2D Animation/ Length: 3min57 sec
There are many couples show affection in public. A clown is thirsty for love and found that the consumption of canned love can quickly get love.
-Official Selection, FEINAKI 2022 Beijing Animation Week, 2022
-Official Selection,TMFF The Monthly Film Festival, 2022
-Official Selection, Metropolis Film Festival, 2022
-Official Selection, Global University Film Awards, 2022
-Shortlist, The 22st Beijing Film Academy Animation Academy Award, Beijing Film Academy, 2022
Full description
This animation is intended to tell a humorous story about canned love. The story is inspired by the concepts of fast-food relationships and consumerism. Bauman, a leading contemporary sociologist, has explored the impact of consumerist logic when it invades human intimacy. According to Bauman, "In the previous society of producers’ desires were always, after deferred gratification, eventually meant to be satisfied. Moreover, the function of objects of consumption, once acquired, was to provide a sense of durability and long-term security. In contrast, the consumer society associates happiness with an ever-rising volume and intensity of desires, which imply in turn prompt use and speedy replacement of the objects intended and hoped to gratify them." On the other hand, I believe that consumerism uses advertising to convince people to consume a product that will make their lives better if they have it. This is similar to how some people will enter into a relationship they don't need, or even a fast-food relationship, because of single shame. Therefore, I compare love with consumerism and want to express the meaning and sense of opposition that love and consumerism bring through different mediums.
I believe that hand painting materials such as watercolor, colored pencils, and crayons have a random and accidental quality. The disorder that occurs during the process of hand painting are like the real and natural state of love: a shy, awkward state in the face of the person you love. For the word “consumerism”, people keep buying under consumerism, and most products are packaged in plastic. So, I decided to collage the animated scene with leftover plastic bags, food packaging, and all plastic-related materials on a regular basis to reflect how love is commercialized, with smooth packaging replacing the rough texture of the hand-drawn scene. Just like innocent love is invaded by mechanized consumerism, people apply the logic of shopping to love and start to pursue fast love, love turns from a lifelong promise to a contractual transaction that can be stopped at any time.
An Exploration Of Plastic Materials
In order to show people's view of love is slowly deteriorating under the influence of social networks and consumerism. I designed the transformation of scene materials which mainly composed of hand-painted and plastic materials collage.
To distinguish them from hand-drawn styles and to highlight the diversity of materials, I experimented with several plastic materials. Plastic bags A and B, for example, have neatly placed dots of various sizes, which are similar to halftone dots and noise in risograph print. Plastic bags C feature several folds, giving them a rough texture.
A B C
