ARFF Best Student Film 2022 |北京耀中学生作品入围ARFF国际电影节

We are proud to share with our community that Year 12 student Angela Wang has been nominated for Best Student Film 2022 by Around Films International Film Festival (ARFF), in Berlin, Germany, for her stop-motion movie titled ‘Let Me’. Around Films is a network-based film collective that selects the best filmmakers around the world through the annual festival. We spoke to creative mastermind and director Angela about the making of her animation piece, the story behind it and what this acknowledgement means to her.

我们非常骄傲地宣布我校十二年级的学生王天时创作的《让我》定格动画作品入围柏林ARFF国际电影节“最佳学生电影”。Around Films是电影制作人协会，通过一年一次的电影节筛选出世界各地最好的电影制作人。我们跟极具创意的导演王天时了解她入围作品的制作、其背后的故事以及这份特殊的荣誉对她的意义。

A colour-popping piece of cake swiveling rapidly, a clay figure attracted by it but seemingly changing its mind in reaching for it. Angela’s one-minute stop-motion movie is a vibrant feast for the eye, draws the viewer in and does not allow a second of stand-still. Short sequences of black and white 2D graphics and bright 3D animations display a whole range of different art forms, sculpting, drawing, sewing and photography while telling the story of inner conflict.

故事的主人公被一块颜色艳丽而且快速旋转的蛋糕给吸引住了，但在伸手去拿的时候似乎改变了主意。王天时的一分钟定格动画电影是一个充满活力、吸引人眼球的连环动画。黑白平面图片和明亮的立体动画展示一系列不同的艺术形式，其中包括雕刻、绘画、编织和摄像，讲述一个人内心矛盾的故事。

Angela shares that the stop-motion film was her final piece in her IGCSE art course. “We were free to make any type of artwork. I am a huge fan of animation and like to make my own in my spare time. Therefore, I chose to create a stop-motion for my final piece,” she explained.

王天时告诉我们她的定格动画 是IGCSE课的作品。她解释到“我们能够自由地选择任一形式的艺术作品。而我是一个超级动漫迷，很想在业余时间制作一个属于自己的动画，因此我的IGCSE最终作品做成了动画。”

After deciding on the category of her final piece came the difficulty of selecting and finding suitable material. “The first thing that popped into my mind when talking about stop-motion films is the 3D model, and the only medium I could easily access at the time was stone clay. It then proved to be the right medium as the movements within the stop-motion film require the hardness of the stone clay, such as positioning and repositioning or forming the changing gestures of the character in the movie. The steel wire within the clay model is also worth mentioning, as it acts like the figure’s skeleton and holds the clay together nicely. I enjoyed the sewing part as well; I used very basic fabric for the clothing. I felt like a dressmaker, designing the clothes for the model, cutting the fabric and sewing the single parts together. I also wanted to experiment with a mix of 3D and 2D visuals. Therefore I chose to use not only stone clay but also included hand-drawn frame cards for the 2D animation parts of the film.” she elaborated.

在决定自己最终作品的呈现形式后，选择和找到合适的动画制作材料成了王天时面临的一个难题。她跟我们详细介绍道“讨论到定格动画时，我脑袋想到的第一件事是在立体模型，而我能获取的唯一材料是石头黏土。事实证明材料选对了，比如在摆放位置和重新摆放位置、或者改变影片中主人公的姿势时都对黏土的材料的硬度有要求，而石头黏土的硬度刚好符合需求。黏土里的钢丝也有门道，它就像这个人物的骨架，很好地撑起整个体型。另外，我也很喜欢编织，在给角色制作衣服时我用了非常基础的布料来缝纫。给主人公缝衣服的过程我觉得自己是个裁缝，在为模特设计衣服，先把每块布料剪裁好再缝起来。此外，我还想体验平面和立体的视觉呈现。因此我不仅选择石头黏土，还画了相框卡片放在影片中。”

Angela’s movie is not only a showcase of her ingenuity and honed art and craft skills, but it also conveys a meaningful message to its audience. “My stop-motion animation revolves around the topic of mental internal depletion. The main character in the film is constantly moving between fantasy and reality; he is fighting temptations to reach for the piece of strawberry cake on the table to eat it but feels distressed and anxious because worries about his figure are holding him back. In the end, the protagonist turns to tobacco instead to help him escape reality. The strawberry cake in the film is just imagery, it can represent anything in real life that may cause internal conflict. Tobacco is a symbol of those means by which we can escape reality,” Angela added.

王天时的电影不仅展示了她的独创性、精湛的艺术和手工技巧，还向作品的观众传递了一个寓意深刻的信息。她补充道“这个定格动画主要表达的就是人们精神内耗这一问题。片子中的主人公在幻想和现实中不断游走，想吃桌子上的那块草莓蛋糕但却因为担心自己的身材而感到苦恼、焦虑。最后主人公选择了利用烟草来帮助自己逃避现实。片子中的草莓蛋糕只是意象，它可以代表现实生活中的任何可以让人们产生内耗的事物，而烟草则象征着那些我们逃避现实的手段。

The clay figure’s rigid eyes and the black backdrop also transmit the character's emotional struggle, while the fast sequence of images and the switch from black and white to radiant colours assist the film in retaining a certain lightness. “I wanted to attract a broad audience and give them the possibility to relate to this topic according to their own comprehension, as I think many of us have experienced this kind of thought.” Angela’s fascination for animation started in Primary when she saw Henry Selick’s movie “Coraline”, a stop-motion adaption of the spooky young-adult classic by Neil Gaiman. “I was amazed and terrified at the same time when I saw the 3D figure of the 'ghost mother' character. It left a profound impression on me and influenced me to make the clay models for my stop-motion piece.”

主人公僵化的眼睛以及黑色的舞台背景传递出主人公的情感挣扎，而快速变换的图像及从黑白图像到绚丽色彩的递进，赋予该影片一定的亮度。“我想吸引很多观众，提高他们把创作主题跟自己的理解联系起来的可能性，看到作品本身想传递的意义。我认为我们中的很多人也经历过跟主人公一样的挣扎或内耗。”王天时的定格动画启蒙作品是Henry Selick指导、改编自Neil Gaima的同名小说《鬼妈妈》。自小学看过这部影片，她就迷上了定格动画。“在看到‘鬼妈妈’这个立体人物出现在电影中，我又惊讶又害怕。这段经历给我留下了非常深刻的印象，甚至影响我在自己的作品中要做一个泥人模型。”

Angela shares her feelings when she learned about her nomination for the category of  Best Student Film 2022, “To be honest, I didn't expect my work to be nominated because amazing filmmakers around the world are also attending the festival. I‘m very thankful to ARFF and my nomination.”

王天时跟我们分享了她被提名“2022年最佳学生电影”的感受，“刚收到通知被提名时，我是有点惊讶的，因为全球世界各地喜欢动画和电影的优秀制作人都来参加这个电影节，所以一开始我并没有想到会被提名。很高兴也很感谢我的作品能被得到认可。”

She also expresses thanks to her teacher and fellow students as she reflects on the making of her artwork and submitting her work to the ARFF, “We are encouraged in our art course to attend international competitions or film festivals as it helps us apply to universities. My art teacher Mr Iestyn Shaw and my friends were all very supportive of me in realising this short film. Especially when I showed them the end product, everyone was very positive and encouraging. I‘m very thankful to them for their affirmative energy towards me. ”

在回顾制作这个作品和提交作品给ARFF组委会的过程中，她还表达了对老师和同学们的感谢，“艺术课老师一直鼓励我们参加国际比赛或者电影节，因为这可以帮助我们申请大学。我的艺术老师Iestyn Shaw和我的朋友在我完成这件作品的过程中给予我非常大的支持。特别是在我跟他们展示最终成品时，每个人都很积极地鼓励我。我十分感谢他们对我的肯定。”

“It was my first time crafting a stop-motion film, and I had no idea how it would turn out at the end. Luckily, it seems fine!” Angela describes how she spent several months finishing the film, especially as the making of the clay models was very time-consuming. “I needed to ensure the figurine could stand straight and be strong enough to play with.” Angela’s hard-working and humble approach to animation art is mirrored in her life motto: “Only through the coexistence of knowledge and action can we perfect ourselves and become better. Work hard at what you want to do, and you will be rewarded in the end.”

“这是我第一次做定格动画，我不知道结果会是怎么样。幸运的是，还不错！”王天时跟我们讲述她如何用几个月的时间制作这部电影，其中制作泥人主人公尤为费时。“我需要确保这个小雕像可以站直同时还要能牢固到能摆姿势。”王天时在动漫艺术领域的努力和谦逊也呼应了她的人生格言“理可顿悟，事须渐修”。这句话出自《楞严经》，意思是道理可以被顿悟，但只有知行合一，思想和行动共存才能完善自我，变得更好。她坚信“努力去做你想做的事，最后你会得到回报的。”

Angela is currently attending Year 12 IB courses and is already looking into universities. “I would like to pursue animation filmmaking, and this nomination will help me with my university applications. I’m planning on studying Experimental Animation in the future. At this moment, I’m looking at universities in the UK where I would love to attend the University of the the Arts London (UAL) or Edinburgh University, whereas the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) would be my preferred university in the United States.”

王天时现在十二年级，正在上IB课程并且开始研究大学申请。“将来我想要制作动画，这个提名对我大学申请有非常大的帮助。我计划学习实验动画这个专业。现在我正在了解英国的伦敦艺术大学或者爱丁堡大学，以及美国的加州艺术学院，这三所学校都是我的梦想院校。”

We congratulate our student Angela for receiving international recognition from the ARFF for her stop-motion debut work ‘Let Me.’ She is currently working on a new stop-motion movie. Renowned stop-motion director Henry Selick once summarised the art of animation with the following words, “The beauty and mystery of stop-motion are in those traces of the animator’s hands.”

让我们恭喜王天时同学，恭喜她的作品《让我》获得ARFF国际电影节的认可！目前她已经开始创作另一部定格动画。定格动画界著名的导演Henry Selick曾经这样总结动画艺术，“定格动画的美与神秘出自动画制作者之手。”

We look forward to Angela leaving more artistic traces with our school community and beyond.

让我们再次期待王天时在学校内外留下更多艺术创作。

Angela Wang entered YCIS Beijing as a Secondary student in Year 7. She is now in Year 12, continuing her IB studies. Art has always been her favourite subject. Besides drawing and animating, she is into skateboarding, reading, and analysing movies. Angela is also an active Scorpion supporting our school’s sports teams. She has been a member of the school’s U19 volleyball team and is currently playing on the U19 basketball team. Angela has also created a skateboard CCA, an excellent opportunity for like-minded students to improve their skateboarding skills together.

王天时七年级加入北京耀中，她现在在十二年级修读IB课程。艺术一直是她最喜欢的学科。除了画画和动画，她还喜欢玩滑板、阅读、电影赏析。王天时还是校运动队的积极分子， 是学校U19排球队的成员。王天时还开创了滑板联课课程，为喜欢滑板的同学提供提升滑板技巧的机会。

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