Yingyao Zhao
A rendered female figure bound in a silver corset-like structure, with red, wounded arms, against black. Play film · 1:45

01 / 03

Entropy of Physical Restraint

Year
2025
Medium
3D modeling · Visual design · Unreal Engine 5 · Animation
Film
1:45 · Vimeo

Entropy of Physical Restraint uses intimate apparel as a metaphor for the constriction of the female body.

The work traces a three-stage evolution, from confinement through deconstruction to reconfiguration, using surreal imagery of binding garments, crumbling structures, and new mechanisms.

Its aim is to show that the shaping of women’s bodies is not merely a matter of personal aesthetic difference, but the profound imprint of social power, exercised through history, culture, and commercial discipline.

Process

Research

The project grew out of coursework on the lingerie market at the University of Manchester. Survey responses showed that "comfort" often gives way to "function": the choice of underwear is closely tied to occasions such as dates and the workplace, and becomes a tool for coping with external gazes.

Garments designed to make the body look more upright, lifted, and fuller leave their marks. I studied the traces left by different kinds of binding and compiled them into an archive.

Feminine discipline: gender-specific practices such as dieting, cosmetics, and constricting garments produce docile female bodies.

A red mark left on the skin by a bra strap, labeled "Dating".
Dating.
Red marks pressed into the skin of an arm by structured underwear, labeled "Workplace".
Workplace.
An old, stained, and fraying underwire bra laid flat.
Self-disappearance. Old, ill-fitting underwear, squeezed out of shape, with rusting buckles.

Concept

The narrative is structured in three movements, each answering the pressure of being looked at and judged.

  1. 01 Bind The external gaze constrains the true self.
  2. 02 Escape Break the mirror to escape.
  3. 03 Reshape Return to calm and self-healing.
Concept board linking three sculptural objects to keywords for restraint, the destroyed old order, and the new order.
Concept board. Lingerie as "a beautiful torture device". Restraint appears as a poisoned environment of drooping vines; the old order is destroyed, leaving empty space; a peaceful new order is yet to take form. Visual keywords include repression, dynamic movement, unconventional framing, spatial integration, and gray machinery.

Scene breakdown

The central scene is built as a single structure that breaks apart: an image of an order collapsing and being rebuilt.

Exploded gray 3D model of a cylindrical palace surrounded by floating mirror shards, with labels.
Exploded view. The palace stands for an old, undefined order; the mechanical structure for an order that is solid and steeped in history. The core is the internal hub of the whole system, and the pillar symbolizes a state of inner order. Huge shards of shattered mirror play out the chaos, while a floating bell adds a note of serene fantasy against it.

Animation production

The models were imported into Unreal Engine 5 as FBX files, then lit and animated. Ambient lighting and color grading were unified across the three scenes, and materials were replaced to suit each stage.

Render of the core structure lit in cold blue, surrounded by angular shards.
Ambient lighting adjustment.
Render of translucent frosted-glass panels around the core.
Material replacement.
A grid of material previews for glass and metal shaders in Unreal Engine.
Glass and metal materials.
Screenshot of the Unreal Engine 5 editor with the animation sequencer open.
Animating in the Unreal Engine 5 sequencer.

Storyboard

The film moves from beginning, through process, to an ending, with sound cues written into the storyboard.

First row of storyboard frames, from the title card through the bound figure, close-ups, and the "Collapse" chapter.
Part one. Title card; the bound figure, with the sound of water drops and metal; details of bruises and bloodstains on the body; the "Collapse" chapter; distant eye-level and top-down views.
Second row of storyboard frames, from the running core through the "Reconfiguration" chapter to the closing titles.
Part two. The undefined core running, to the sound of rolling rock and underwater ambience; the "Reconfiguration" chapter; gear rotation and details of the processor at the base; closing titles.

Garment model

The bound figure rendered in silver and red against a white background.
The figure and its binding apparatus, modeled in 3D.

Stills

A glowing sphere inside concentric perforated metal rings, in black and white.
The bound figure suspended among dark mechanical structures and points of light.
A transparent cylindrical chamber containing a small figure, in silver light.
A bright circular mechanism surrounded by blue shards and clouds.
The core structure seen from below through shattered blue panels.