Harry's 3D Animation Blog

Month: November 2025

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Final Major Project Uncategorised

Final Major Project ：Écrits

Because most elements in my work correspond to Freud’s ideas, but Freud’s views don’t fully encompass what I’m creating, and I believe his core idea is to label the triadic personality using multiple phrases, I felt it was essential to study Lacan’s theories for my graduation project. Part of Lacan’s theory builds upon and delves deeper into Freud’s ideas, providing me with a good direction for my thinking.

At this stage, it’s difficult for me to precisely extract all the ideas Lacan intended to express in his poetry, but the core concepts of the triadic theory and the Other and the Lesser Other do provide me with the knowledge and direction I currently seek.

Understanding Lacan’s Theory

Lacan, a scholar on par with Freud, played a crucial role in shaping my thinking during the creation of my graduation project. My understanding of Lacanian theory can be divided into two parts:

First, Lacan’s theory of the three realms: the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real.

The Imaginary originates from Lacan’s theory of the “mirror stage.” Between 6 and 18 months of age, infants first recognize their complete image in a mirror. This image is unified and harmonious, contrasting sharply with the fragmented and discordant feelings the infant internally experiences. The infant then identifies this perfect mirror image as the “self.” This “self” belongs to Lacan’s concept of the self: the “self” we pursue throughout our lives, its foundation being an external, illusory image.

The Symbolic realm is the order of language, law, culture, social norms, and family structure. The Symbolic realm is constituted by language; we do not express ourselves with language, but are spoken of by language. When we say “I,” we are already using a position defined by the Symbolic realm. The embodiment of the symbolic order is the “Other,” the site of our desires.

The Real is a pre-linguistic, unsymbolizable, hardcore. Language and imagery fail before it.

Secondly, there’s Lacan’s concept of the Other and the Lesser Other: In my understanding, the Other and the Lesser Other are roles and functions operating within the three realms.

The Other is the totality of language, culture, social norms, and family rules. When we enter the Symbolic Realm, we enter the realm of the “Other.” The Other constructs our subjectivity and desires; Lacan says, “Human desire is the desire of the Other.” We crave recognition from the Other, and the object of our desires is also the object indicated by the Other. The existence of the Other means that no relationship is purely binary. What I consider right and wrong has a different definition in the face of the Other.

The archetype of the Lesser Other is the unified mirror image identified with by the infant in the mirror stage. In the Imaginary Realm, our relationship with others (i.e., the “Lesser Other”) is a binary, mirror-like relationship. This relationship is full of identification, admiration, jealousy, and aggression. You see friends, lovers, and rivals as if looking in another mirror, projecting your own desires, fears, and idealized image onto them. The Lesser Other appears to be the Other, but is actually merely a reflection of the ego. You think you crave the “small other” itself (like a lover’s approval), but what you actually crave is confirmation of a complete self-image through it. This is an imagined, misrecognized relationship.

This is also the most important factor in introducing Lacanian ideas after deep reflection on my graduation project. That is, there are things that cannot be symbolized; the Real is the remnant that absolutely resists symbolization. It is something that cannot be captured by language, cannot be represented, and cannot be integrated into the symbolic order. I think the concept of the Real is also a breakthrough from the structuralist framework. Although I am creating an animated work, this work itself will be labeled and symbolized by me, the creator, including every shot, action, color, form, etc., all defined by me. I think this is also the definition of animation in structuralism. However, in the actual production process, there are too many details I cannot consider, such as my protagonist instantly transitioning from the real world to the dream world. This transition is difficult for me to create, and the concept of the Real can well encompass this transition because its undefinability provides me with theoretical support to allow this transition to occur naturally.

Previs

In this previs, I made some changes to the shots and framing on the storyboard. The most crucial change was the shot used when the protagonist enters the dream world. I struggled with this for a very long time. I didn’t think it was a good shot; I always want to create my animations in a structural way. However, with Lacan’s theories as a foundation, I think I can accept the current scene transitions, although deep down I still have doubts about this shot.

Character modeling

When it comes to character modeling, I’ve been constantly defining the protagonist’s style. My 2D character designs often differ from my 3D character models, and I’m very willing to overturn previously established ideas and replace them with new ones. My initial 2D character designs leaned towards the style of Japanese animation, but I redesigned them in the 3D world. However, I still retained many details from Japanese animation; for example, I designed the nose to be without nostrils, as I felt nostrils weren’t necessary in my animation, so I omitted them.

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Final Major Project

Final Major Project ：The origin of the story

When I first decided on the theme for my graduation project, I recalled one of the three screenplays I wrote in my first semester. It told the story of a woman overwhelmed by life, and how she finds release and reconciliation with herself through her dreams and fantasies. I had always longed to bring this screenplay to the screen, so it naturally became the core of my graduation project.

However, looking back, I realize that my thinking at that time was rather immature. The theoretical foundation supporting my entire screenplay relied almost entirely on Freud’s concept of “dreams as the fulfillment of wishes” from The Interpretation of Dreams, and his theory of personality structure—the id, ego, and superego. This was undoubtedly a solid starting point, but it should never be the end.

Now, to give this story more layers and modern significance, I have decided to incorporate more diverse perspectives into my work.

Initial theoretical support

In Freud’s triadic theory of personality, personality is divided into the id, ego, and superego.

The id: This is the collection of primal desires. The id is only concerned with one thing—the immediate satisfaction of its desires and needs, regardless of social rules, moral ethics, or the realities of the situation. It seeks to avoid pain and obtain immediate pleasure. In my script, it is personified as a towering human figure who will chase the protagonist and ultimately reconcile with him.

The ego: The ego’s task is to rationally satisfy the impulses of the id in the real world, while also considering the constraints of the superego. It mediates between the id and the external world. It develops from the id, and as the infant grows and comes into contact with reality, the ego gradually separates from the id. It understands how to weigh pros and cons and delay gratification. In my script, it is personified as the protagonist himself, from initial self-criticism and self-destruction to later reconciliation with the other two personalities for survival.

The superego: The superego is formed by our internalized social norms, moral standards, and parental teachings. It pursues “perfection,” not pleasure or reality. It’s the person you feel you “should” be, and it makes you feel guilty and ashamed when you break moral standards. In my script, it’s represented by skyscrapers and the staircases the protagonist needs to climb.

In my story, the protagonist’s inner battlefield is precisely the triangular war between the id, ego, and superego, as described by Freud. Her superego is the “perfect illusion” under social discipline, constantly whipping her with guilt; her id is the repressed, primal instinct yearning for respite and release; and her ego, the “I” struggling to maintain its existence in reality, becomes the most painful victim of this war. Her dreams are not only the whispers of the subconscious but also her ego’s attempts to reconcile this irreconcilable conflict, searching for even an illusory balance.

Storyboard

This is my storyboard, which has undergone countless revisions. It primarily highlights the opposition, intertwining, and fusion of the three personalities, clearly and intuitively expressing their different characteristics and traits. However, I will be making cuts and additions during the subsequent production of the final animation (FMP). This is not only due to considerations of manpower, time, and production difficulty, but also a continuous reflection and correction of my own work. I will constantly enhance the expressiveness of each personality on screen through animation techniques, camera work, color, sound, and other aspects, and will also make subtle adjustments to the elements appearing in the animations when adding new concepts.

Character design

In the initial character design, I focused more on the character’s inner psychological changes than on physical appearance. I didn’t want to fully embody the character’s personality traits in their appearance, but rather let the audience discover these traits themselves. This also reflects the diverse people I’ve encountered since childhood and the environment I grew up in. It’s difficult for me to prejudge each person’s personality based solely on their appearance. It’s hard to guess an ordinary person’s inner world from their outward appearance. Instead, you have to look for clues in their body language and every word they say, like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle to gradually create a complete picture of their personality.