2D animation film

Feeling Home

Four best friends, all born in China, get together on New Year’s Eve in Vancouver. Some unexpected drama happens while they prepare dinner.

Category: 2D animation film
Role: Co-director, animator, layout artist, storyboard artist, character designer
Duration: 8 months
Tools: Adobe, Maya, Nuke, Toon Boom Storyboard, Toon Boom Harmony

Festivals

Story

Background

During the pandemic, distance became an invisible wall between international students and their families. For Chinese families, New Year is the time to be together, the most precious day of the year. For our characters it is the day homesickness hits hardest, and they come to see friendship as another kind of treasure.

Ideate

We wanted a slice-of-life story. My co-director and I are both Chinese international students who hadn’t celebrated the Spring Festival at home in years, so we based the characters on ourselves and gave them a happy ending.

Define

Choosing the line art took time. We started with a pencil-like line, but the textured brush left too many gaps for colouring. We switched to a very thin line, which works with our line-less backgrounds.