Ying-Fang Shen > Animation > In The Waves
In The Waves
The very short but magical moment we passed
In The Waves (2015) - Official Trailer from YF Shen on Vimeo.
View full movie: https://vimeo.com/139770341
Synopsis
A tie-dye fabric animation that narrates the beginning of life from a microscopic perspective.
Project Statement
In The Waves is a non-narrative experimental short film inspired by my pregnancy in 2014. The changes in my body and mind made me feel immense interest in the initial starting point of life and so I began to work on depicting the passing of this brief, but magical moment.
The animation is created out of textile. Unlike most of my past works, I approached this project without a preconceived visual outcome. A tie-dye creation process served to sketch out the idea: the beginning of life. The fabrics became visual records that were transformed throughout the animation process. During production, I altered and restructured the imagery with light and movement, adjusting both the fabric and the light to manipulate the forms. Lighting from the front highlighted the overall patterns, while placing the fabrics on a self-made light box maximized the contrast caused by the different textures, emphasizing individual threads. Working with a self-made light box allowed me freedom in adjusting the intensity and position of the backlighting, which, in turn, helped create movement and supported the change of scenes. Once a desired scene emerged from these manipulations, I worked intensively to explore and hone the corresponding movements, as well as to draw attention to the essence of the subject.
The creative process of this work fused my interest in painting and animating, and resulted in a tone with vibrant colors and almost absurd actions - aptly revealing my imagined understanding of the magical and intangible moment.
In addition to the material and method, this experiment incorporated narrative perspective in another sense. I invited Professor Antonio Garcia - a musician specializing in both instrumental and vocal genres - to share his approach to the theme through the creation of a soundtrack. Unlike traditional means of animation scoring, where the music works to nearly mimic the finalized motions of the characters, we decided to let the soundtrack have a distinct voice. Neither the exact story nor the concepts associated with each scene were divulged to Garcia. Instead, he was exposed to the animation when it was only halfway completed, at which point he started to brainstorm the mood of the narration. This very first score became a catalyst for unveiling the subsequent scenes that had not been animated. With 90% of the animation completed, Garcia and I had a dialogue concerning its meaning. After this conversation, he finished scoring the entire film and returned it to me for a final retouching of the visuals.
In The Waves was completed in late 2015, and had its world premiere later at Animax Skopje Fest (Skopje, Republic of Macedonia). It has been named an official selection and screened at film festivals worldwide, including those in Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, Lancashire, Taos, México City, Taipei, and many other cities.
Credits
Antonio J. García: music / sound design
Ying-Fang Shen: animation / script
Awards
Jury’s Citation Award. Black Maria Film Festival, Jersey City, NJ, 2017
Best Experimental Short film. The Americas Film Festival NY. New York, NY, 2016
Audience Award. Azores Fringe Festival, Azores, Portugal, 2016
Jury Award for Creative Achievement. Arizona International Film Festival, Tucson, AZ, 2016
Platinum Remi Award. Worldfest Houston. Houston, TX, 2016.
2nd Place: Best Film - North America, Environmental Film - Professionals. Anim!Arte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2015
Juried Exhibition / Film Festival Official Selections
International Nature Image Festival (FIIN), Vila Real, Portugal. Nov. 2017
Short Film Roosendaal Festival, Roosendaal, Netherlands. Sep. 29 - Oct 1, 2017
Black Maria Film Festival’s 36th Annual Tour, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY. Sep. 23, 2017
Black Maria Film Festival’s 36th Annual Tour, The Paramount, Charlottesville, VA. June 23, 2017
Black Maria Film Festival’s 36th Annual Tour, A. Harry Moore School, Jersey City, NJ. May 25, 2017
Short Filmfestival Roosendaal. Roosendaal Netherlands, Sep. 29 - Oct. 1, 2017
Black Maria Film Festival. Jersey City, NJ. 2017
James River Short Films. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. Dec. 2, 2016
20th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. Toronto, Canada, Nov. 8 - 18; Richmond Hill, Canada, Nov. 19, 2016
EKADESHMA International Short Film Festival, Nepal. Nov. 11- 13
16th Kansas International Film Festival. Overland Park, KS, Nov. 4-10, 2016
Edinburgh Short Film Festival. Edinburgh, UK, Oct. 26 - Nov. 6, 2016
27th New Orleans Film Festival. New Orleans, LA, Oct 12–20, 2016
14th Tallgrass Film Festival. Wichita, Kansas, Oct. 12-16, 2016
11th Animatou - International Animated Film Festival in Geneva. Geneva, Switzerland, Oct 6 - 15, 2016
15th Urban Mediamakers Film Festival. Norcross, GA, Oct 6-11, 2016
28th Girona Film Festival / Festival de Cinema de Girona, Experimental Section. Girona, Span, Sep 28 - Oct 1.
Bienal Internacional de Video y Cine Contemporaneo Videofest. Mexicali, Mexico, Sept. 18 - 24, 2016
4th Portland Film Festival. Portland, OR, Aug 29 - Sep 5, 2016
3rd IndiEarth Animation Film Festival. Madhuravoyal, India, Aug 26-28, 2016
25th Woods Hole Film Festival. Woods Hole, MA. Jul 30 - Aug 6, 2016
13th Free Range Film Festival. Wrenshall, MN, Jul 29-30, 2016
10th Sax International Film Festival. Sax, Spain, Jul 1-29, 2016
Free State Festival, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS, Jun 20 - 25, 2016
Sunderland Shorts Film Festival, Sunderland, UK, Jun 30 - Jul 3, 2016
Lawrence Arts Center's Free State Festival, Lawrence, KS, Jun 20 - 25, 2016
6th Festival Alto Vicentino. Santorso, Italy, , Jun 14-19, 2016
3rd The Americas Film Festival NY. New York, NY, Jun 9-17, 2016,
4th Azores Fringe Festival, Azores, Portugal, Jun 1-30, 2016
Incorto Festival, México City, Mexico, Jun 2016
10th River Film Festival, Padova, Italy, May 28 - Jun 11, 2016
Near Nazareth Festival. Afula, Israel, May 18-30, 2016
18th backup_festival, Weimar, Germany, May 18 - 22, 2016
Nemzetközi Természetfilm Fesztivál / International Nature Film Festival. Gödöllő, Hungary, May 14 - 17, 2016
14th Urban Nomad Film Fest, Taipei, Taiwan, May 12 - 22, 2016
10th Pennine Film Festival, Accrington, Lancashire, UK, May 6 - 8, 2016
HP Lovecraft Film Festival, San Pedro, CA, Apr 29 - May 1, 2016
VAFI - International Children and Youth Animation Film Festival Varaždin, Partner, Israel, Apr 19 - 24, 2016
25th Arizona International Film Festival, Tucson, AZ. Apr 14 - May 1, 2016
49th Worldfest Houston. Houston, TX. Apr 8-17, 2016
Taos Shortz, Taos, NM, Apr 7 - 10, 2016
Richmond International Film Festival, Richmond, VA. March 3 - 6, 2016
Delete TV, broadcast at C31 Melbourne, Australia. Feb 28 - May 22, 2016
14th Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, Los Angeles - Hollywood, CA. Feb 18 - 27, 2016
New Waves 2016, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA. Jan 29 - Apr 17, 2016
Mica International Film Festival, Manaus, Brazil. Jan 10 - 16, 2016
5th Pune Short Film Festival, Maharashtra, India. Dec 25 - 27, 2015
Anim!Arte - Profissionais Filme Ambiental, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dec 7 - 12, 2015
Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival 2015, Winter edition. Web. Dec 2015
8º Festival Internacional de CineArte para niños y niñas / International ArtFilm-Festival, Bogotá, Colombia. Nov 29 - Dec 6, 2015
Nile's Diaspora International Film Festival, Kampala Uganda. Nov 23 - 25, 2015
6th Animax Skopje Fest, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Nov 5 - 8, 2015
Roma Cinema DOC, web. Oct 2015
Non-juried Exhibition
Mama Made Exhibition, The Elizabeth Holden Art Gallery, Warren Wilson College. Nov, 2 - Dec. 8, 2017
OSMOSIS Media Festival, Taipei & Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Aug 18-21, 26-28, 2016
Collections / Others
The ANIMATOU Video Library
© 2015