Jiayi zhao
About me
My name is Jiayi Zhao. I am a senior student at Queen's University, majoring in Film and Media. Welcome to my portfolio! It is divided into two parts. The first part is short videos, including narrative films and stop motion animations directed, shot and produced by me. The second part is my digital media works, including modeling, scene design and game design.
The Chase is a three-minute short film that mainly metaphorically reflects the survival problems of contemporary female. As a vulnerable group, female have their privacy violated and are stalked. The film uses tight editing, tense music, close-up of the criminal's hands and dim environment to create a terrifying atmosphere, allowing the audience to resonate and immerse themselves in fear and worry. In this project, I was responsible for filming, script writing, and post-editing.
Out of Focus is a six-minute short film that reflects the stress of life for contemporary young people. The story mainly tells about the protagonist who thinks that there is something wrong with his eyesight because his eyes cannot focus. After many examinations, the doctor told him that there is nothing wrong with his eyes. He lives every day numbly and repetitively, and is overwhelmed by the pressure of school and family. He wants to find the reason why his eyes are out of focus, and finally finds another personality in his body. When he realizes that at this moment, his eyes can suddenly see clearly. His sight focuses on the madman begging on the roadside, and he finds that the madman is his face. The film ends here, leaving the audience with an open ending. Maybe he has been crazy for a long time, or maybe everything is just his fantasy, we don’t know. In the shooting, we used Hitchcock-style zoom lens and montage editing techniques to blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy to express the complexity of the character’s heart.
Out of Focus
In this project, I was responsible for filming, script writing, and post-editing.
The Paper Bag Girl
The Paper Girl was inspired by my experiences. As an introvert and not very expressive, I always have trouble socializing and working. To fit in with some groups, I inevitably do things I don't like to do or pretend to be a lively character. I try to be myself and surround myself with people who can identify with my inner self. But this process was painful, and I was constantly faced with self-doubt, loneliness, and lack of recognition.
This narrative film focuses on the character's emotions and situations to resonate with contemporary young audiences. From the Paper Bag Girl’s initial innocence to her doubts, to her determined choices, these will serve as a mirror to the audience’s own experiences, fostering a sense of connection and understanding. It allows viewers to realize their potential and worth by empowering ordinary stories and showcasing ordinary people caught up in the complexities of life. The narrative emphasizes that even seemingly ordinary people can make a big impact and find purpose in their unique journeys. The film attempts to address the anxieties and chaos prevalent in contemporary society and depict the struggles faced by young people. The film depicts the multifaceted nature of these challenges, acknowledging that there are no right answers and that anxiety often grows from navigating uncertainty.
The direction of the film is biased toward comedy, hoping to bring psychological pleasure to the audience and allow them to reflect on themselves in happiness. I hope that through my works, some viewers who are struggling with their identity will be able to choose their inner hearts more firmly. The work may seem absurd, but it is full of encouragement.
I wrote the script, directed, filmed, and edited this project.
Goodbye My Childhood
Goodbye My Childhood is a one-minute animated short film. I used watercolor hand-painted art and added many Chinese elements to depict the appearance of my childhood hometown. My hometown is a typical Jiangnan water town. Because I went to North America to study alone at the age of 15, my memory has gradually blurred. Due to the development of commercialization, many memories have changed. My hometown is no longer the same as before, and my childhood is gone forever. This project was produced by me independently.
The Color
The Color is a one-minute animated short film, mainly telling the story of a protagonist who lives in a world that is only black and white. One day he got a magical spell and saw a colorful world in the book. He began to look forward to it, hoping that one day his world would also have colors. In the end, because of his good deed, his world began to have colors. This short film wants to tell the audience that when you feel that life is dark and lightless, don't give up, keep improving yourself, and one day you will be able to overcome the wind and rain and welcome the rainbow. All the steps of this project were completed by me alone.
Stop-Motion Animation -- Tragedy
This project used Dragonframe for filming and editing. The character design, action design, and paper cutting were all done by me independently. This animation criticizes the tragedy of women losing their freedom and becoming appendages of men in the patriarchal society of ancient China.
1. Scene: Castle in the Sky
In this project, I used Cinema 4D to model the scene. I rendered the scene at dusk and at night. The mushrooms were made of fluorescent materials to show the dreaminess of the scene. I also added camera tracking and rendered a video so that the audience can observe the scene in 360 degrees.
2. Dynamic / Skeletal Motion: Gingerbread House
This project was made just in time for Christmas, so I added a lot of Christmas elements. I used Cinema4D to model the gingerbread house and added a bone rig to the snowman. The balloons were also floating. I used the particle emission tool to create a snowy atmosphere. Finally, I rendered and exported the video and added music.
3. Portals, VR, Immersive Video
In the Portals, VR, Immersive Video project, I superimposed digital mazes onto real environments to achieve visual enhancement and provide users with a unique immersive gaming experience. During the production process, I used Cinema 4D to model the maze. Before modeling, I referred to the terrain of many maze samples, designed the maze route, used many cubes of different lengths to arrange the general shape of the maze, and constantly modified the data to achieve a more precise effect. After completing the modeling of the maze, I added some decorations, such as some trees and flowers, to achieve a more realistic natural environment and visual enjoyment. In the design of the maze journey, in order to better guide the players, I placed stones at inaccessible intersections. Dynamic butterflies were placed at the entrance and exit. The butterflies were modeled by me in Cinema 4D, I added borders to them, and finally imported them into Unity.