Concept
This idea came from a normal, everyday thing — a birthday.
We usually think birthdays are happy and celebratory days. But I started to wonder if they have another side too.
Every birthday seems to tell us, “You’re one year older now.” And because of that, we should be more mature and take more responsibility.
Behind this soft reminder, there is actually a kind of social expectation — an idea of what kind of person we should be.
What I want to say is this feeling: a birthday is not just a time to celebrate. It’s also a time when people expect or ask us to grow up.
This mix of sweetness and pressure, and warmth with a little unease, feels interesting to me. And it’s something I want to show through pictures.
Creative Process
This time, I’m not planning to tell a story through narration or interaction. Instead, I want to create a scene – showcasing video that expresses this tension purely through visual effects.
At first glance, the scene should give people a bright, lovely and celebratory feeling.
But when the audience looks closely, they may find a hint of discomfort from the lighting, the sense of space or the relationship between objects.
Some of these details will include symbolic objects, such as models representing the pressure of buying a house, or trophies and books symbolizing academic competition.
I hope that through these seemingly gentle details, the audience can feel the tension beneath the surface – the kind of sweetness that hides anxiety.
In terms of style, I’m still exploring. It may include elements of a typical Chinese family, or tend more towards a dreamy, surreal look,
so that “celebration” and “pressure” can form a visual contrast.
Overall, I hope this work can guide the audience from the lively, festive surface to reflection, allowing them to experience the subtle tension between growth and social expectations.
In-class Learning
WEEK1
In the first week, we learned some basic knowledge of the UE engine. We also learned how to install the Epic Games Launcher, and how to switch between the university computers and our personal devices. Our teacher recommended that we’d better use the same version of the UE engine as the one on UAL computers, so we should download the same version.
WEEK2
In the second week, we continued to get more familiar with the UE5 engine. We learned many basic functions, such as the viewport, details panel and content browser. We also knew about some key features of UE5, like ray tracing, Lumen and Nanite. After that, we learned how to import assets from Quixel Bridge, some basic operations of the material editor, as well as basic work with levels and sublevels, which can keep our projects tidy.