Endnotes¹


Julie Tran
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    Decisions Decisions
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    3–4 Minutes

    Statement Julie Tran is a senior at Yale University studying Computer Science and Art. Outside of class, Julie is Captain of the Cheerleading Team and manages the social media accounts of the sports teams at Yale and works part-time at the United Nations in Safety and Security policies. During her free time, she works on clothing designs in collaboration with Nike and her friend’s sustainable fashion line called Upcycled Angels. She also volunteers at Food in Service to the Homebound and manages local restaurants' instagram accounts in exchange for large food donations to the homeless in Greater New Haven. Throughout her time at Yale, she explored Art through drawing, painting, graphic design, and animation and investigated the ways technology can intersect with design. Her senior thesis piece is an interactive animated short film, reflecting on her experience growing up Asian American. The film divulges the unfortunate truth of being locked into an American tragedy while being denied the legitimacy of being American. Julie built a website to present the piece, and with JavaScript, the film allows users to make life decisions that Julie had to make in the past. With these decisions, users are able to experience the burden of prejudice when accessing the American Dream. The video and website is still a work in progress, but Julie hopes to finish the final product in late May.

    Student

    people, thinking, asian americans, feel, experience, storyboard, asian, interactive, adult, story, character, wanted, choices, creating, specific, model, cliches, relate, rigging
    “I want to show what it's like being trapped in an American tragedy while being denied the legitimacy of being American. Because all I ever wanted was to gain access to an American dream without the burden of prejudice.”
    “The film will have multiple endings, but users will find that although they can make different choices, the opportunities in the US are not as abundant as they appear. Therefore, the endings are different, but they feel similar and leave the audience with the same feeling. A sense of belongingness.”
    “One thing I worry about is over-generalizing our experiences. So I've definitely been doing a bunch of reading about everyone's experiences, but I definitely think it would help if I talked to individuals here at Yale as well. I've been meaning to reach out with just personal friends at Yale who are Asian American and talk to them about their experiences as well, because I would hate to over generalize the things that we go through.”
    “Yeah, it was really important that I learned English as soon as possible. Because I wouldn't advance to the next grade. Yeah, so I had to make decisions faster. I kind of had to, like, give English my all.”
    “When I started being more Americanized, people liked me so much more. I even had people say to me, ‘You're not Asian, you're white on the inside.’ And that used to make me feel so good about myself. It was terrible.”
    Endnotes¹

    Julie Tran
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    •

    Artwork

  • 1
    •
  • 2
    •
  • 3
    •
  • 4
    •
  • 5
    •
  • 6
    •
    Decisions Decisions
    Interactive
    3–4 Minutes

    Statement Julie Tran is a senior at Yale University studying Computer Science and Art. Outside of class, Julie is Captain of the Cheerleading Team and manages the social media accounts of the sports teams at Yale and works part-time at the United Nations in Safety and Security policies. During her free time, she works on clothing designs in collaboration with Nike and her friend’s sustainable fashion line called Upcycled Angels. She also volunteers at Food in Service to the Homebound and manages local restaurants' instagram accounts in exchange for large food donations to the homeless in Greater New Haven. Throughout her time at Yale, she explored Art through drawing, painting, graphic design, and animation and investigated the ways technology can intersect with design. Her senior thesis piece is an interactive animated short film, reflecting on her experience growing up Asian American. The film divulges the unfortunate truth of being locked into an American tragedy while being denied the legitimacy of being American. Julie built a website to present the piece, and with JavaScript, the film allows users to make life decisions that Julie had to make in the past. With these decisions, users are able to experience the burden of prejudice when accessing the American Dream. The video and website is still a work in progress, but Julie hopes to finish the final product in late May.

    Student