This is a title sequence for a short animation called Cutting Grass, created by an amazing student team from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. This film is around 11 minutes long and tells a story of vengeance. For this project, I created a 90-second-long title sequence for the film.
Film | Cutting Grass
Abstract
Cutting Grass, a student final project, was made by the students of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. It is a 11-minute-long 2D short animation. The director used the method of traditional 2D animation skills to create a cinematic quality for this piece.
The story is about a girl, the protagonist, who was adopted by a doctor. This doctor brought her up yet also conducted experiments on her, which traumatized her mentally and physically. One day, the girl escaped and starts planning her vengeance on the doctor and everyone who was involved in this horrible event.
the girl, the protagnist
Doctor Li, the head of villain
The maskman, one of experimental stuff of doctor Li
The nursewomen, one of experimental stuff of doctor Li
Original Logo
Still 01
Still 02
Still 03
Concept
Storytelling
I started the project with a couple of ideas. In the end, I decided to treat this title sequence as a prequel of the film and supplemented the information that was not included in the film, that is, the background information of the characters’ relationships. My main title’s narrative aims to imply the reason why the girl embarks on the journey of vengeance.
Different early pitches for this film title
Storyboard 01
Storyboard 02
Storyboard 03
Storyboard 04
Design
Textures and Elements
Cutting Grass is a horror movie. In order to align with this genre, I used smoke-like, ink-like brushes and liquid, blood drop elements to create a horror atmosphere.
Logo
For the logo design, I used bold, unruly calligraphic strokes to showcase the film name, which has an intense meaning. The film title“翦草” is excerpted from a Chinese poem, and the excerpted sentence is “殺人如翦草.”If translated directly, it means “slaughter people like cutting grass,” which is parallel to the plots of the film, in which all the bloody and violent scenes take place.
Color Palette & Typeface
#DE0101
#F8CA2B
#181818
#F5F4E7
I used a bold and saturated red as my main color to present the violent feeling of the film. Additionally, I integrated bright yellow varying my overall visual look. To present text credits, unlike the logo, I chose a neutral Chinese serif font, for it can be read clearly and not distract the viewer’s attention from my main narrative.
Mood board
Typeface Choice
Textures and Elements
Logo refining process. Left: old version, Right: final version
Styleframe 01
Styleframe 02
Styleframe 03
Styleframe 04
Styleframe 05
Styleframe 06
Styleframe 07
Styleframe 08
Styleframe 09
Styleframe 10
Styleframe 11
Styleframe 12
Styleframe 13
Styleframe 14
Styleframe 15
Styleframe 16
Process
Motion Treatment
The motion mainly used the camera movement to track/truck the still objects to reveal the story. Thus, I modeled objects first, and then I arranged the animation to each object for each scene, which is quite tricky, and I needed some trial and error to find the perfect timing and composition to fit all the frames.
Coloring
After rendering out the 3D objects with Sketch and Toon in 2D look, I used a gradient map to apply my color palette. I also used level effect to fine tune the contrast so as to customize each object’s color.
Models I made for the scenes
Assets I made for the scenes
Model with motion
Model with motion
Coloring Process
Coloring Process
Soundtrack | Kiss of Death
This amazing soundtrack Kiss of the Death by Kadir Demir is a big plus to my work becasue it has strong rythme to present a spooky vibe, and Its iconic beats from the cello’s notes give me a perfect environment to sync with my footage.
Stills
Credits
- Client: Xiaoqi Xu 3D Model: Li-Yu Chen Design: Li-Yu Chen Motion Design: Li-Yu Chen Soundtrack: Kadir Demir
