Another standout student film at SCAD Atlanta’s Atlantamation was Invidia, a beautiful 2D-film by Amber Aki Huang. Huang graduated from SCAD in 2015 with a B.F.A. in animation. She is currently working as the lead illustrator for a project at Primal Screen. In between her work, I asked her a little bit about her film.
Image courtesy of Amber Aki Huang.
Kara Robson: For those who haven’t seen your film, what is Invidia about?
Amber Aki Huang: Invidia is a 2D animated film set in a large birch tree forest. A 10-year old asian-american girl with a ghost fox familiar happen across a treasure that captures their fancy. They must protect their treasure from the mysterious creatures in the woods and within themselves.
KR: When you first decided on majoring in animation, did you imagine you would be capable of making your senior film?
AH: I think I definitely thought that it would be a challenge but I did not think that it would be impossible.
Image courtesy of Amber Aki Huang.
KR: What changes were made from the beginning of production to the final cut?
AH: There were definitely a lot of changes made between concept to final cut. One of the bigger ones that I remember was that the story originally started as a play off of Red Riding Hood, hence the girl and fox/wolf motif. The story wasn’t particularly strong but I actually liked the visuals more in the original concept. There was way too much to illustrate and actually animate for that version to be produced though. I’m still very content with the final design of the film but sacrifices had to be made for the sake of time.
KR: What was the most challenging part in making your film?
AH: I think the biggest challenge of the film wasn’t really about the film but more about myself. I realized during production that I was so much of a perfectionist that I would try to take on too much for myself to do. I drafted and animated about 90% of the film before I realized that I needed some help so I wouldn’t burn out trying to do everything. I had some good friends come in and help me near the last quarter of the film and they really saved me.
Image courtesy of Amber Aki Huang.
KR: How did you manage your time?
AH: I’m not sure if this is a very common problem but I know quite a few people who had the same problem as me for time management. But not because we didn’t time manage well but because we actually could only think about working 24/7. It was like a guilt trip if we weren’t working on our film all the time. So in that sense I don’t think I had good time management because I neglected to take care of myself and my mental health. I got stuff done but rest can do wonders for the quality and life you put into your work.
KR: Did you collaborate? If yes, did the collaboration help with time managing?
AH: I did collaborate! I had a pretty large team actually. The credit sequence goes on for quite a bit for my film. I’m eternally thankful for all the friends that helped work on my film. Especially Stephen Yu and Hena Jang. Both are great animators/illustrators. They were the saving grace of my film. Also surprisingly enough, I’m not too sure if collaboration helps with time managing? It causes you to have to be really organized and figure out what people can do for you but it’s also a bit backwards because now you have to create documents and character charts and concept sketches for them so they can help you as accurately as possible. So yes, it helps organize but also creates so many more things to organize. And that won’t be helpful to people who are disorganized by nature.
Image courtesy of Amber Aki Huang.
KR: What was your favorite part about making Invidia?
AH: My favorite part about making Invidia was probably concept development. I’m very passionate about visual development as a whole because it explores so much in terms of world building, style development, character designs, etc. I just love all that stuff. Another favorite part though was animating the “Poopies.” They’re the little creatures that live in the forest.
KR: Lastly, is there anything else about your film you’d like to share?
AH: The main creature that goes up to the protagonist was actually inspired and voiced by my cat, Key. My friend Grace Yoo and I were lying on the ground recording him for one whole afternoon to get the right noises from him. He passed away two months later from feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and I actually couldn’t bear watching my senior film afterwards. So I skipped out all the screenings of it at multiple film festivals. The screening at Atlantamation was the first one where I saw my film on the big screen. I was really nervous when watching it but I’m glad I finally got the chance to see it.
Amber’s film is not currently online, but look forward to seeing it in other film festivals!
You can see more of Amber’s art here.