At the start of everything, I want to share a small, seemingly unimportant news story.

Since the end of May, Pixar has laid off about 14% of its staff. Most of the work was already done, but this move has planted seeds of worry among both current and former employees. The unfairness of these layoffs has angered those who worked hard during tough times to make films, making the situation feel even more heartless and ironic.

While working on a movie about mental health, many employees found that their health insurance was canceled, along with their mental health benefits. A former employee remarked, “It’s sad that, while telling stories about mental health, we’re being stripped of basic health coverage.” In the face of such a human crisis, what does box office success really mean?

The OVERWORK

The modern work environment is increasingly taking away people’s time and energy, making it hard for them to truly be themselves. The recent layoffs after Inside Out 2 is a clear example, shedding light on the working conditions in the animation industry and other creative fields. Animators often have to work long hours during production, putting in far more effort than a normal workload, only to face unemployment when the project ends or market demand changes. This “high effort, low reward” model not only makes them feel insecure in their careers but also causes their personal lives to be consumed by work, leaving little time to pursue personal interests or enjoy life.

This situation reflects a wider social issue: a culture that puts work above everything is eating into people’s personal lives and sense of identity. Whether in creative industries or other high-pressure jobs, many people are feeling their work hours getting longer, with less time for rest and freedom. Because of the heavy focus on career success and performance, people are forced to spend most of their time and energy on work, even giving up time with family, hobbies, or just simple rest. As work pressure keeps growing, individuals slowly lose the moments that are truly their own, making life feel repetitive and dull.

Self Losing is a direct result of this problem. In reality, more and more people are losing their sense of personal identity due to overwork, no longer able to pursue their true dreams or interests. Whether in the animation industry or other fields, the overemphasis on work efficiency and output leads people to achieve their career goals at the cost of self-fulfillment. Work becomes not just the main part of life, but sometimes the only part. In my work, the main character gradually loses their sense of self, with endless tasks and job responsibilities taking over, leaving no space to return to what they truly love.

By reflecting this real-life struggle, I hope my work can inspire viewers to rethink the balance between work and life. In this work-driven world, have we sacrificed too much? Have we become lost in the endless cycle of overtime and tasks, forgetting the true meaning of life? This issue isn’t just limited to the animation industry. Many workers in other fields face the same challenge: they spend so much time and energy chasing career success, but have no time to be their true selves. This reality mirrors the story in my work, aiming to get the audience to reflect and reconsider their own lifestyles, and to find a balance between work and self.

My story

In my animation, I want to represent a person’s self and inner world in a visual way. The self is shown as a playful child, while the inner world is a colorless, rainy, fog-covered gray city. The child will pull the switch on the city’s heart, shutting it off. The child is wearing a bright yellow raincoat, becoming the only color in the lifeless gray city. The child represents the purest part of ourselves—the part that longs for freedom, play, and creativity. The yellow raincoat not only symbolizes hope and energy but also has a sense of fragility, suggesting the weak presence of the self in an oppressive environment. The contrast between the child and the raincoat highlights how the inner self still struggles to resist, despite the pressures of work and the demands of real life.

The rainy city symbolizes the inner world, worn down by work and stress. The constant drizzle is a sign of pressure and difficulties, creating a sense of coldness and heaviness. The rain is both a physical trap and an emotional burden, making the city feel colder and harder to breathe in. The gray tone of the city conveys feelings of emptiness, monotony, and oppression, reflecting how people feel after too much work and overtime: lifeless, colorless, and mechanical.

The city’s heart is the core of this oppressive world, representing the external forces that control the inner self. It symbolizes work, or more specifically, the culture of overwork and stress. The heart controls every part of the city, keeping the dull and lifeless order in place, dictating the rhythm of the inner world. It runs on an electric switch, hinting that the inner self is driven by external forces, losing its own vitality and independence.

When the child pulls the switch, this action is a strong symbol of breaking away from external pressure. The switch controls the entire city, and shutting it off means breaking the chains and stopping the endless cycle of stress. This symbolizes that only by cutting off these external forces can a person begin to reclaim peace and color in their inner world.

Character

In the animation, the child in the yellow raincoat is one of the few bright spots in this world, a ray of light cutting through the dark city. This character is mainly inspired by Little Nightmares.

The City

A tired, gray city where it never stops raining, with only the rumble of a mechanical heart.

The Machine Heart

The source of all exhaustion and fatigue—now, let your past self decide. It’s time to take a break.

Conclusion

This is a story about overwork and self-rescue. It explores the conflict between the pressures of modern work and the inner self’s need for freedom, creativity, and rest. Through the journey of a child, who represents the pure self, the story shows the struggle to escape endless pressure and the dull, mechanical world. The message is clear: only by taking back control and cutting off outside pressures can people find inner peace and rediscover their inner energy.

In this blog I will discuss in detail the research and concept design of my assignment. I will record the evolution and iteration of my ideas from the initial design.

First Stroy: Visual impact brought by the giant hand and the size difference

The initial inspiration came from a giant hand that stretched out from the ground. This hand came from a buried, dying giant. In my initial setting, this giant symbolized an ancient, forgotten power, and he stretched out his hand before dying, like a last struggle or a call for help. However, when the giant died, people did not regard him as a miracle, but began to build a tripod on this giant hand to conduct research, trying to understand the origin and power of the giant.

I started from the size difference between the giant hand and humans and conceived the giant hand as the core visual element of the story. Visually, the huge size of the giant hand represents an irresistible force, like a powerful existence that has revived from nature or history. This contrast not only brings shock, but also conveys a sense of powerlessness between the individual and the huge force, which is an emotion that modern humans often experience when facing a force beyond themselves (such as nature, fate, and technology).

The design of the giant hand is not only huge, but also reflects the traces of time in the details, as if it has awakened from an ancient civilization buried deep underground, with rough skin, clear cracks, thick nails, and every texture of the palm is like a river across time.
 
In order to highlight the contrast between the giant hand and humans, this difference can be strengthened through scene design. Humans may walk beside the giant hand like ants, build tripods, and move back and forth between the huge fingers, forming a sense of powerlessness of humans in the face of powerful forces. The giant hand seems to be everywhere, overwhelmingly dominating the entire scene.

I even wonder if the scene design can be more religious, like the interaction between man and God in Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The initial conception mainly revolved around human ignorance and exploration of natural forces. The giant symbolizes the ancient, primitive natural power, and the scientific research conducted by humans after his death symbolizes the exploitation and control of nature and unknown things in modern society. Although the visual effect is unique and the connotation of the story is relatively profound, I feel that the conflict between the scene and the theme is not clear enough.

Second Stroy: A warning from the ocean

The inspiration of the story comes from the sea pollution. The environment of the sea was damaged a lot by human, oil spills and plastic pollution had become serious problems. This story shows nature’s attack against human – a giant hand stretches out from the bottom of the sea and destroys the oil tanker, representing nature’s awakening and revenge.

In this story, a giant hand rises from the sea and destroys an oil tanker. It’s no longer something humans study, but a force of nature striking back. This attack shows that after years of damage, nature is finally waking up. The ocean, once a home for life, is being weakened by pollution and overdevelopment. When the giant hand emerges and smashes the ship, it feels like revenge for the sea creatures harmed by oil spills, plastic waste, and industrial dumping. It’s not just destruction, but a warning from nature: if humans keep ignoring environmental problems, there will be consequences.

Although the second story has a deeper meaning, it lacks dynamic elements and story progression. The scene where the giant hand destroys the oil tanker is visually striking and symbolic, but as the main focus of the animation, it may not hold the audience’s attention for long. There isn’t enough action or variation to keep the narrative engaging and interesting.

Third Stroy: Overwork

In the final story, I shifted the focus from the big theme of humans and nature to something more personal that almost everyone faces: overtime work. The giant hand is still there, but it’s no longer the main focus. The real main character is the playful and innocent child that lives in all of us. The giant hand now represents endless overtime and work pressure, symbolizing the forces in modern society that weigh us down.

The true main character is the playful, innocent child that lives inside everyone. This child symbolizes the purity and longing for freedom that we all carry within us. Wearing a raincoat, the child wanders through a city filled with giant hands and overtime notices, surrounded by cold skyscrapers and massive mechanical structures. Under the gaze of tired, watchful eyes, the child finally reaches a huge mechanical heart, which powers the entire city and represents the source of all its oppression. Without hesitation, the child pulls the lever, shutting down the heart. The city falls silent.

This animation manages to keep the content rich without requiring overly complex animations. It focuses more on building an immersive atmosphere within the scenes, which allows for deeper emotional resonance with the audience. By emphasizing the mood and symbolism, rather than intricate motion, it creates a powerful connection, making it easier for viewers to relate to the story’s themes of work pressure and the inner desire for freedom.

Further exploration of the content, including detailed discussions on scene concepts and character design, will be covered in the next blog post. This will dive deeper into the visual and thematic choices, giving a more comprehensive look at how these elements contribute to the overall atmosphere and storytelling of the animation.