Jasper

Meet Jasper, the little girl with big dreams… Jasper is a short animation about the dream of flight, exploring new ways to blur the lines between analogue and digital visual effects

Jasper is an animated story created as a part of an initiative to encourage more young women to do STEM subjects and not be held back by gender stereotyping when dreaming of their future careers. Multiple studies have shown that young women in Australia experience a high level of both external and self-imposed gender stereotyping when it comes to making career choices. The animation project explores the idea that the dream of flight completely transcends gender.

The project was an exploration into ways in which new emerging technologies, such as 3D printing, can be used to make tangible physical objects in miniature set builds. In addition, the project explored the way different image making techniques can affect the emotional experience of the audience by bringing a greater sense of tangibility and realness to story images.

Jasper is a practice based research project undertaken by PhD student Simon Rippingale. The animation was produced at the UTS Animal Logic Academy in collaboration with the RAAF. This transdisciplinary project draws on the expertise of the Faculties of Engineering & IT, Design, Architecture & Building and Transdisciplinary Innovation.