The Last Peach Blossom
The Last Peach Blossom
- 2D Animation & Speculative Fiction -
Aug. 2020 - May. 2020
Design Statement
The Last Peach Blossom is a short animated film and a series of stories that illustrate a speculative fiction about chasing an ancient Chinese symbol, the peach blossom spring – a utopian place in ancient Chinese literature, in a futuristic scenario.
The purpose of this project is to imagine the contemporary evolution of an ancient Chinese story and design a speculative future with a sustainable but sinister version of the relationship between humans and nature.
Role
Writer
Animator
Tools
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effect
Audience
There are two main audiences that I designed for. The larger audience is people who are interested in science fiction or speculative design. The other is those who are interested in ancient Chinese stories or Chinese culture.
Intended Impact
The main story applies an ancient Chinese mythic place in speculative fiction to mimic its traditional meaning in a futuristic context to inspire people to think about the contemporary meaning of ancient Chinese stories.
The intended message of the backstory is that human beings should not waste or occupy resources other than what we need to survive. Since a planned economy based on an energy currency could force people to control their desires, humans would not seek resources they don’t desperately need. It is my ideal vision of the relationship between humans and nature that humans should always feel an awe of energy and nature. For nature, there’s no such thing called a natural state, because the state of the universe is always imbalanced and tentative. It’s us humans who need the earth to survive.
Storyboard


Keyframes

Symbolism

Evolution of Panda = Shame Development

Public Gaze