ZENITH PROJECT

The Zenith Project is a project where seniors are given full control over what we create, pulling from our skills and experiences throughout the two years spent here. It’s similar to the explorations project from the end of the school year, at but a larger scale. At first I wanted to create a small animation about a tomato seller in the Italian countryside, but after two weeks realized I wasn’t passionate about the topic anymore. I drew inspiration from the images that were circulating the news, depicting public spaces empty as a result of the Coronavirus. I decided to create a conversation between two birds.

PROCESS

Background process on Procreate

Background process on Procreate

Editing on After Effects

Editing on After Effects

Scrapped character designs

Scrapped character designs

Scrapped environment concept

Scrapped environment concept

Scrapped environment concept

Scrapped environment concept

FINAL PRODUCT

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PRESENTATION VIDEO

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REFLECTION

I originally had a completely different idea for my project, which was to create a narrative-like animation that took place in the countryside of Italy. I went through with it and created environmental sketches, a character design, and a rough storyboard. Over time, I lost interest very fast because it was hard for me to put myself in a completely different setting when I was sitting inside a room all day. The artwork that was resonating with me at the time were illustrations and photography that depicted the changes covid-19 made on public places. The idea of the birds talking came to me when I accidentally stayed up until the sun rose one night. The birds started chirping and I was so sleep deprived that I thought, I wish I was a bird. They don’t know what the coronavirus was. So I decided to make my project based on the point of view of an onlooker- maybe a crow- and how they saw the behavior of humans change. This was an individual project, so I didn’t have to collaborate with others. I know if I did it would be a lot harder to completely change my idea mid-project. 

If I had to do the project over, I would definitely try to plan more in advance. Even when I changed my mind and started again, I was somewhat unsure of what I wanted the final product to look like. This would have made the process a lot less stressful, especially towards the beginning. The final product I turned in was shorter than I wanted, and planning farther ahead definitely would have helped with this. I think I improved on the 21st century skill of risk taking because if I had stayed with my original project, I would have had to spend a lot of time working on something I wasn’t passionate about. I am ultimately glad I took the risk of changing the project. I might have improved the least in technological literacy because I had to re-learn a lot of features of after effects, since I hadn’t used it for 2D animation in a while. 

I want to use this to make sure I am invested in and sure that projects I work on will work. My initial project decision was made partly because I needed an idea, not because anything specifically about that idea was interesting to me. In terms of project objectives, I definitely think I elevated my skills and experiences. I tried to stylize environments and studied perspective, which I previously avoided. I also had a good time making it, even if it was mixed with a lot of stress. Ultimately, what I wanted with my project was to create a ~vibe~, which I think I captured pretty well. It could’ve been longer and more complex, but I am happy with what I was able to achieve. I think the project is really a reflection of this time specifically, and is something I could look back on in the future as a sort of time capsule.

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