Sad Clown Paradox
If laughter is the best medicine, why do so many comedians experience mental illness? In this 2D animation, we explore the relationship between humor and mental illness as well as its possible link to cyclothymic temperament.
Audience
General public
Client
Prof. Nicholas Woolridge
Roles and Responsibilities
Character Design
Storyboard
2D Assets Production
Animatic
Animation
Co-Collaborators
Abeeshan Selvabaskaran
Jenn Shao
Amy Zhang
Format
2D animation
Date
June 2022
Media
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Audition
Procreate
Figma
Process work
Research & Script
As we were looking for a mental health topic, we came across cyclothymic temperament or cyclothymia. This is a mental and behavioural disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of elevated mood. A short script was then developed based on our research of cyclothymia, including scientific studies, pop culture references, social context and the famous Pagliacci joke.
Research
Script
Character Design
& 2D Assets Production
Our main character - Pagliacci - was born after hours of brainstorming! Inspired by the Italian opera with the same name, Pagliacci lives with cyclothymia and uses humor to cope with difficult situations in life.
By following Pagliacci in the story, the audience has an opportunity to learn about different aspects of cyclothymia and see the world from his perspective.
2D assets were created in Adobe Illustrator.
Storyboards & Animatic
The story opens with a stage scene between Paggliaci and a doctor to introduce the topic of the sad clown paradox. The science behind cyclothymia is illustrated differently from the rest of the story using simple graphical elements (right), while Paglacci's experiences with cyclothymic, interactions with other characters are animated in more detail (left).
Animatic
Color Design
Inspired by our mood board, we selected a desaturated color palette to match the themes of our story. As part of the first colour test, we experimented with using different colored backgrounds (orange and blue) to distinguish different topics in the animation.
For the final version, we decided to go with the grayscale old film look for the science section (below), while keeping the beginning and the end of the animation coloured to achieve visual consistency.
Animation & Rigging
This animation was created in After Effects. Character rigs were created using Joystick & Sliders and Rubberhose. The sound design was completed in Adobe Audition.
Meet Our Clown Family! 🤡 ❤️
