We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jiani Lu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jiani, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

During my academic years, I made an unforgettable animated short film. This short story tells of an ordinary but challenging day for a mother and her autistic son. The creative inspiration came from a small detail of the life of a child with mild autism. In the early stages of creation, to ensure the authenticity of the depiction of autism, I visited a children’s autism rehabilitation center for on-site research. Afterward, I volunteered at the autism rehabilitation center and interacted with autistic children for six months, and had the privilege of communicating with parents of autistic children. These experiences moved me deeply and strengthened my determination to make animation. There are too many movies and animations about autism that romanticize the idea of autistic children being geniuses, but the reality is cruel; they are just ordinary people. Autism is an innate, incurable disease. I wanted to break the stereotype of genius autistic children and restore the authenticity of autism as much as possible. I anthropomorphized the image of autistic children in the film as a naive little penguin, combining some common stereotypes of autism, such as flapping wings, jumping in place, and often making noises. The true identity of the autistic child is concealed in the early part of the story.

In terms of the theme of the story, based on observations of the lives of socially disadvantaged groups, the film focuses on the emotional changes of the mother in a special family. The depiction of the emotional conflicts between the social environment and special families aims to convey understanding and inclusiveness to the public. More importantly, it is to show the beautiful inner world of special families.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jiani Lu, people usually call me Nina. I graduated from School of Visual Arts for my master’s degree computer arts based in NYC, My Bachelor’s degree is also in 3D animation with some 2d design tracks. I have been stepping into animation for nearly 7 years and have created 4-5 animated short films. Currently, I work as an animator at a game company.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

As an animator but familiar with the whole process of animation. I will try to simplify models and reduce difficulties for animation as much as possible in the first place. For example, if the budget is limited, reduce the use of particle effects. If there is not enough time for animation, do not attempt challenging hair simulations. We can use the idea of a motion graphics approach to create blocky hair instead of individual strands, which significantly reduces complexity. Always prioritize solid objects over fluids and indoor animations over large outdoor scenes if possible.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I would you can easily get an idea of the story and are good at discovering the beauty in life. You will have the urge to perform. When you create an animated character and animate it yourself, you will feel like you are the god, rewriting others’ personalities and lives. This will make you feel happy. But of course, the downside is that because you understand the animation process so well when you watch others’ work in the cinema, you often find yourself thinking too much or being too judgmental. You might wonder how a particular scene was staged, whether a study cam was used, or notice details like the texture mapping on a character’s pores the excellent rigging of a character, and so on.

Contact Info:

• Website: ninablingbling.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nina_blingbling_lu/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-jiani-lu/
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@ninajianilu2963