Me, Migraine and I
VFX Artist
As the VFX artist for Me, Migraine and I, I designed and edited three animated graphics: message bubble notifications, alarm notifications and raining/flying words. I worked closely with the Director to ensure the VFX aligned with her vision, discussing the style and animation she wanted. I also provided several examples to reference back during the creation of the VFX.
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Synopsis
When burnt-out, stressed law student Mei Shui's migraines gain a life of their own, threatening her attendance rate and preparation for her bar exam, she must learn the delicate dance of living life with her very own fairy god-migraine… who doesn't even do chores.
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Message Bubble Notifications
For this VFX, I created message notifications in the shape of a message bubble to illustrate the messages of the protagonist’s family and friends as though they were communicating with her directly. Each message bubble was designed in Photoshop with different profile colours to reflect each character’s personality, layered over a slightly transparent white background to represent their thoughts. I used After Effects to animate the text messages, applying keyframed opacity and position adjustments with an edited speed graph, to achieve a pop-up notification animation. Additionally, I incorporated a typing effect inspired by iMessage, conveying the protagonist’s thought process as she types and sends her reply. Keyframed scale and position adjustments ensured the messaging animation felt realistic and natural.
Alarm Notification
The alarm notification VFX illustrated the protagonist setting a reminder to rest and sleep, a central part of this scene. I designed the graphic in Photoshop, drawing inspiration from Android notifications. In After Effects, I keyframed opacity and position and transformed the graphic into a 3D layer, allowing adjustments to keyframing its position. The alarm notification was motion-tracked to the phone, creating the effect of it popping up and disappearing as the screen turns off, for added realism and enhancing the intent of the VFX within the scene.
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Raining/Flying Words
Working with the director, this VFX was portrayed as a downpour of words bouncing off the protagonist, reinforcing the idea that each word dropping on the main character was like a ‘migraine’ hitting her. Using After Effects, I animated the word’s path, applying keyframed rotation and speed adjustments to create a ‘rain’ effect bouncing off the protagonist. All the words have different sizes, with some words scaled bigger than others to emphasise the gravity of the words on the protagonist. Flying words were added in scenes where the second character is in frame, creating the effect of the words flying out from the protagonist and passing through the second character, highlighting the second’s character immunity to her words. I used the text wiggle effect with path animation and different scales to achieve the effect.
Final Thoughts
While I couldn’t create VFX as initially envisioned due to limitations with the camera shots, as a VFX artist, I utilised my communication skills to execute the effects to meet the director’s expectations. Maintaining constant communication with the director was essential to update her on progress as I completed each VFX element and to ensure each effect aligned with her vision through consistent feedback. My critical thinking and problem-solving skills were valuable throughout the process, enabling me to address any VFX challenges and achieve smooth, engaging animations that enhanced each scene.