Shattered - short film
Shattered is a short film created by Nelson Mai, Kaitlin Yu, and Tiantian Zhang at SVA. Scott dreams of becoming a famous photographer, disapproved by his practical-minded parents. After Scott and his father get into a big fight, they are forced to recall their past, reevaluating what's important to them.
the story
Shattered is a 3D film set in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. 17-year-old Scott Chen dreams of being a photographer, but he constantly argues about his passion with his practical-minded parents. One day, Scott and his dad clash into an argument about photography, and Scott's beloved camera lens cracks. Afterward, they are thrust into flashbacks. They reveal that years ago, Dedi was once interested in photography. However, struggling to pay the bills, Dedi chooses to give up his passion and focus on the family. After his argument with Scott, Dedi visits Scott's bedroom. Looking around the room, he sees how hardworking, skilled, and dedicated his son is to photography. Dedi takes his old camera lens, replaces Scott's cracked lens, and gives Scott his blessing to continue pursuing photography.
our goals
In making "Shattered," we had three main goals. First, we wanted to create a sense of nostalgia by looking back at our own youth through the lens of Scott's story. Inspired primarily by Wong Kar Wai and Satoshi Kon, we aspired to achieve a cinematic, film photography look that could emphasize that nostalgic feeling. Secondly, we wanted to create a unique story with a nuanced angle on the Asian American identity. The aspiring-artist-traditional-parents conflict is a common narrative throughout Asian American stories, but it's common to overlook our immigrant parents, who also have their own aspirations and dreams. We hoped to shine a light on our parents' humanity, beyond just the common hard work narrative. Finally, we wished to write a story that exists as a love letter to ourselves. We embedded our real conflicts, inspirations, and experiences into the story.
visual development
We were fortunate enough to explore several iterations of our characters. Tiantian first drew the character lineup. When crafting the Chen family, we went directly to the source material — our parents. What would they wear? What is typical “dedi” and “mami” behavior? We kept in mind silhouette, mood, and color palette. Nelson focused on the final clothing design. We wanted Scott to represent modernity embracing tradition — Y2K schoolboy chic with a hint of 90s Hong Kong. Young Scott originally had a Pokemon shirt, but due to copyright reasons, we went another route! After working their laborious jobs, Mami and Dedi don’t have time to shop — they stick to the familiar, breathable clothes they’ve owned for decades. Westine helped us with character explorations, capturing the everyday life of the Chen family. They're so adorable!
Daniel Duboulay created these lovely concept art for us! We wanted the living room to capture a homey, packed, lived-in feel with strong incorporation of Chinese culture. The green and red main color scheme is perfect for it. Scotts bedroom is also is art studio. He is modern and chic, contrasting his parents aesthetics, however, he still references his Chinese American background.
color script by Kate Correa and Kaitlin Yu
inspiration deck
The most important guiding light throughout the filmmaking process was our original inspiration deck. For several months, we did intensive brainstorming and research that required lots of virtual discussions. Kaitlin was responsible for previs, layout, and animation, so she gathered cinematography and animation references, while Nelson gathered character references and Tiantian environment references. We also looked to our lived experiences, citing our family photo albums. In the end, our effort was worth it, as we had a cohesive vision once we started diving into film production.
music
Music is a large part of how we show the characters' personalities and culture throughout the film. We wanted to juxtapose the traditional Chinese instruments that play as the parents conduct the ritual against the bassy, poppy music that Scott listens to as he takes pictures. Later on, the Cantopop song that plays during one of our flashback scenes is inspired by the Cantopop radio that Nelson's parents listen to (you can listen to the radio here!). We created a couple of playlists that would help Lillie in her composing process. In the end, Lillie did a great job at creating a score that is authentic to our experience and also pulls the viewer even further into the story.
meet the team!
Story, Character TD, Character Look Dev, Cloth Simulation, Lighting, Rendering, Compositing
Tiantian (Yuetian) Zhang linkedin
environment TD, Environment Look Dev, Prop Modeling & Look Dev, Lighting, Rendering, Compositing
Animation Lead, Editor, Producer, Previsualization, Layout, Prop Rigging, Lead Compositor
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