Franky Wang
Disappeared Neon
About the Video
"Disappeared Neon" is an animation video telling the story about the disappearance of neon, a historic replacement of commercial brand promotion. In the last century, there were millions of shiny neon advertisement signs on the streets, which were part of the deepest memories of Chinese people.
Up till now, nearly all of them have been replaced by screens, LED lights and more up-to-date ways of publishing. I created this video using Adobe After Effects, hoping to recall people's memory of neon signs, and find out the beauty and aestetics in those seemingly old-fashioned bright lights.
Motion Graphic
Design Duration
Team
Individual Project
Janurary 2020 - March 2020
(5 Weeks)
Design Tools
Design Practices
Storyboarding
Illustration
Animation creation
Online posting
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Hong Kong is one of the most developed Chinese cities with a profound business design over the decades. The most elegant and symbolic composition here is neon, which can be dated from the 1950s. It has a high visual aesthetical value and has been a part of Chinese people’s life. However, neon is disappearing and being replaced in the past few years.
I have been to Hong Kong in 2015 and was fully attracted by the neon signs in the old streets of downtown. But when I walked to the city center, there were no neon commercial signs left, not even one. All those flashing and shining LED screens crushed into peoples’ eyesight. I asked local people why do they think of neon signs, an old lady in a restaurant told me,
“Neon is one of the best memories in Hong Kong, but it finally comes to an end.”
RESEARCH RESOURCES
I got some helpful information from this website, which mainly introduced the development and historical aesthetics of neon signs. Also, it tells the complete story of the suspension of the "Neon era" and listed the only distribution of the existing ones. The website is also aimed to preserve this kind of “heritage”, which had the similar principles as what I wish.
WORKFLOW
TIMELINE & STORYBOARD
All the neon signs in the video were removed from HK and cannot be seen anymore.
In memorial for the best shiny memories they brought to the HK over the years.
