Enlightenment.

• Main Author: Chung, Denise Ai Ling.
• Other Authors: Mark Joseph Chavez
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Animation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/18674
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

“ENLIGHTENMENT” is an animated short film that serves a cautionary tale about being aware of blind risk taking, and how simple it could be to avoid getting burnt by just taking precautions. Denise has always been intrigued by the bizarre. And being an avid fan of contemporary Japanese animation has inspired Denise to be brass and daring with her experimentations. She tries to bring out fascinating aspects of the mundane, with her animated satire on observations of society’s quirks. The plot involves a queue of oblivious paper bunnies that follow a conventional route leading to their fiery demise. They have been lured by the promise of their greatest desires fulfilled, but only if they could survive a foray through the ring of fire. This senseless cycle is only broken when one bunny dares to stray from the pack and ventures to find a solution. With the use of Adobe CS applications like Photoshop and After Effects, Denise has embellished her short film with a pastiche of traditional 2d, life-action and stopmotion elements, creating a refreshing form of visual storytelling through animation. For “ENLIGHTENMENT”, Denise adopts visual qualities similar the picture book genre popular in literature for children. Vivid colors and tactile visuals are used to heighten the contrasting natures of paper and fire, both used as metaphors for the fragility of society against temptation. The simplistic imagery and text are supported with an audio narration that strengthens references to the picture book form.