Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun

Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award in Bronze in Filmdesign Competition Category.

BronzeFilm· 2026

Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm

by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun

A' Design Award in Bronze Winner in Film Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm

Buchtext: Once Upon a Rabbit ist ein animiertes Designprojekt, inspiriert von kulturellen Details des Laternenfests und visuellen Kindheitserinnerungen. Das Werk etabliert eine weiche, ausdrucksstarke visuelle Sprache durch eine Verbindung von dimensionaler Form und handgezeichneter Sensibilität und schafft Bilder, die zugleich strukturiert und verspielt wirken. Wiederkehrende Motive wie der Hase und Tangyuan, Reisbällchen, dienen als visuelle Ankerpunkte, während Bewegung, Rhythmus und Komposition Atmosphäre und Kontinuität betonen, was zu einem stimmigen Designerlebnis führt, das in Wärme, Vertrautheit und kultureller Resonanz verwurzelt ist.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Bronze

Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm ist Gewinner des A' Design Award in Bronze, einer hochprestigeträchtigen Anerkennung für herausragende Designs, die sich durch Kreativität, Einfallsreichtum und Scharfsinn auszeichnen. Bronze-Gewinner sind reichlich geschickte und auffallend kreative Artefakte, die die große Erfahrung, Fantasie und Findigkeit ihrer Designer belegen. Von Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm wird erwartet, dass es ein hochgeschätztes, bewundertes und geliebtes Objekt ist, das bemerkenswert professionell und innovativ ist. Dieses mit dem A' Design Award in Bronze prämierte Design verkörpert bewährte Verfahren in Kunst, Wissenschaft, Design und Technologie und ist hervorragend in seiner Liebe zum Detail. Once Upon a Rabbit Primäre Funktion: Animierter Kurzfilm befriedigt Bedürfnisse auf großartige Weise, berührt Wünsche, bezaubert Gefühle und spricht die Neugier an.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Once Upon a Rabbit is an animated short inspired by childhood memories and subtle cultural details of the Lantern Festival. Guided by the recurring presence of the rabbit and tangyuan (rice balls), the film unfolds as a sequence of connected moments that gradually lead toward a shared table. The piece emphasizes emotional flow and visual association over explicit storytelling, capturing the lively warmth of the Lantern Festival.
Dimensions & Packaging: 16x9 video file
Tags: Animation, Motion Design, Illustration, Culture, Year of Rabbit
Production Technology: The project was produced using a hybrid 3D and 2D animation workflow. Core scenes and motion were created in Cinema 4D, with a focus on modeling and animation. The renders were then composited in Adobe After Effects, where textures, graphic details, and subtle motion accents were added to achieve a cohesive, handcrafted visual quality.
Design Challenge: A key creative challenge was achieving a sense of warmth and human touch within a digitally constructed visual environment. The project sought to avoid a rigid or overly polished appearance by introducing texture, softness, and brush-like qualities into form and motion. Balancing control and imperfection required careful visual restraint, ensuring the imagery remained expressive and inviting while maintaining coherence and clarity throughout the animation.
Research: This project is based on exploratory design research focused on visual expression and cultural memory. The objective was to understand how abstract form, color, and motion could evoke familiarity associated with the Lantern Festival without relying on literal depiction. The research was conducted through visual experimentation, reference studies, and iterative sketching using digital tools. Observations were drawn from personal memory, cultural imagery, and repeated motion tests. The results informed a visual language that balances simplicity and expressiveness, demonstrating how motion design can translate shared cultural atmosphere into an accessible and emotionally resonant visual experience.
Inspiration: Once Upon a Rabbit was inspired by childhood memories and subtle cultural details of the Lantern Festival. The project explores the use of 3D techniques rendered with a 2D sensibility, creating a vivid yet dreamlike visual language reminiscent of childhood doodles. By prioritizing mood, memory, and shared cultural experience over literal representation, the work aims to evoke a sense of warmth and nostalgia through motion.
Project Duration: The project was developed and completed in 2023 as an independent animation project, produced remotely.
Operation Flow: Motion unfolds through a sequence of gentle transformations, where shapes, colors, and motifs transition fluidly between scenes. Visual elements expand, contract, and reorganize to guide attention and create continuity, allowing the design to feel cohesive while maintaining a sense of lightness and rhythm throughout the experience.
Team Members: Jesseter Wang,
Hannah Sun
Image Credits: Direction / Design / Animation: [Jesseter Wang & Hannah Sun]
Music / Sound: [Davis Aguirre]