A Soul, Geologically
Mental Wellness, Literature
Purpose
Exploring the visual metaphor of the poem, A Soul, Geologically by Margaret Atwood.
A part of the MOME 105 Principles of Motion Media Design
Responsibilities
Designer Researched, conceptualized, and maintain the cohesiveness of the piece. Creating assets for the design after finalizing the design frames.
Storyboard Artist Created the storyboard, design frames, and design board of the piece.
Sound Designer Voiced-over the poem and created the track for the piece.
Animator Synchronized the soundtrack with the visual. Problem solving movements and scene transitions of the design board. Utilized software to animate or recreate the assets according to the need of the piece.
Duration
5 weeks
Tool
Textual analysis
Free writing
Secondary Research
Traditional Sketches
Digital Collage
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe After Effect
Key Takeaways
Textual comprehension and visualization: A Soul, Geologically was a piece I received during the IB oral analysis exam, 3 months after I started studying English literature and it was the first D I received. I gained a better understanding of it 3 years after I revisit the piece and recently lost family members. Exploring two ways to visualize this poem in a less literal approach was a personal experience and I wish I can help others cope with their lost.
Motion design project management: The process of motion design requires lots of organization and efficiency to complete the project, especially within the limited amount of time. The key is to stay organized with the files and time schedule.
Thinking in motion: Motion design includes design, animation, and cinematography techniques, as the space is not limited by the frame and there is also the interaction of sound to consider.
A Poem, Interpreted
Coping with loss
The theme of the poem is written similar to a soliloquy to cope with the loss of the reader’s loved one. The motion media utilizes the collage technique to visualize the jumble of memory shards that is altered by the individual's perspective.
The poem is written as a part of the Procedures of Underground by Margaret Atwood, which explores
the human psyche. In this specific poem, the author utilized the lexical field of geology to create a visual imagery of soul transition after a human has passed away. The assonance indicates the soothing tone as the reader makes peace with the death of the love one. As the memory of the person engraved into one another, with or without the physical representation, the existence of the dead remains in other forms
Visual Exploration
Recollection of memory
Playing with the human psyche and fragmented memory, dada, collage, and mosaic are the styles I find supportive to the concept. I also include Demon Seated by Mikhail Vrubel into the inspiration list as it conveys the sense of lost and longing from the person who is left behind. I'd like to give closer to the people who is facing this experience.
My mood board reflects the essence of peace and tranquility as the living rebirth the dead in their memory and moves on with their lives.
Finding The Frames
They say you can never go wrong with collage, is it true though?
After hours of collecting assets, I came back to the poem to re-arranging my thought visually on the board according to the poem. I also revisited my earlier illustrative interpretation of the poem for a better understanding of the text. Working with paper texture as it is a soft and gentle material with the intertextuality to letters and notes, I decided to utilize the texture to drive the piece.
After getting the storyboard, I further explore the style frames and color correct them for more cohesiveness. Old photographs usually lose their saturation, to be more precise, the lost their red hues and maintain the blues, which is my approach in this process.
You can find my illustrative interpretation piece of the same poem in the Playground section!
Animating The Piece
Finalizing the design
I divided the poem into 14 parts and created 14 frames to represents each scenes for the design board. I then continue working on synchronizing the track with the camera movement, the basic movement in the animatic board. Smaller details are added on as the process proceed. I explored the effect options on the software for a more dynamic typographic movement, but with the limitation of the texturized type, I have to animate each character individually. It was a time-consuming process, but it paid off in the end.
