Presentation
Transcript of the Presentation
My presentation is about the lighting in 3D children’s animation. My presentation is divided into four sections. First, I will talk about the importance of lighting in 3D children’s animation; second, I will explore the difference between the lighting in adult animation and the lighting in children animation; third, I will analyze the light effect in Coco, a 3D children’s animation; finally, I will make a conclusion.
First, I would like to share with you my views on the importance of lighting in 3D children’s animation. According to Positive Cartoon Animation to Change Children Behaviors in Primary Schools, we know that animation has an impact on children’s social personality and mental state. Research shows that the projection of illumination on retina will have a long term influence on children’s cognition, so in order to help children maintain a healthy mental state while watching animation, animators must pay attention to the light design in children’s animation.Lighting is an important component of animation, and is an important art form by which animators convey the story content and create the picture atmosphere. Scholars believe that in comparison with letters, information in pictures are more rapidly received by children. Therefore, appropriate design of light can convey the implied meaning of the story, showcase the art style of the story, and reveal the profound connotation of the story.
Now let me talk about the difference between light effect of adult animation and light effect of children animation. I will compare the fighting scenes from Love, Death & Robots, and Big Hero 6. In Love, Death & Robots, a lot of cold color lights are used. On the ground, you can see the purple reflected light. Also, there is white light from above, shining over the figures. The background is dark, the white light from above is like a rope, roping together the figures who are about to fight. In the animation, the man and the woman use mental strength to control the monsters, but the implied meaning is: women’s fight against sexual violence. Such violent plot and depressed lighting are absolutely not suitable for children.In Big Hero 6, there is also a fighting scene of two figures controlling the robots, but in comparison with Love, Death & Robots, the visual impact is not that depressed. Red and blue are the major source of light in Big Hero 6. Although there is black in the background, audience still can see the figures clearly, with the aforementioned colors being the source of light. In this way, children will not be scared while seeing the black background. In comparison with Love, Death & Robots, the light of Big Hero 6 is brighter and the color of its light is more harmonious. So while watching Big Hero 6, children will not feel scary.
Third, let’s talk about the light effect in Coco, which is also a 3D children animation. In Coco, multi-color lighting technology is used to render a magical and splendid world of the dead. In this animation, the world of the dead is no longer black and scary, but happy and cozy. In Coco, a lot of purple and blue are used to depict the world of the dead. By using these two colors as the major color of the animation, the mystery of the world of the dead is revealed. In addition to blue and purple, a large quantity of orange, yellow and pink lights are used. The unique light effect, which is completely different from the real world, lead to color alienation, which further allows death to appear in a warm and interesting way. Reasonable light design will not make children have depressed feelings, but will help them generate positive emotions and immerse in the story. In the 3D space of Coco, lighting technology highlights the style and distance of the space. The lighting technology uses the cultural elements of Mexicans to form the psychological space that conforms to the background of the story. By analyzing the design of lighting in Coco, we know that using different forms of color language and expanding the forms of color expression will not make it difficult for children to understand the picture and content. In contrast, the complex lighting model of different locations and colors will attract children’s attention easier. As a key element in children animation, light design not only builds and enriches the background of the animation, but also introduces the different cultural concepts in the animation. When a foreign culture, which is greatly different from the local culture, appears in the animation, lights of the colors of the foreign culture can function as the theme element that distinguishes the background of the foreign culture from that of the local culture.In some countries, parents don’t want their children to take part in activities that involve death, because they think death is ominous. Therefore, in children’s mind, death is colorless, and full of scary. In Coco, the story is set in Mexico, and happens during the Day of the Dead. Local Mexicans put a lot of Marigolds, candles and food on the table, and decorate the table with beautiful flowers. In Mexican culture, these will open the door to the world of the dead, help the soul of the dead to come out of their space, and reunite with their family members of the real world. In this culture, death means more than departure, they believe that their family members will always be with them, death just changed their company way. In Coco, a film created by Pixar, staff used colors typical of the Mexicans to create a 3D space, and established a space full of contrasting colors. The animation uses the colors of lights as the key, helps children get rid of the old way of understanding color, and makes them understand Mexican culture and indulge in an environment full of Mexican elements.
Finally, I will talk about my analysis and conclusion. Children and adults receive the information in 3D children animation in different ways. Adults have the ability to make judgement. They choose to accept or reject the information in the animation according to their own judgement. However, for children, 3D children animation is one of their ways of observing and receiving external information. Children’s psychology and emotions are more influenced by lighting than adults’. Children’s emotions and psychology are more fragile than adults, so while designing lights, we must take children’s psychological bearing capacity and understanding capacity into consideration.
Children’s emotional response to lighting in 3D children’s animation also is diversified. For example, red light helps to create a feeling of enthusiasm, but meanwhile, it can also remind people of violence; green light symbolizes life, peace and security, but it also can be used to create a feeling of coldness and weirdness; white light will make the picture clean and tidy, but excessive white lights will make the picture depressed. While designing the light effect for children animation, we should design reasonable light effect and avoid creating a negative lighting atmosphere. And while we explore the lighting effect of children animation, we need to think about children’s mental well-being, children’s aesthetics and how to effectively attract children’s attention.
Last, I draw the conclusion that by arranging and partially redesigning the colors of the story, we can use light to help children understand and immerse in the story. During the process of 3D children animation production, if we arrange different lights differently, we will increase the 3D effect of the animation, thus appealing to children more. In comparison with adult animation, the lighting effect of children animation should help to generate a positive atmosphere, to avoid children’s becoming anxious and uneasy. Also, the colors of the light should be diversified. Reasonable complex light design will highlight the beauty of the picture and the pattern of the story. To sum up, light helps 3D children’s animation depict different cultural backgrounds, and generate scene feedback information to reduce children’s difficulty in understanding strange concepts.
By arranging these data in order, I gathered the information on lighting of 3D children’s animation. There is still a lot of knowledge about the light design, I will be glad to explore and learn them in future study.
