Urban DuoA Stylized Animation Comparing Longchang Apartment and the City of Shanghai
Overview
Shanghai is a fast-paced, highly modernized city. However, the Longchang Apartment within it stands out for its distinctive, nostalgic environment, rich everyday atmosphere, and warm, close-knit relationships within the neighborhood.
I created a six-minute stop-motion-style animation using 3D techniques. Through cubic compositions and dual-screen parallel storytelling, it contrasts the living environment, interpersonal relationships, and attitudes toward life between Longchang Apartment and the broader city of Shanghai.
Shanghai is a fast-paced, highly modernized city. However, the Longchang Apartment within it stands out for its distinctive, nostalgic environment, rich everyday atmosphere, and warm, close-knit relationships within the neighborhood.
I created a six-minute stop-motion-style animation using 3D techniques. Through cubic compositions and dual-screen parallel storytelling, it contrasts the living environment, interpersonal relationships, and attitudes toward life between Longchang Apartment and the broader city of Shanghai.
Previous Work
In 2023, I created the short animation Miniworld, which allowed me to explore stop-motion–style rendering techniques in advance and led me to the theme of Longchang Apartment.View this work
DurationSep 2023 – Feb 2025 (6 months)
InstructorProf. Yinan Zhang (Director of Media and Communication Department, Tongji University)
KeywordsCharacter Animation; Stop-Motion-Style Rendering; Community Culture
AchievementsOfficially selected at 31 international film festivals, including 12 Oscar-qualifying festivals.
Secured 4 awards, including the Best Animated Film, Best Student Animated Film, and Best Artistic Award.
- Cube-Formed Narrative, Duai-Screen Animation
- Duai-Screen Animation
- Stop-Motion Stylized Rendering
The vintage, simple, and humanistic stylized effect of stop-motion animation aligns perfectly with the nostalgic atmosphere of Longchang Apartment. By researching stop-motion materials and conducting extensive stylized rendering tests, I developed a 3D technical workflow to recreate realistic stop-motion scenes and frame-skipping effects.
Geometric Spatial Transition
The animation adopts an orthographic perspective, with transitions between selected shots. By transforming cubes geometrically to bridge two scenes, it produces transitions that resemble spatial illusions. Each transition is created in a separate project file containing the start and end frames of the incoming and outgoing scenes.
Urban Duo has been officially selected by 31 international film festivals, including 12 Oscar-qualifying events such as PÖFF Shorts 2025 and Animafest Zagreb 2025. It has received four awards, including Best Animated Film, Best Student Animated Film, and Best Artistic Award.