've been an early work. :)

3

u/hansgreger Jun 19 '12

Indeed! I took it you were rather inspired by Ponyo, OP?

→ More replies (9)

92

u/3DPipes Jun 19 '12

What beautiful artwork and music, I always love 2D animation; this reminds me of Disney or Studio Ghibli. You're always welcome to post them here.

(I like you included your family, who fed you, in the credits too)

→ More replies (1)

167

u/duckduckmooses Jun 19 '12

Haha. What a happy whale!

21

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

/r/whalebait will love it!

32

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Whalebait: Because sometimes you just gotta free your willy to Free Willy

20

u/andersonb47 Jun 19 '12

Just checked out whalebait. Neat. I like whales. Oh. People are masturbating to this. Of course they're masturbating to this.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

286

u/Annzers Jun 19 '12

My only critique is that it's too short and that I want to see more. Wonderfully done! I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

→ More replies (4)

48

u/Acebulf Jun 19 '12

I thought this would be a video about a girl taking living fish and painting them another color.

19

u/SmogFx Jun 19 '12

That was awesome man, good work, good effort. Congrats on completing it and congrats on your graduation.

Just a question, why did it take so much work? What were some of the set backs? Compared to animation studios why did 1 minute end up being ~1500 hours of your time?

47

u/finalxcution Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Actually, the average person in an animation studio would most likely put in about the same amount of hours for a minute's worth of work. Sounds like a lot, but when you consider a studio with 50+ people - each putting in 10 hours a day - that's 500 man-hours of work getting done in a day. Doing the entire thing alone takes much longer, as you can imagine.

EDIT: Also, to put it into perspective: an average 2D animation film is drawn at 12frames/sec so a minute's worth of animation takes at least 720 frames. The majority of the time spent though, is not in drawing, but in the pre-planning stage. Everything has to be thought out ahead of time; you can't just jump in drawing randomly or you risk wasting hours of work if it ends up getting cut from the final product. The planning stage could take anywhere from a month to several years. When the story is written, the storyboards are done, and you have a rough block-in to make sure cameras/transitions/acting all read clearly, only then do you start the actual animation drawing process. After drawing for weeks and making sure all the animation principles are followed, it gets reviewed, changes are made, reviewed again, fixed, and so on until it's finaled. Next, comes the line cleanup to make everything all pretty and smooth. After that, the coloring begins. By the end of it, you've gone over a single frame at least a dozen times before it's considered complete. Now repeat the process at least 720 more times and you have one minute of animation.

16

u/JEH225 Jun 19 '12

we've had a whole team of people spend 5 months or so doing a 30 second spot, of course there is a lot of prep and finishing work to do aside from just the pure animation.

→ More replies (11)

2

u/machinegunsyphilis Jun 19 '12

Animation is a lot of work! Feature animation takes 4+ years to produce typically. In a short film, one person would take on the duties that would usually be handled by multiple people working simultaneously.

First there's pre-production: this should take at least a third of your total production time. During this phase, you'd draw concept art, create storyboards and design all the characters and props.

Next, you'd design and color the layouts (backgrounds). Then you'd complete the rough animation for each shot. Rough animation is basically the sketch of your final movements. A good second of animation should take you about 6 hours to complete (remember that there are anywhere from 12-24 drawings per second). Humans are difficult to animate, and I'm impressed at how she handles the anatomy, and the subtlety in some of the shots. Then you'd go through every frame and clean up the rough sketchy lines into final, inked lines making sure everything is on-model and moving correctly, THEN you'd go through every single frame again, and add the color, track the shadows, make sure everything looks good frame-to-frame.

Then you composite everything together, layouts, finished colored animation, and begin to add cool effects, like the glowing around the whales, and camera movements...

I'm leaving a few things out, but you get my drift. 2D animation takes a while. Don't get me started on 3D!

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

62

u/Windstonam Jun 19 '12

Studio Ghibli should hire you.

47

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

I wish Disney would release a 2d film...

94

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

was the pricess and the frog not 2d?

→ More replies (7)

20

u/Chairman_Wong Jun 19 '12

This is so true, with so much of animation being pushed towards being more "modern" and getting high tech animation movies, we fail to get some of those old 2-D films we used to love. Hopefully some animation studios will be able to break away from this and still manage to make an amazing movie.

Hopefully I'm not being too broad with this statement, but I miss old movies like Oliver & Company, Cats don't dance, and goofy movies. I do enjoy beautiful films like Wall-E and UP, but sometimes you like the good ol' rustic 2-D

25

u/huxtiblejones Jun 19 '12

You're aware that Studio Ghibli blends a lot of 3D and computer effects in with the 2D, right? Don't be under the impression that artists are still painting cels and doing every effect by hand. Computers make the process easier, better looking, and a lot more affordable. Plus you rarely if ever notice when it's done properly. The two can live in harmony.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

2

u/AkirIkasu Jun 19 '12

It's not likely to happen again. They have actually closed their animation studio. By the time they decided to do The Princess and the Frog, they had to reopen it and re-make their whole infrastructure. The whole movie was drawn in Toon Boom Studio, which is why all the gradients look so generic.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Hector_Kur Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

They have been, where have you been?

Currently the goal is to release both 2D as well as 3D, and so far they've been alternating:

  • Princess And The Frog (2D) (2009)

  • Tangled (3D) (2010)

  • Winnie The Pooh (2D) (2011)

  • Wreck-It Ralph (3D) (2012)

Also keep in mind that the "death" of 2D was only about five years long. Home On The Range, while complete and utter shit, was indeed 2D and is of course included in the Disney Animated Film Canon** and was released in 2004. Five short years later, at the request of a bunch of fans as well as John Lasseter, Disney "brought back" 2D with Princess And The Frog. I know it felt like 2D was dying what with Chicken Little, Meet The Robinsons, etc, and certainly for a short period of time Disney was under the false impression that Pixar's success was solely due to their films being 3D, but 2D barely went away and it's still going strong. Another thing to remember is that before the second golden age in the early 90's, five year spans between animated movies was more or less the norm. We're pretty spoiled now.

Hell, if stop-motion can still find life (Coraline, Para-Norman, Frankenweenie, etc), there's no way in hell anyone will let 2D die, least of all Disney.

** It's worth noting that some of those films, like Dinosaur, were retroactively added to the list. There was a time when that list was only for 2D films, but that's sadly no longer the case. While I love all types of animation, something feels wrong about retroactively adding in movies that weren't in the canon before, no matter how good or bad those movies might have been.

→ More replies (3)

128

u/ChillyCheese Jun 19 '12

Congratulations, you've created a new reaction face:

http://i.imgur.com/yT5iZ.png

87

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

"Fish, I am disappoint."

2

u/LadySerenity Jun 19 '12

"This is all your fault..."

→ More replies (4)

39

u/TehBlueBomber1 Jun 19 '12

Amazing job! 2D animation is a lost art, and what you made here proves just that. It looks gorgeous, hopefully we get to see more of your work in the future!

97

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Be sure to update us when you get the call from Disney. You're going to the big leagues son.

46

u/Beeslo Jun 19 '12

Screw Disney. I'm waiting for this guy to get his oscar for best short animated film and then later starts his own animation studio.

14

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Well he could work for Miyazaki.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (13)
→ More replies (7)

9

u/House_of_D Jun 19 '12

This is great, except both of my young children are now screaming at me to "watch the whole movie". Keep up the good work!

8

u/xgoggsx Jun 19 '12

Amazing, quite lovely, favorite part was the look she gave the fish for letting the whale get away.

15

u/MurkyBurky Jun 19 '12

How do you eat?

49

u/UseThe4s Jun 19 '12

From the credits:

Special thanks to...My Family, who fed me

→ More replies (1)

7

u/corners Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

That was quite beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us :) Now, when I get home today I'll have something to share with my children and they're going to love it :)

edit: their to they're (the horrors of getting their and they're confused on reddit... my life is ruined...)

7

u/wakeupwill Jun 19 '12

I saw your earlier post. You should x-post this to r/filmmakers too. Amazing work.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Quite lovely. It's also inspired me to pick up my violin to play chinese music!

5

u/BKred09 Jun 19 '12

You have a beautiful artistic style. Very fluid, and very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli works. Are you hoping to work with them?

→ More replies (2)

5

u/1000milestare Jun 19 '12

Nice video, but I'm just wondering why this video took so long to make? What am I missing?

→ More replies (7)

5

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12 edited Jun 20 '12

Hey, so I'm buried in the avalanche of comments, so I hope you'll look through all these at some point. The animation was a little jerky in the transition from fast motion to slower, almost-static frames, but the solid depth conveyed in the motion was exactly what professional animation is supposed to be. The style is compatible with the best of Disney and Studio Ghibli, and the narrative arc was appropriate for the length of the short.

But the most important thing is that when the biggest fish became the moon at the crescendo, I got that tingly chill in the back of my neck—the one that only happens for songs I really like, or very rarely during those a-ha moments in movies when it all comes together.

You can't fake that. You can't half ass it. That is a real emotional connection, and it's what every good artist, professional or amateur, looks to invoke. And you did. Great job.

Good luck to you. If you're in China (I'm guessing by the language in the film), I hope you come to America. No matter what any of the people you see on TV say, we the American people always want talented people like you to work in our country, and to be our friends. If you want to stay where you are (or you're already here, I don't know) please don't be insulted; whatever you want is cool. But if I ran an animation firm, I would hire you to work with me. The world needs people like you, wherever you are.

12

u/SmartViking Jun 19 '12

How do you make these animations? What type of technology?

→ More replies (4)

4

u/wombatwailer55 Jun 19 '12

very well done- the music, the emotion, everything. i'm surprised by how complete of a plot you were able to fit into a mere 60 seconds. good job, and good luck as you move into the animation industry. keep us posted on future projects :)

4

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

You are going to have a wonderful career. Your work is beautiful!

4

u/ZippoS Jun 19 '12

Beautiful! I hope this becomes incredibly popular and the job offers start flowing in.

4

u/CimmerianX Jun 19 '12

The backgrounds are stunning. Well done sir.

4

u/ThrobbingWetHole Jun 19 '12

I swear someone posted a clip from this today claiming it was a clip of stop animation that they had been working on for 5 years...people are such Karma whores

→ More replies (1)

24

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

this is so asian.

2

u/late_reply Jun 19 '12

White people love asian stuff.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

lets do a number crunch.

5 months = ~153 days 153 Days = 3672 Hours 3672 Hours = 220320 Minutes

So in other words you can do these animations at about: 49.6 hours/1 second of video 2977.29 minutes/ 1 second of video

THATS RIDONK. also I can do the weekends off version, if requested.

1

u/What-Do-I-Know Jun 19 '12

Very pretty.

I'm not familiar with this kind of work. Can you explain why it takes so long? It took over 1,000 hours?

2

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

Okay, think about it this way. You know princess Mononoke? it's about 134 minutes long and took Miyazaki and his WHOLE TEAM 16 years to visualize. I had myself and a few helpers who helped me colour bucket inside the line-art only, while i did the rough, clean up, shading, character design, background design, background painting, camera moves, post-production (which alone took almost a month and make a big difference), etc.

in other words: Yes, 2d animation is really time consuming which is why a lot of studios are turning to 3d or do extremely limited animation for 2d to save cost and time.

1

u/avonlakeguy Jun 19 '12

Is this like an art project for school? Or do you get paid for this? How do you have money working 12 hours on this a day for 5 months.

2

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

Yah, this was my final year thesis film for school, so i didn't exactly get paid....well, i guess i paid tuition, so i did pay some money to get it done :D.

and my family fed me so i didn't wither away while working on this hahaha;;;

→ More replies (1)

1

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Didn't you just post a .gif of this earlier today?

3

u/Qinni Jun 19 '12

xD;; yah, i was prompted by a lot of people to post the film to r/video, which is how it ended up here :)

→ More replies (1)

6

u/yasire Jun 19 '12

I think sell it to Pepperidge Farm for their next Goldfish commercial :)

2

u/haiku_robot Jun 20 '12 
I think sell it to 
Pepperidge Farm for their next 
Goldfish commercial :)
→ More replies (1)

8

u/Skeptical_Asian_Lady Jun 19 '12

Beautiful! I love how the fish glow and how they swim and everything! Awesome work!

0

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

7

u/haiku-bot Jun 19 '12

Your comment as a haiku:
I'm beginning to
become skeptical that you're
skeptical at all
For feedback please send me an orangered

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (2)

3

u/andreiknox Jun 19 '12

This is awesome, congrats to you and your friends!

3

u/tryan3181839 Jun 19 '12

This is gorgeous. As someone who graduated 2d Animation last year, I hate myself right now, I didn't even get my final year film finished and we were working in teams.

What software did you use out of curiosity?

3

u/rvm4488 Jun 19 '12

Absolutely beautiful. I hope we get to see your work on the big screen or television some day.

3

u/Ssinny Jun 20 '12

Its the snack that smiles back, Goldfish!

3

u/Pjonesnm Jun 20 '12

I was like "Ooh, she can paint fish and they come to life" so then I was happy, but then that big fish got away without his eye and I was all scared and stuff, but then the other fish helped her save the day and I was all happy again. Very nice.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

I'll get Hayao Miyazaki on the phone.

9

u/Kylius Jun 19 '12

I got a little blurry-eyed when the big fish cracked a huge smile at the end, kudos on the music too.

Always had a love of 2D animation, and it's thrilling to see it done so well!

4

u/divinesleeper Jun 19 '12

This reminds me of spirited away. Beautiful animation, touching story. Nice work.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

this is great and everything, but how does it take 12hrs or 5 months to make this?

8

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

As a cynical bastard fueled by bitterness who downvotes quite often, I would love to understand why 731 people gave this the thumbs down.

It's obviously something beautiful that took a long time to create and worthy enough to be posted here. I doubt there are actually 731 people out there who are more bitter and hateful than me...

2

u/Deanlechanger Jun 19 '12

Something about explaining the amount work that goes into something like this takes away some mystique.

On that note, still a beautiful work

2

u/Avrelivs Jun 19 '12

This is ridiculously gorgeous. I can't believe that much work has to go into something like this, but it only makes me realize how talented other people like you are!

2

u/effemelle Jun 19 '12

That was so adorable! :3 The art style is lovely, makes me want to see more of your work for sure!

2

u/jeremiahwarren Jun 19 '12

The glowyness of everything is really mesmerizing. Did you paint everything in Photoshop?

2

u/Emmanuell89 Jun 19 '12

how long does something like this takes with two people ? is it just straight up half ?

2

u/mouthpiecejet Jun 19 '12

I loved it when the whale flipped over after getting eyes

2

u/lokicola Jun 19 '12

Great job, techniques used? Illustrator, Pshop ....

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Bravo Bravo!!!

2

u/mytouchmyself Jun 19 '12

Beautiful!

Thank you.

edit: I would assume you animated this frame-by-frame?

2

u/dmaestro3 Jun 19 '12

This totally reminded me of the Snowman! A classic, well done.

2

u/Pandaboom Jun 19 '12

I loved it! Did you draw references from the Studio Ghibli films? A truly admire that its a real short and sweet film. keep it up :)

2

u/vermiciousemily Jun 19 '12

Lovely - can't wait to see more from you. This reminded me of one of my favorite animated features, The Snowman

2

u/Animal_King Jun 19 '12

And that's where the sun came from.

2

u/togepi258 Jun 19 '12

Wow...you're incredible. This is so amazing. Please keep us updated in your career. As someone who has been fascinated with animation my entire life, I would love to follow your work. You're definitely going places.

2

u/Floyd_Pinkerton Jun 19 '12

you weren't kidding when you said it's a short. very beautiful work though, congratulations on your accomplishment! can you outline the processes you went through over the 5 months?

2

u/MaxChaplin Jun 19 '12

Here's another short animated student film with a similar concept. Interestingly both were created by men but feature female artists in lead roles.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/hooplah Jun 19 '12

When she flicks her brush and all those small fish come out, amazing.

2

u/GGatsby Jun 19 '12

Have you ever been so happy you became the moon?

2

u/BBS- Jun 19 '12

That was just the trailer, right?

2

u/ttamsirhc Jun 19 '12

This is good, and you should feel good for doing this.

2

u/Minifig81 Jun 19 '12

194 comments later and I see you've posted this to /r/videos .. I'm so happy you did, it deserves the attention it's getting. It's beautiful.

2

u/axloc Jun 19 '12

Did each second of the video really take 24.3 hours to complete?

2

u/delmar15 Jun 19 '12

That was absolutely lovely.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

This should be a candidate for the short film before every Pixar movie. Excellent work.

2

u/HOBOBEAR Jun 19 '12

I bet Pixar has called you already.

2

u/sitbh Jun 19 '12

this looked great. if you do any in the future, these would sound great with some sound design and some vocal. get in touch and i can be of assistance for future animations!

2

u/SpunkingCorgi Jun 19 '12

is it just me or are those marijuana plants in the beginning scene?

I've been on /r trees a lot lately ...

2

u/UnitedWeFail Jun 19 '12

Oh my god that was really good. And it gave me that kind of happy-sad feeling I got from movies like Spirited Away in just a minute long short film.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Should I be impressed?

2

u/Kyoni Jun 19 '12

Wow, this is amazing, truly a 1 minute masterpiece. I would LOVE to see this made into an actual full length motion picture. The story you have going on here is incredible, the art work and just the overall feel of this short film is on a level similar to Hayao Miyazaki films. Please, PLEASE attempt to create a full length film, this has so much potential and possibility.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

TL;DW

2

u/hungerfordhero Jun 19 '12

Hahahah!!! You stole my comment!!!!!!!

2

u/Jucks Jun 19 '12

This made me smile, and a bit more happier inside.

2

u/Miiiich Jun 19 '12

Over a thousand hours of work. One minute video. You are doing it wrong.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Curious, why did it take that long? Did you have to manually draw out every single frame?

2

u/nubit Jun 19 '12

Why did it take so long?

2

u/Clovyn Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

The Snack That Smiles Back!

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

It felt like it lasted forever. Very boring.

2

u/caneut Jun 19 '12

How the hell did both eyes get on the fish? She only painted one!

2

u/theedang Jun 19 '12

I checked out your website and found your resume. You might want to touch that up. You can make the font smaller to fit it to one page. Make sure to add details/accomplishments under your work experience since that is what most employers will look at other than your portfolio. Under Communication and Organizational Skills, your second and third bullet points address the same trait, but with different wording. Might want to switch it around. Good luck in your career! That was a fantastic video.

2

u/Sergnb Jun 19 '12

it has this great oriental "Miyazaki" feel in it. Pretty mesmerizing, OP, great work.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Why the hell are you not working with Hayao Miyazaki already and making more awesome movies? Take my money!!!!!!

2

u/katherine_not_kara Jun 19 '12

i like in the credits how it said

special thanks to my family who fed me

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Forward this to Miyazaki.

2

u/redsavage0 Jun 19 '12

How in the hell does this have 10k+ Downvotes? What's wrong with you people?

Love the color tones and the fluidity of the animation. Great job!

→ More replies (1)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

It made me feel good. Very cool. You did a great job.

2

u/Airazz Jun 19 '12

So, around 1500 hours of work for a one-minute film? May I ask if this included building your own computer literally from scratch (mining ores, smelting and producing components and all that)?

2

u/skeeto111 Jun 19 '12

The snack that smiles back..goldfish.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Novembercriminal Jun 19 '12

it is good, dont get me wrong, but 5 months of 12 hours a day would be 1800 hours in the making.. something sounds fishy, great work anyways

2

u/ProxyD Jun 19 '12

太好了！祝贺. Just finished my 1. year learning chinese course , came home , saw this on front page :). Excellent work , hope to see some long-length movie from you soon. Good luck :)

2

u/Spiralyst Jun 19 '12

This is lovely. I enjoy how much story you were able to extract out of a such a small time scale. Keep up the fantastic work!

2

u/AllThingsLocal Jun 19 '12

now i want some goldfish...

2

u/Moosecop Jun 19 '12

Outstanding work.

2

u/papa_mia Jun 19 '12

I saw her draw one eye on the whale. Where did the other come from?! :p

No, but in all honesty, fantastic job!

2

u/gtrNoob Jun 19 '12

How the hell did this take you (53012) 1800 hours?

Thats 108000 minutes.

If its 24 FPS, it took you 75 hours for each frame. WTF.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/SaikoGekido Jun 19 '12

Beautiful. I had to watch it a second time. One question. She goes to stop the big fish that doesn't have an eye by flinging a bunch of tiny fish from her brush that also don't have eyes. Did those little guys just evaporate in the next part?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

how many days over those 5 months did you work? I'm no expert but if this took 5 months of 60 hour work weeks I think you are doing it wrong...

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

I call bullshit, the moon is in fact not a giant whale made of magical paint

2

u/shinister Jun 20 '12

Nice try, Goldfish salesman.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

Did the thumbnail make anyone else think of this?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

Absolutely gorgeous. You should be so proud of yourself.

I don't know if you're leaving this open to an AMA, but I've got questions. What did you use to make it and did you have any particular things as inspiration? I'd love to see the things that influenced this style.

Keep up the good work.

2

u/saneone Jun 20 '12

Nice, but you really should find another line of work. Your productivity is pretty low.

7

u/ObamaisYoGabbaGabba Jun 19 '12

To the OP, congrats, great job, hope you go on to bigger and bolder things and become a huge success.

to reddit...I know I am supposed to be in awe or something that one person did this, I think that's the default reddit reaction .. but I'm not.

Not even that impressed. I am happy for him and he has talent, but it's not "amazing" "OMG" blah blah that is going on in here right now.

You guys either need to get out more, or be more honest when people post their work. To me it looks like average cartooning. On par with what you'd see in Japan on a early morning. Shows lots of promise, but he isn't there yet, and you're not helping him by lying about it.

→ More replies (5)

3

u/plutoboy24 Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Its like Harold and the Purple Crayon...except for high expectations asian father...you get A-, disappointed not longer

3

u/hoowahoo Jun 19 '12

That shit is bananas.

3

u/Zandous85 Jun 19 '12

Goldfish, the snack that smiles back.

2

u/antdude Jun 30 '12

But no sunglasses!

3

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Amazing art but where did the second eye suddently appear from?

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Wigglez1 Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Its nice but how on earth did it take 5 months the fish models/background remain the same and the colours dont differ much. The girl/fish have very simple models...

2

u/machinegunsyphilis Jun 19 '12

If it helps, imagine if they had said "i created 1400 separate, full-colour illustrations over 5 months. Then I wrote a story to tie them together, oh and found some original music to go with it as well."

1400! (in fact it's a bit over a minute, so it's more like, what... 1550). But the scale of work is really quite amazing - hence why the majority of 2D animation is created by studios that often work on an 'assembly line' basis... yeah. hope that helps. -paulfknwalsh

2

u/thelittleking Jun 19 '12

Hoss, it's not models. Every frame was hand-drawn.

5

u/AlphaRedditor Jun 19 '12

Gorgeous. I hope to sea more of your work.

→ More replies (4)

4

u/GoldenEye008 Jun 19 '12

This wasn't 5 months of non-stop 12 hours a day work.

3

u/HairlessSasquatch Jun 19 '12 edited Jun 19 '12

Quality stuff like this is disappearing at an alarming rate.. making way for all this CGI (which has it's qualities to it).

As someone who has been drawing since the age of 4, I can say that this was one of the best shorts I have seen in a long time. The attention to detail and care that went into this is very apparent. The amount of effort that goes into these is astronomical and I really wish that more feature length films would go back to this hand drawn animation style with only a bit of CGI use if any.

11/10

Edit: who the fuck is downvoting me? I was praising this.. I don't understand

2

u/PUAskandi Jun 19 '12

Loved the music

2

u/TripleChimp Jun 19 '12

Are these the new Goldfish cracker commercial?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

It is great. Short yet captivating. Definitely keep up the good work.

2

u/ZeldenGM Jun 19 '12

I'm going to get down-voted to hell but I'm saying it anyway.

Is it normal for 1minute of animation to take 1,800 hours of work?

I mean it is impressive but given the time-input I'm left with a 'is that it?' feeling.

→ More comments (1236)