Faculty of Art

Experimental Animation

Selena Shangguan

Mariner 13

" Memory of the past, Record of the moment, Transcending time and life, Delivering them to the future. To whom it may Resonate with. "Mariner 13 is a short animation inspired by NASA's golden record, about a fairy-tale-like journey of a humanoid and a robot - Mari and Phono - who are on a mission to retrieve memories of an unknown planet. The animation provokes the universal question to us as humans - All living beings will embrace death, what can go beyond the end of life?The project is about the inheritance of existence. About reviving memories of ones that lived and died, and how the beliefs residing in inanimate objects can be passed on even after the perishing of life, as embodiments of existence. About recordings that prolong the existence of life after death, like stars that will never fade.

“Mariner 13 is a story-driven 2D animation inspired by the golden record made by NASA, a phonograph record containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The delivering message is about inheritance of existence. About reviving memories of ones that lived and died, and how the beliefs residing in inanimate objects can be passed on even after the perishing of life, as embodiments of existence. The animation provokes the universal question to us as humans - All living beings will embrace death, how should we face our limited time? What can go beyond the end of life? Furthermore - How does one turn ephemerality into eternity? What does it mean to exist?This pending question in my head since the day I feel conscious of my mind - urges me to think constantly, as if like a lighthouse in the distant, imperceptible destination calling out to me, leading me to the path to create, to make something that will outlive my life. This work is my answer dedicated to the prolonged confusions about being alive, childishly wishing that a part of me is recorded in this endless looping time, and may be found somewhere by someone who will resonate. The inspiration of this project comes from the golden record made by NASA, a phonograph record containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. These golden disks are being carried aboard onto the spacecrafts that are designed to travel forever in space - Voyager 1 and 2 - in means to serve as a time capsule of our civilization, wishing that one day to communicate our story to other spacefarers that might find them in the distant future. I was fascinated, deeply touched by this concept, and felt a sense of resonation in the wish embedded in this 12-inch golden disk - the wish to exist. That is what gave birth to my protagonists: Mari - a humanoid girl whose sole purpose is to record memories, and Phono - a jellyfish robot who serves as a vessel of memories, just like the golden record. The title of my animation - Mariner 13 - is a reference paying homage to the Voyagers program, which was formerly adapted from the Mariner 10 spacecraft. If the name were not changed to Voyager through the adaptation, Mariner 13 would be the spacecraft after Voyager 1 and 2. The story begins with their mission to retrieve memories from an unknown planet - however, their spaceship had crash landed on the planet, which means that they will have no battery support and no way to go back to the earth - Except the only portal on top of the mountain. So their journey to the top of the mountain begins, as they retrieve memories of lived beings on the way. Eventually they reached the top of the mountain, but at the same time Mari ran out of battery - at the very end of her battery life, she took out all the memories from her chest which they collected along the way, and loaded them into Phono. As her vision slowly faded to darkness, Phono ascended from the portal, flying back to earth carrying all the memories. The message of what each character and motif refers to can remain open for the audiences to interpret. For me, Mari and Phono are a metaphor for the creator and their work. The motif of the star that is used in the animation symbolizes many things - memory, feeling and soul etc. And what the planet refers to remains unanswered - it could be an alien planet, or a spiritual mind - it is a blank that can be filled out by whoever finds an answer in their heart. There are two artists that had a strong impact on the aesthetics and animating style of this work: Masaaki Yuasa and Wassily Kandinsky. Masaaki Yuasa has a very primal, distinctive and intuitive way of story-telling, and the uncontrolling fluidity in the way he animates - as if he is drawing purely by his instincts to be free - was very inspiring to me. Wassily Kandinsky inspired me in the concept of “pure aesthetic”, the use of shapes as a universal language of art that evokes emotion and tells a story. In making this animation, I was taking a free flowing approach with animation while experimenting with the abstract visual language of shapes. In my past art practices, I found that shapes are the most primary art symbols that evokes emotions - circles, triangles and squares. When designing characters, objects and background, I am taking this minimal and abstract language in wishing that it communicates more universally, since the theme of my animation is also universal. It is also the way I communicate my art the best, because the use of symbols and shapes matches my aesthetic of storytelling - more hiding than telling. Overall the animation gives a serene and sorrowful, fairy-tale-like adventure that embraces life and death, and evokes strength in people’s hearts. The final work is animated frame by frame in ClipstudioPaint and went through post-production in Adobe After effects, 2 - 3 minutes of full length. ”