The Metamorphosis
About the artist Yifan is an illustrator and animator. She comes from Nanjing, an old capital of China. Yifan is an artist who vents her anger about the idiot, morbid, mordant world in artwork; a storyteller who copes with her nihilism through storytelling; a nay-sayer to pollyannas. She explores this world through reading, films, traveling and conversations. She loves dancing and animals. Her work has been recognized by The Association of Illustrators, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Creative Quarterly and more.
The Metamorphosis is her first animation.
Process Story writting Character design Storyboard Keyframe Sketch Animatic Frames drawing in Adobe Photoshop Editing frames in Adobe Premiere Adding audio in Adobe Premiere Revising and exporting final film The whole production is completed by Yifan, except for some part of the sound effect was done by the artist’s friends. The aesthetic of the animation inherits the aesthetic of Relationships, Sex and Solitude. The animation employs simple black hand-drawn line work done in photoshop and scanned painting textures. The fast changing of textures in the animation creates tension and a fast moving visual effect.
About the animation It is a 5 minutes 14 seconds 2D animation based on a story written by Yifan. The structure of the story is a cycle. The ending connects to the beginning, symbolizing the eternity repeating of power-corruption in a society of hierarchy.
Synopsis Seeking safety, a herd of sheep agrees to be their protector’s furniture in his tent.The sheep soon discover the monotony of forced labor. Their bodies become stiff and gradually metamorphose into furniture. Finally, one sheep makes a change, revealing a disturbing secret.
Inspiration It is apparent that the film is heavily influenced by Franz Kafka’s short novel The Metamorphosis. The artist is deeply intrigued by the idea of metamorphosis, of which the core is alienation.
The artist is also greatly inspired by the 60s Polish animation reflecting the human condition under the oppressive regimes, especially Mirosław Kijowicz’s animation Klatki (Cages), Droga (Road), Mlyn (Mill), and Stefan Schabenbeck’s Schody (Stairs). Visually and storytelling-wise, the film is inspired by the work of animator Koji Yamamura, Atsushi Wada, and Sarina Nihei.
Concept The story can be interpreted in several perspectives. One perspective is to see the story as an allegory of the mass consenting to their enslavement by letting the ruler exploiting their fear for the fabricated threatens. The seed of the thesis starts with the artist’s thought about Chinese cultural revolution. 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Chinese cultural revolution----- one of the most devastating turmoil in human history that cost millions of people’s execution or suicide. Although the official resolution called it a
catastrophe, there is no further discussion about the cause. A political defense mechanism has been offered to defend the legitimacy of the party. The free public debate is impossible. Critical commentary is unwelcome even dangerous. The academics and the media remain silent, so is the mass. Although the topic disappears from individual memory and public discourse, the trauma still haunts like ghosts. The fear of the totalitarian power carries on in the unconscious and affect how people act now. Those who didn’t go through it don’t have much idea of what was going on. Those who know what was going on are cautious about their speech, avoiding being labeled as dissidents. Those who went through it choose silence---besides the political reason, a big part is to save themselves from the dual burdens of being both perpetrators and victims. But keeping silent, people again, have permitted their servitude. No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. Does this every-snowflake-is-responsible-for-an-ava-
lanche perspective explains every enslavement in history? Unfortunately, this perspective seems to explain very well. The history of civilization is a history of varying degrees of human enslavement. People would agree that most enslavement is perpetuated by the tyrannical rulers, especially in more authoritarian regimes. The masses seem to be purely victims since they are unable to mount any form of resistance due to the threat of force wielded by those in power. But even the most tyrannical ruler cannot rule without the support of the populace. In the French philosopher Etienne de La Boétie’s view, if people decide to stop supporting their rulers with wealth, the government will “become naked and undone and as nothing, just as, when the root receives no nourishment, the branch withers and dies.” It is not arbitrary to say Mao is accounted for the most part of The Cultural Revolution, but the tragedy wouldn’t reach such a devastating level without billions of people’s
consent. It’s fair to say our submission to the most oppressive political regimes always has a sense of voluntariness. How do people consent to their enslavement? One of the factors is the custom—our tendency to habituate to the social and political conditions we were born into, (like animals born in captivity knows nothing of the freedom and hence does not resist its chains). When we see people around us accepting an oppressing system or even adoring it, we might doubt ourselves and unconsciously suppress our natural instinct for freedom in order to be accepted by the collective. Another big factor is the ruling class plays an active role in engineering consent, including propaganda and brainwashing, the well-disguised diversion from mass media and entertainment industry. In a lot of historical stories, the ruler makes up a peril to engender the fear psychosis in the crowd; propaganda is used to keep the fear alive so to benefit the ruler’s goals. In times of crisis, danger from outside, whether
it is a surprise known to the ruler who yet allow it to happen, or directly orchestrated by the same leader who benefits from it, tends to increases trust and submission. The ruler uses people’s fear of the imagined peril, exerting intolerable strains on people’s mind to cause emotional breakdowns, leaving their mind highly suggestible for the new belief. It might be likely that red guards—a student mass mobilized by Mao had gone through the similar process of converting. They voluntarily battled Mao’s perceived enemies in the cultural revolution, doing things that they were unlikely to do as rational individuals. Driven by this perspective, the artist decides to tell an allegorical story about fear controlling. The artist first created a story about a man ruling and exploit the herd by making them into a collective, where individual sheep readily sacrifice its own interest to the collective interest. Then the man eliminates the critical voice and controls the herd by making them turn against each other. Feeling
that this story is too contrived to reflect the complex history, the artist wrote the second story, on which the animation is based. In this story, the sheep are convinced of the existence of the wolves’ threatens. They are feared. Seeking protection, the sheep consent the enslavement by serving as the man’s furniture. They exchange their freedom for safety while do not realize the true danger that the metamorphosis of transforming into furniture is irreversible. The metamorphosis of sheep transforming into furniture alludes to the real danger that comes in an inconspicuous way. “Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.” said Margaret Atwood. Another perspective is to see the story as an allegory of alienation. The idea of alienation---- the state of feeling estranged from the surroundings, work, products or work or self. There are several variants of the meaning of alienation. Perhaps the most famous
use of the term was by Marx, who spoke of alienated labour under capitalism: work was compelled rather than spontaneous and creative; workers had little control over the work process; the product of labour was expropriated by others to be used against the worker, and the worker himself became a commodity in the labour market.
sally when one is used as a tool; when one’s destiny is not under one’s control; when one feels a sense of removal towards the established social values; or when one feels out of touch with themselves.
The feeling of alienation is not confined to certain class or wealth status, but of course, people will feel more resonated with the idea of alienation in the story if they had the experience of repetitive work or work in the social division of labor, which is distinguished by Karl Marx from the economic division of labor. The former division is a result of “social control” constructed by the privileged to maintain a hierarchy, the latter division is purely due to “technical necessity”
Maybe we do not, but it is always worth fighting for. However hard it is, making a sincere voice in art is a firm rebel against the oppression. Think independantly and voice for the righteouness before everything is too late. As said by Le Bon, “The tyranny exercised unconsciously on men’s minds is the only real tyranny, because it cannot be fought against.”
The artist believes that alienation happens whenever we act against our free will. It’s more than the alienation instigated by Capitalism. The experience of powerlessness and the sense of estrangement happen univer-
This brings out another question the artist wants to ask: do we have free will?
Storyboards
The artist’s reflection
What is shown: A white tent on a praire with cloud sky. A man opens the window and looks out with a binocular. What is interpretted as: The man in the tent is looking out. What is supposed to be delievered: The man is looking for something. What could be shown: The man’s uncomfortable look due to the tent is too small for accomodation.
What is shown: In the binocular view, a herd of sheep is running, three wolves are chasing after them. The man puts down his binocular, closes the window, stands up and walks holding his tent. What is interpretted as: The man in the tent saw the sheep is chasing by the wolves. He walks either to flee or to get closer. What is supposed to be delievered: The man in the tent saw the sheep is chasing by the wolves. He walks to get closer. It is a purposeful move. What could be shown: A closeup of the man’s facial expression, combining with scenes of wolf running to show his purposefulness.
What is shown: The man holds the tent walking through various landscape. Then he stops and comes out of the tent and gives a whistle. The sheep stop and turn their heads. What is interpretted as: The man travels through some places. He catches the attention of the herd by gives out a whistle. What is supposed to be delievered: The man travels through some places. He catches the attention of the herd by gives out a whistle and wanting them to come to him. The herd decides to come to him seeking for a shelter. What could be shown: The sheep’s ears move, showing that they notice the man and his shelter. The man points to his tent and show a gesture of welcoming. Also the sheep look around. There’s some sparse plants but mostly just praire( showing that there’s no other place for hiding). They stop and whisper with each other quickly, noding their heads(deciding to come to the man).
What is shown: Some sheep are walking into the tent but remain walking at the orginal spot. Three wolves are running. What is interpretted as: Some sheep seems are walking into the small tent and remain walking at the orginal spot because the tent is too small to accomodate even several sheep. The wolves are still chasing after them. What is supposed to be delievered: The herd of sheep run towards to the man seeking for a shelter. Despite the tent is too small to accomodate even several sheep, they still desperately try to squeeze into the tent due to their survival instinct. What could be shown: The desperateness of the sheep to survive: they may look back and see the wolves are really close, trying to push through and striving for a place in the tent. The physical change of the tent– suggesting that the sheep are squeezing into it.
What is shown: The man pulls out a gun and shoots 3 times; 3 wolves died. What is interpretted as: The man shoot the wolves and the wolves died. What is supposed to be delievered: The man shoot the wolves and the wolves die and sheep find that. What could be shown: The sheep look back and find the wolves “die�. They feel relieved and also nervous (because the man has the power to kill their predator) * It is very hard to show the emotion of an entire group without repetition. So maybe a closeup of three to four sheep doing exhale, a close-up of the gun, a close-up of the nervous facial expression of these sheep.
What is shown: The animatic of the man touching a sheep among a group of sheep floating around him. A static image of sheep shearing each other. A static image of the man, a pile of fleece ond a group sheep. What is interpretted as: The man talks to the sheep and the sheep start to shear themselves. There’s a bunch of cutton-like unknown stuff beside the herd and the man. What is supposed to be delievered: The man comforts the sheep after shooting the wolves and asks the fleece from the sheep, who agree and start to shear each other. A pile of fleece is left for the man. What could be shown: The nervous face of the sheep after seeing the gun. In the sheep’s perpective, the man’s hand comes on their head. The man is hunkering down, touching and comforting them. A closeup of the man’s hand slowly combing through one sheep’s fleece; man whispering to the sheep. The sheep turn around their heads, whispering and nod their heads lightly. Several closeups of sheep shearing each other and fleece falling off from their body. A shot where the sheep drop their fleece all together in one place (only their hands are shown)
What is shown: Animatic of the man giving a thumb, building a larger triangle out of the small triangle and filling the big triangle with the pile of cutton like stuff. What is interpretted as: The man praises the sheep and builds a new structure out of the old small one . What is supposed to be delievered: The man praises the sheep and builds a new tent out of the old small one . What could be shown: The finished frames of the stucture of the new tent to suggest it is a new bigger tent.
What is shown: Animatic of the man pushing a door and going into the tent. A sheep knocks on the tent. Several sheep freeze. What is interpretted as: The man goes inside the tent. The sheep stay outside the tent and one sheep knocks on the tent. What is supposed to be delievered: The man takes the tent as his own and shuts the sheep out. What could be shown: The sheep wait outside for a while (extend the time) and one sheep knocks on the tent and there is still no response. The sheep start to whisper with anxiety.
What is shown: The man stands at a opening door and the sheep come inside. What is interpretted as: The man lets the sheep come inside. What is supposed to be delievered: The man opens the door and says something that makes the sheep hesitate. (He provides an offer: only those who are willing to serve as his furniture can come inside.) What could be shown: The man opens the door and says something (made-up language). The sheep hesitate, whispering to each other. Then they come inside. It is all dark until the man lit up several candles.
What is shown: The man stands and winks at the sheep. Then the sheep come one by one standing in two rows. What is interpreted as: The man let the sheep stand in form of two rows. What is supposed to be delievered: The man instructs the sheep to be his bed. What could be shown: Before the “bed” is made, the man shows the sheep how to be a candleholder. The man sits on the “bed” and lays down and enjoy. A sheep jumps on the “bed” to be his pillow. The sheep’s uncomfortable look.
What is shown: The sheep struggle to stand up. What is interpreted as: The sheep struggle to stand up. What is supposed to be delievered: The man throws the clothes on them. What could be shown: The process of the clothes falling on them. More “sheep clothes shelves�.
What is shown: An animatic of several sheep assembling themselves as a sofa and the man sitting on them. What is interpreted as: Several sheep assembling themselves as a sofa and the man sitting on them. What is supposed to be delievered: Several sheep assembling themselves as a sofa and the man sitting on them. What could be shown: The painful expression, struggling legs and panting.
What is shown: An animatic of man speaking, several sheep looking out, wolves running, sheep lying down. The man comes to the last sheep and the last sheep follows him. What is interpreted as: The man talks to several sheep, who look out and see wolves running. The sheep begin to lay down to serve as a rug. The man comes to the last sheep What is supposed to be delievered: Several sheep are left due to various reasons, imaging the they will be facing wolves alone if not taking on any jobs, they soon begin to serve as a rug. The last sheep is told to do something else. What could be shown: Delete the part “sheep are left” and “sheep imagine the wolves outside.” Show sheep laying down and becoming a rug like other furniture sheep. Show the man’s shadow on the face of the last sheep. The form change of the sheep who was stepped on.
What is shown: a scroll of sheep furniture. What is interpreted as: the sheep is following the man walking in the tent. What is supposed to be delievered: the sheep is following the man walking in the tent. What could be shown: the shadow of the man and sheep; other sheep turning their heads looking at them.
What is shown: The man shows a pair antlers before the sheep; The sheep goes out of tent and climbing on the tent to the place where lies a hole; the sheep puts its head through the hole. The man puts the antlers on its head. What is interpreted as: The sheep is shown a pair of antlers and then goes outside and climb the tent. The man puts the antlers on its head. What is supposed to be delievered: The man instruct the sheep to be deer head trophy and the sheep goes outside and does the job. The man puts the antlers on its head. What could be shown: The man drills a hole on the tent. The man put the antlers on the sheep’s head to see if they fit its head. The sheep goes outside and plans to flee. It goes back to the tent after seeing the killed sheep on its way. The sheep finds the man waiting for it. Instead of climbing, the man lifts the sheep and let it put its head through the hole.
What is shown: Several closeups of its shivering, sweating, staring, interluded with scenes of a wolf biting its butt off, a wolf coming from distance and wolves chewing a sheep. What is interpreted as: The sheep feels embrassed also fears of being bitten by the wolves and it starts to have illusions. What is supposed to be delievered: The sheep feels embrassed. Some of the other sheep might be amused, indifferent, sympathetic or despiteful to it. The dear head trophy sheep is also terrified by the wolves howling, worrying itself will be killed by the wolves. It begs for help but other sheep are also afraid of being in its position too. The only sympathtic sheep fail to speak up for it. What could be shown: The reactions of other sheep and their difficulty in helping.
What is shown: The sheep is sweating hard. There’s a flash of man’s image overlapping with the wolf’s image. The sheep pierces through the tent, reaches the gun and shoot the man. What is interpreted as: The sheep has the illusion that the man is a wolf and shoot him. What is supposed to be delievered: The sheep has the illusion that the man is a wolf and shoot him. What could be shown: The man is coming close to the deer head trophy sheep, who thinks it is a wolf coming close. And the man is doing other things while the sheep reaches the gun. Other sheep fail to make a noise and stop it because their rigid body.
What is shown: The sheep walks towards the dead wolf in an all-white environment. The sheep stops and stares at the wolf. Later it turns out that the sheep is staring at the dead man in the tent. What is interpreted as: After shooting the man, the sheep gets out from its deer head trophy position and walks to see the died “wolf”. Then it comes to its sense, finding the man is killed. The sheep also finds a corner of the black coat coming out of the man’s grey coat. The sheep pulls the black coat out. It turns out to a wolf’s coat. What is supposed to be delievered: After shooting the man, the sheep gets out from its deer head trophy position and walks to see the died “wolf”. Then it comes to its sense, finding the man is killed. The sheep also finds a corner of the black coat coming out of the man’s grey coat. The sheep pulls the black coat out. It turns out to a wolf’s coat. What could be shown: The sheep jumps down to the ground and walks to the dead man. Other sheep’s astonished expression. The sheep recall some details proving the man has been manipulating them all the time.
What is shown: The deer head trophy sheep looks back and find a row of sheep behind it staying very static. It goes to the “bed sheep”, raising its fore hoof and touches one with face. Receiving no response, it left. What is interpreted as: The deer head trophy sheep is checking out all other sheep and try to communicate with them. However, all the other sheep seem to be too stiff to respond. What is supposed to be delievered: The deer head trophy sheep is checking out all other sheep and try to communicate with them. Despite some sheep seem to be too stiff to respond, most of the sheep is still capable of moving. What could be shown: The other sheep are making an effort to recover from their stiffness; the deer head trophy sheep’s struggle: it wants to throw away the antlers and the gun, however it still keeps them after some hesitation; some furniture sheep are about to move in their natural way, but when they see the gun, they subconciously refrain themselves from moving.
What is shown: The deer head trophy sheep wears the man’s clothes, sits on a “sheep chair” and lays on a “sheep bed”. It suddenly becomes the man after a turn over. What is interpreted as: The deer head trophy sheep learns to be a human, including imitating the man’s behaviour, which suggests it wants to take control of the tent. And finally it metamorphose into a human. What is supposed to be delievered: The deer head trophy sheep wants to be the ruler so it trys to act like a human. Finally it metamorphose into a human. What could be shown: The furniture sheep’s bodies transform into the furniture shape eventually their orginal physical appearances are unrecognizable. More scenes of the deer head trophy sheep imitating human. The process of it grows bigger and bigger until the tent is too small to accommodate him. He starts to walk with the small tent and look for resources, which connects to the beginning.
Exhibition
Next Step TOP ANIMATION FESTIVALS Ottawa Annecy Zagreb Holland Animation Film Festival Stuttgart Fantoche Anima Mundi Hiroshima
OTHER ANIMATION FESTIVALS New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival Animateka Pictoplasma MIAF Encounters Anima-Brussels Monstra Animated Dreams Dok Liepzig Georama
Rabbit Fest Film Fest Dresden Cinanima Animator-Poland SICAF Tindirindis Anim’est Northwest Animation Festival Cutout Vis Vienna Toronto Animation Arts Festival International Sommets du Cinéma d’Animation Klik! Animafest Cyprus Annie Awards Anifilm Anifilm Animac Krok GLAS
LIVE-ACTION FESTIVALS Sundance Telluride Venice Cannes Berlinale Jeonju Oberhausen Locarno Tribeca Raindance Rotterdam Clermont-Ferrand Ann Arbor Slamdance Edinburgh Film Festival SXSW True/False Melbourne Toronto AFI Fest