Zechen Li
Fine Arts BFA
SAIC School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Specialisms: Animation / Art Direction / Digital Design
Location: Chicago, United States
Zechen Li
First Name: Zechen
Last Name: Li
Specialisms: Animation / Art Direction / Digital Design
Sectors:
My Location: Chicago, United States
University / College: SAIC School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Course / Program Title: Fine Arts BFA
About
Zechen Li is an animator, filmmaker, and sound designer based in Chicago and Beijing. He creates animations and soundscapes that allow personal feelings to linger and be released. As someone who grew up with technology, he strives to build a connection between spirituality and digital software. He was born in Beijing, China and received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023. His past works have been selected by AI-AP’s IMAA11 and screened in Gene Siskel Film Center.
To see the full film, please go to this Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/817168213 password: CHWH Chroma Wheel is a 7 mins film made with digital hand-drawn animation and composited in after effects. The film explores my personal experience of making art and the various emotions that come with it. The protagonist, P, is trapped in a “Mind Desert”, a bizarre world of extending dunes and thick smoke, a place typical of when one is facing a creative block. Monister and Compass Bird are the two creatures that live in this world. The environment shifts as P starts to get footing on his musical creation. The creation process, I am visualizing with changing colors and motions. The colors intensify as P begins to see the work coming together. Meanwhile, the protagonist experiences emotions that evolve from confusion to excitement, anxiety to harmony. By using the language of animation and sound, I want to capture the highs and lows of creating an art work, and the feeling of letting go of it at the end. The climax is the moment when P puts all the ideas together and makes a final composition. Simultaneously, several electronic musical models are connected to each other representing the moment when the work of art is leaving you behind and generates its own ideas. My intention in making this film is to trace the various actions I made and the feelings I had during my creative process. I hope my audience can relate to this journey and the emotions toward the finished work.
Competitions
