DESN1801: Animation Thinking
Jake Knight's student Projects.
Project 01 - Chain Reaction
This project showcases my completed animation Chain Reaction for Assessment 1 in DESN1801 Animation Thinking. The brief required a 40–50 second stop-motion film using at least four physical animation techniques: pixilation, cut-out, object, and whiteboard animation. My concept explores the theme “violence begets violence,” using visual transitions to represent escalation and emotional destruction. The film concludes with a reflective message inspired by Vinland Saga: “You have no enemies.” This piece demonstrates my storytelling instincts, editing skills, and first-time hands-on animation experience across multiple mediums.
Project 01 - Chain Reaction
Project 02
Presentation Brief / Project Pitch
Instinct Comics: “In Another Universe” | Volume 1 – Time Machine
Created for DESN1801: Animation Thinking, this project presents a proposal and animatic for a hybrid stop-motion animation titled “Time Machine”, the first volume in the In Another Universe anthology under the Instinct Comics label.
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Set in an alternate timeline, this deeply emotional story follows superhero Tevon Taylor (Instinct) as he grapples with the death of his partner, Lily Lawson (Harmony). In his grief, he unintentionally unlocks the ability to travel through time—but instead of saving her, he becomes trapped in a destructive loop of denial, illusion, and eventual acceptance.
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This project includes:
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A full pitch presentation (PDF) with synopsis, character designs, story flow, and clay model development
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A 1-minute animatic (video) using stop-motion and whiteboard techniques to explore grief, time distortion, and healing
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Character design, clay modelling, and symbolic visual storytelling
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The proposal sets the foundation for Project 3: Final Animation, and reflects my long-term vision for emotional, multimedia storytelling under the Instinct Comics creative universe.
Project 02
PDF / Flipbook below.
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Animatic / storyboard
-Also used for the pitch.
Project 03
Final Student Animation / short film.
Instinct Comics: “In Another Universe” | Volume 1 – Time Machine (Final Animation)
This final animation was produced for DESN1801: Animation Thinking at the University of Newcastle. It is a hybrid microfilm combining 3D stop motion and digital animation techniques to visually explore the theme of Time Machine.
Titled “In Another Universe – Volume 1: Time Machine,” this short film follows Tevon Taylor, a superhero known as Instinct, as he grapples with grief after the loss of his partner Lily Lawson. In a surreal journey through fractured timelines and emotional echoes, Tevon tries to undo fate—only to realise that healing begins not with rewinding time, but with learning to let go.
The film blends metaphor and abstraction to convey memory, denial, and acceptance—all framed through the lens of Jake Knight’s Instinct Comics universe. The final video was created using practical, in-camera techniques with some digital animation.
This piece concludes the Animation Thinking course by translating storyboarding, physical model-making, and emotional storytelling into a short visual narrative.