Journey to the West

• Main Author: Tan, Yi Hee
• Other Authors: Martin Constable
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Animation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67259
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Journey to the West is a short 3-minutes satirical comedy animation which is inspired from the daily experiences we encounter whilst travelling from one end of the line to the next - in this case, from Pasir Ris to Pioneer. Our story revolves greatly around the Singapore MRT environment, aiming to reach out to the locals; associating with the problems they face - parodying stereotypical encounters such as inconsiderate commuters and moments. Unique to other animations, Journey to the West focuses in a very local context, where locals are able to associate to the daily problems faced everyday while travelling - in a humorous twist; reminding viewers that life may be frustrating at times, but it can be laughed at. Looking from a wider perspective, one need not be a local to understand the animation. A journey of taking a public commute is also relatable to any individuals who have taken the public transport regardless of what nationality one might originate from - making it an animation that anyone is able to relate to. In addition to that, the title 'Journey to the West' is also intended as a pun, where the team initially wanted to heavily refer to the famous Chinese folklore, parodying the journey of the monk as he travels to the West to receive scriptures from the Golden lands of the west. However, various developments happened along the way, which led to this current story. The production took place over a period of a year, which is inclusive of pre-production and conceptualization in mid 2015 and will be carried on all the way till end of April or early June . In this report, it will discuss on the conceptualizing process of this project such as the inspiration of the story and the storyboarding phase. Following that, it will touch on the assignment of different roles amongst the team, and the developmental processes and challenges the team faced.