When I first attended the class and was asked to do a small 10 – to 15-second animation with AE, I flashed the opening scenes of several Barbie movies in my mind. The opening scenes of those movies all start with dancing butterflies. So I dug out these Barbie fairy movies and took screenshots of the fairies and the butterflies.
One of the earliest movies that impressed me was Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. First, a pink butterfly flew out and then a second one. Two beautiful butterflies flew and glitter or fairy dust fell off with the stirring of the butterfly’s wings. This scene was so fascinating that I could not forget it for more than ten years. Mattel made a lot of fairy movies, and I found them all and watched them all, and I loved every one of them. Most of the wings in these stories are pink, which happens to be my favorite color.
I first tried to design a butterfly of my own, but I did not research the real butterfly. This is a very interesting thing that I am very afraid of real butterflies. The wings of real butterflies always make me scared and stand on end. However, the butterfly wings in Barbie movies are highly beautified, so that I am not afraid of these wings, but I like them very much. I started drawing what I imagined butterfly wings would look like, using my favorite pink color as the main color, and incorporating some of what I remembered butterfly wings looked like, and I finished my design.
When I made this little animation, I really wanted to add glitter to the butterfly, but unfortunately I didn’t have the stardust plugin, so that idea had to be abandoned, which was a small regret in the process.
In the end, I tried many pieces of music, and finally chose the original one which I thought was the most suitable. The music originally used for the opening of blue Butterfly and pink Butterfly made me think it was the most suitable.
Reflection
When I was a little girl, I enjoyed Barbie movies very much, I like the dream scenes in Barbie’s movies, like the romantic stories of Barbie, like the spirit of Barbie being strong and unyielding and always being herself. So this little experiment is kind of a tribute to my childhood. I personally designed this butterfly, depicting the butterfly wings in my memory, fluttering butterflies and pink dreams, which are romantic in my heart. Flying butterflies and shining stars are the most beautiful connection between my childhood and the present.