"Geranium"

"GERANIUM"

concrete poetry in motion graphic

Category: Animation, Textile Design, Motion Graphic

University: Politecnico di Milano
School: Communication Design Master degree
Course: Appliances and complex systems design studio
Professor: Dina Riccò, Gianluca Balzerano

Location: Milan, Italy
Year: 2014

Interpretation of the verbal-visual composition of concrete poetry titled "Geranium", year 1966, made by Mary Ellen Solt through an animation by using typography and b/n only.

Visual styling
As soon as I was assigned to this work (my first using Adobe After Effects), in addition to spontaneous visual association to the flower, I immediately thought of an explosion of fireworks, to the wheels and gears. A first idea of typographic animation was therefore to bring up gradually with successive explosions the different "wheels of letters."
Before proceeding to the creation of storyboards I wanted to read up on the author of this concrete poetry.
In analyzing the life of Mary Ellen Solt are aware of his training as a pianist. Based on this information I proceeded in search of a lively soundtrack composed exclusively with the piano.

The goal
Based solely on the sounds and rhythm of the piano music choice I developed the storyboard second by second.
The animation is a continuous explosion and rotation of letters in both bidimension that in three dimensions thanks camera movements more or less articulated.
The characters and objects within the composition were generated by reassembling the components that Mary Ellen Solt used to create the Geranium image, maintaining a gradual evolution marked the beginning of a few elements worked mostly on a 2D background, up to come to an end more complex and elaborate work in 3D.

Software: Adobe After Effects CC
Music: Piano cover of the video game "Final Fantasy 7" music: Gold Saucer Piano Version.