Reimagining the Beginning in Ancient Stories: An Immersive 3D Digital Storytelling Approach to Global Creation Myths

Abstract

Mythology is a genre of literature with a long history and prevalence. However, with its mysterious and opaque origin, inheritance, and evolution, there have been many problems left in the field of mythology. One of the most important problems is the prevalent similarities in mythologies from cultures around the world which is hard to be explained as coincidence. There have been many schools of theories trying to explain this phenomenon but without any agreement, which is the continuous topic of Comparative Mythology. This thesis therefore endeavors to present the less known concept of Comparative Mythology to modern general audience through visualizing the stories of mythology from different cultures and bring feelings of connection to mythology to people, as mythology is still crucial in our spiritual and mental life. Based on 3D modeling, the final products are videos of 3D animation made in Houdini and edited in After Effects. To deliver the concept of Comparative Mythology, there are 2 mythical stories, from China and Mesoamerica, discussed and presented in parallel. Although the schools of Comparative Mythology Theory have not come to agreement, we have extracted inspirations from them, and vice versa, the theories are discussed and manifested in the videos. The 3D assets in videos are mostly used to show the similarities while telling the mythical stories, and additional multimedia materials, such as text, 2D image, and audio, which are adapted and extracted from original sources. Finally, through the videos, we want to tell the 2 myth stories and present their culture related to myth, and let the audience know about the concept of comparative mythology.