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Start And End of Our Youth
Thesis Film by Victor Wu
Behind The Scenes
Ideation & Modifications
Originally, my film focused on being shackled by expectations and included a Father character that represented being raised in a strict manner.
My female character would be given all opportunities for a succesful future, and the male character would be a foil to her, choosing to pursue an uncertain career.
Eventually, to simplify the amount of relationships that needed development during the film, the Father character was taken out and the main focus became the two highschool firends.
Some scrapped scenes include:
-A combination of 3D and 2D animation where, with the adrenaline of the moment and as she's escaping the building, she jumps over the stair railings and falls two floors worth!
-A more metaphorical scene where, as she witnesses her friend leave to chase his new life, paper flies over her in a vortex and transitions into paperwork as we now see her in her new corporate life.
While these scenes were some of my favorite to animate, in the grand scheme of timing and production, I had to let them go. However, I find solace through sharing them here!
Characters & Backgrounds
My main character went through many changes. In fact, the story was at first set to start already during her highschool life, so I wanted to give her a bit more of a rebellious personality. However, after the decision to add a section to highlight the childlike nature of her dreams, I started rounding off many features of hers. She became this soft, relatable protagonist that suffered under the adult environment that was corporate work.
(Fun fact: my first ever pitch had her be a terminally ill girl that had spent her whole life in a hospital bed. The desire for exploration stayed, but her condition improved from then to now!)
For backgrounds, I start to block shapes in Storyboard Pro, deciding in advance which elements are part of the foreground to add that cinematic feel, and how much space different items occupy on the scene.
Afterwards, I work in Photoshop to render the details, adapting a more illustrative and painterly approach.
Animation & Compositing Process
I animate in Opentoonz. From the start of the project, I was already set on animating in threes, one drawing every 3 frames. Not only to more emulate the anime standard, but also to save on production time, as I was solely responsible for animation, all the way from rough to cleanup. Moreover, the lineart wasn't completed with hand strokes, but rather using the line tool and managing its curve. This way, I could remove some of the innate sketch shakiness and ensure that my roughs translated into a cleaner end result.
Compositing and layout is done in After Effects. I separate my backgrounds appropriately if I plan on adding foreground and/or background blur. Additionally, I color correct the characters, create shadows for them if needed, and add blooms/gradients wherever I see fit, and if the scene so requires. For this project, most of the color script leaned towards either extreme, very warm and very cool, with the section where they're still undecided in highschool having a soothing pink tone and refreshing green highlights. This accentuated nature and youth, which created a stark contrast against the next, corporate section that was dominated by grays and blues. To see the end result, please wait for the official release!
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