“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

                                               George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

 

My animation is somewhat like looking into a kaleidoscopic version of an M. C. Escher print in endless circular motion, wherein each segment and its music keeps on biting its own tail; there is no real beginning or ending. As in Escher’s work the repetition and circularity of the images takes on the additional meaning of George Santayana’s quotation. Though my work has been inspired by M. C. Escher, I always thought that it would be productive (and fun) to translate these concepts using today’s new media!

 

The meaning of each segment is a sequential loop. I hope the viewers will see the ironies and the paradoxes of life in my animation.

 

01: Stepping On and Being Stepped On

01-Duration: 00:01:03

 

The first segment is about a robot that keeps stepping on its smaller self, and being stepped on by its larger self.

 

02: Point and Counter-Point

02-Duration: 00:00:36

 

The second segment is about a person who keeps blaming the "other" person; all the while the other person is exactly himself.

 

03: Jump the Species Barrier and keep on Jumping

03-Duration: 00:01:48

 

The third segment is a genetically modified half dog, half human, half male, and half female creature jumping joyfully in the upside-down and downside-up world.

 

 

 

 

The Technology Used:

 

After doing traditional storyboards, the work was created using Avid’s “Softimage XSI” program for 3D animation. Additionally, compositing and sound were done in Adobe’s “After Effects”. The original size for each individual segment movie is NTSC 640x480.