In this project I was tasked with creating a motion graphic based on an African poem, the poem can be in any language, so long as the author is of an African origin, this ranging from South Africa all the way to Egypt. My project is focused around the idea of creating a 3D space in which the poem plays off, in other words, I created a 3D world with different elements from the poem inside of it, illustrating the poem in a visual way.

The poem that I chose is called; "Lake morning in autumn", by Douglas Livingstone, the poem explores a certain natural scene, focusing on a stork. The bird is initially at rest, perhaps exhausted by its long migration from the Northern hemisphere. It is alone, the first of its kind to arrive. It also seems to be thoughtful, perhaps reflecting on its long journey. Then, as dawn breaks, it climbs slowly into the sky returning to its long journey.

The poem is focused on the idea of wonder, and what the poet experiences while looking at this stork, captured in a moment of time, where it feels as if the world is moving in slow motion.

My concept was to create a 3D sphere with mountains, trees, a small river, the sun and the stork inside of it. The motivation behind the 3D sphere is to create a lost world, drifting is space, almost out of place, attracting the attention of the viewer and emphasizing the idea of wonder and mysterious power. All of these elements, with the camera, are all animated to create the motion part of this project. I added northern lights to help aid in creating the feeling of wonder and “magic”. The style is based on a low poly design style using an autumn color palette of different browns, blues, yellow and green to emphasize and support the idea of autumn. The low poly style is inspired through the idea of minimalism and telling a story using as little detail as possible and aids in creating a smooth clean look and feel which is calming and helps emphasize that emotion in the motion graphic. The main actors are the sun and the stork, and through out the poem the camera always comes back to the two of them, placing emphasis on them.

My color palette and animation style is inspired by a low poly design style using a combination of basic shapes, complementary colors and a noisy texture to create my visuals. I decided on 3D as this is what I enjoy creating the most and I understand how it works, my end goal for the year is also to create a 3D portfolio featuring as many 3D projects as possible, with the intention of attracting the attention of a professional 3D production company.