YOLK
Introducing YOLK.
The final product following a year of sweat, tears, and late hours.
Let me begin by thanking you, the viewer, for showing an interest in my Sheridan thesis film, YOLK. It's not often that I get the opportunity to dedicate an entire year to a passion project, and I am so glad I got this incredible chance. I learned a lot about each step of the film making process by creating this animated short from beginning to end. I hope you enjoy viewing my step-by-step procedure available only on this page.
The film is a non-nonsensical comedy following the journey of an young egg, whose potential is abruptly crushed when he becomes the common fried egg.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted to tackle a film with underlying themes of self doubt and broken dreams through the most humorous methods I could come up with. In the end, the theme became very loosely ingrained in the film, while I allowed the entertainment aspect to take over. This is inspired by my own struggles with self-acceptance, and subsequently, the coping method of humour. To me, if the film makes the viewer smile, I will have achieved my goal of bringing just a little bit of joy to their day.
And thus, YOLK was hatched.
PRE-PRODUCTION
Concept Art
My initial imagining of YOLK was very different from how it ended up looking. In the beginning, I had planned to take on an old-fashioned sepia-toned aged booked look. Over the summer, I'd visited an art gallery in Tianjin that inspired me to make the switch into a colourful watercolour theme. The story itself also went from a fairly standard character story to the crazy film it became today.
Storyboards
As I've mentioned before, YOLK underwent several extreme changes through the duration of its conception. I initially pitched it as a wholesome comedy piece based around self-discovery and self-acceptance. By the time the project entered production, however, it had become a full-fledged chaotic comedy story. Through out the story planning phase of the project, I created over 10 versions of the storyboards, each different enough to be its own story.
YOLK Boards
YOLK Boards
YOLK_Animatic
YOLK_board_1
YOLK_board_2
YOLK_board_3
YOLK_board_4
YOLK_board_5
YOLK_board_6
YOLK_board_7
PRODUCTION
Layouts
The final look of YOLK was largely inspired by Chinese artist 李旻's 加油中国 series, and the bold colours often found in info motion graphics. I wanted the setting to take on a colourful Easter-egg look. Throughout the film's development, I decided to focus on a water colour texture. A cool thing to note about these layouts is that I overlayed the background with progressively more crinkled paper textures to mirror the on-screen chaos.
Animation
There are many steps between the beginning stages and the final film. In my case, my boards could basically serve as my animatic, so I saved a step. After this, the major steps were rough animations, clean up (line), colour, and finally, compositing. Unfortunately, each step would take much longer than I hoped, but it was greatly rewarding seeing each step bring me just a little closer to completion.
From Boards to Comp
From Boards to Comp
Scene 28 - Add Salt
Scene 18 -Twisty Stab
Scene 16 - Aggressive Stabbing
FESTIVALS
From mid 2019 to mid 2020, YOLK made its rounds in film festivals around the world to outstanding feedback!
I constantly get messages from people that have seen it in their local screening, and it brings in an incredible sense of joy and accomplishment. Thank you all for your support and I hope you like the film, because I had an incredible time working on it.
Parting Words
Thank you to Sheridan for the opportunity to work on my own film. Thanks to all my teachers for their feedback and support. I learned more than I ever thought I could. Thanks to my family for paying my tuition, sorry if you were expecting something wholesome and Pixar-esque. THANK YOU to my incredible friends for struggling with me, and for all the help and suggestions. Thank you to the talented BEYO for being the most reliable musician I've ever had the pleasure of working with.
Finally, thank you to you, the audience member, for taking the time to learn about the making of my film, YOLK. The reaction I get during screenings is better than I could have ever hoped for. Thanks for helping me achieve my goals, and for your future support.
Please stay tuned for my future projects!
For any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
-Renee Y Liang
The complete film-making experience
The creation process of my thesis film, YOLK, from beginning to end.
ANIMATOR • CONTENT CREATOR • ILLUSTRATOR