Einstein's Dream
year
2024
type
Title Sequence
software
Illustrator, After Effects, Camera
the challenge
To use tactile, experimental process to produce a title sequence concept that adds to the meaning to a book that explores the meaning of time.
"Einstein's Dream"
A 1992 novel by Alan Lightman that imagines Albert Einstein having dreams about different concepts of time while working on his theory of relativity in 1905. In particular I chose to focus on the chapter, 14 April 1905.
In this chapter it compares time to a circle, thus the world repeats. People do not realize that they will live their lives over and over again. Not a single action can be changed. The idea of free will is questioned because it is inevitable that the same mistakes will happen again forever.
concept
A clock is ticking on the wall. Different moments of events that take place in the chapter play out, the window shadow and clock hands in the first scene remain in each frame and each frame aligns with a grid that divides the frame in three sections. The window shadow and clock subtly move.
Styleframes
Process
tactile to digital
The visuals were designed in Illustrator, with hand-painted textures applied in Photoshop. I shot live footage through a saran wrap-covered lens treated with Vaseline and glue to create a hazy filter, then composited and animated the sequence in After Effects using blending modes and layered footage.
so…why?
I found that using soft distortion and layered textures helps create a sense of dreamlike ambiguity that reflects the tone of "Einstein's Dream". Since the novel centers on dreams, it was essential for the design to evoke that same surreal, atmospheric quality.
