Motion Design: Trajectory
COORD: Arnolfini / Bower Ashton Library / Strange Brew / home
Our next task was about to venture us into the world of motion design and storytelling through moving image and I finally felt like I was at home, more prepared to deal with whatever was thrown my way. I walked in with a bag of secret talent berries: my passion for film and animation ever since I was a young, two years of film and screenwriting studies in my undergrad and six years of learning how to do motion by creating fan edits of my favourite Korean artists.
influences and values; key discoveries and realisations; heroes or villains; foundations and aspirations. From this you will refine and create a one minute piece of motion design.
How could I fit all of my inspirations, values, hurdles, learnings—my entire creative journey in one minute? And though I already had some experience with motion walking into this, how would people doing this for the first time know where to start?
Thankfully, that’s what Orla Handley was there to help us with. During our introductory lecture together, we began chipping away at the idea of a trajectory and different motion concepts. Firstly, by thinking of the different movements that exist in our lives, personal, technical or intellectual:
Experimental. Exploratory. Existential.
But, once again, to create a trajectory I had to first define it for myself. The definition we were given is as follows:
trajectory (n.)
def. a person’s path of development over time, shaped by choices, experiences, and circumstances. It encompasses past choices and future possibilities, structuring the arc of one’s life.
When reading this given definition of a trajectory for the first time, I was really concerned with how one (I) could structure ‘the arc of one’s (my) life’. In my mind, an arc defines a clear, linear, perfect progression. In comparison, the initial map of my own trajectory that I ended up sketching during our final workshop together couldn’t be farther from that truth.
Irrespective of format, be it a visual map or an itemised list of turning points, key milestones, inspirations, and influences, the trajectory of my life resembles more of a jumbled mess of different interests in a flying dance that diverges, converges and interacts over the course of two decades of consciousness. Nothing is ever linear, yet, everything seems to be interconnected into a self-defining constellation.
trajectory (n.)
def. the curved path an object follows after it is thrown or shot into the air, or of an object that is travelling through space
and, subsequently, the image of Mars rover Opportunity’s trajectory as it leaves Earth’s orbit and travels through space to our neighbouring red planet.
It’s not difficult to see why this film (slotted at least once a week in our one-of-a-kind Sony DVD player) played such a formative role in my childhood. Though my current fascination with space is reflective of the musings and power of understanding of a 24 year-old mind, Laura’s Star holds a special place in my heart for growing my love for space, alongside The Little Prince.
I have since written at least half a dozen stories centred around the theme of the cosmos and illustrated thrice as many. Stars, celestial and planetary bodies are a reocurring symbol in my design work as well, always finding ways to incorporate them in everything I create. When thinking about how I could portray my trajectory, it was clear that space needed to be involved.
That was the theme of my presentation for our second session, as well as the two creative directions I came up with.
I considered creating something like this, as it was already close to the style of many of my previous motion projects. However, I decided to challenge myself and try out something new.
I loved this project’s use of a limited colour palette and storytelling through simple outlines, lights and shadows. Despite being encouraged to explore kinetic typography for our projects as graphic designers, watching this prompted me to consider telling my story in a similar fashion.
Taking a similar approach to storytelling as Dishoom Glasgow’s promotional video, this project simplifies visuals even more. I was really inspired by its ability to create scenes and characters exclusively through geometry and colour, solidifying my intent to work through shapes.
[The writer will continue this chapter shortly.]