This animation is based of a poem from the Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda. The poem reads:
Is the yellow of the forest the same as last year’s?
And does the black flight of the relentless seabird repeat itself?
And is where space ends called death or infinity?
What weighs more heavily on the belt, sadness or memories?
I chose to keep a small colour palette for this animation, so that the focus is mostly on the words and the various effects I have applied on them. The feel of the poem is very introspective and has a hint of sadness to it, which is why I chose to emphasize of each word rather than sentences as a whole. This allows for greater impact with each word, and gives time to reflect rather than just read something without absorbing it.
I added some visual elements for interest, like the forest and seabird. I chose the albatross to represent the seabird as it reminds me of another poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in which the albatross is mentioned as a sign of guilt and regret, which I thought fits in well with the theme of this poem.
