Eutropia
year
type
software
2024
2D
After Effects, Photoshop
Invisible Cities
An interpretation of the city of Eutropia as depicted from the book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. The book is framed as a fictional conversation between the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, as he details the different cities he has visited. Each city is a commentary on time, life, memory, and the overall human experience.
Eutropia is not one city but all these cities,
Only one inhabited at a time, the others are empty,
When inhabitants can no longer bear life,
the whole citizenry decides to move to the next city,
Inhabitants repeat the same scenes, with actors changed,
Among the empire, Eutropia remains the same,
Eutropia.
Thought Process
01 The Idea
Scenario: The citizens of Eutropia are stuck in a rut. They seek change, make changes to their life, but don't change on the inside, keeping their lives stagnant and unfulfilled.
Moral: Focus on internal change of self because that joy will last longer than relying on change of external situations.
To convey the scenario and moral, a flower vase symbolizes Eutropia, with the flower representing its people–an apt metaphor for city's restless pursuit of renewal and identify.
03 Compositional Rationale
"Eutropia is not one, but all these cities"
The repeating pattern of vases creates a structured complexity that mirrors the intricate nature of Eutropia. The enclosed composition, with vases confined at all sides, evokes a sense of entrapment–reflecting how the city's citizens are bound by their own cyclical way of thinking.
02 Word to Picture
"Eutropia is not one, but all these cities"
A flower vase symbolizes Eutropia, with the flowers representing its people. The shot begins with a single vase filled with flowers, then pans down to reveal multiple empty vases–visually expressing that Eutropia is not one, but many.
03 Design Rationale
"Eutropia is not one, but all these cities"
The citizens seek change, make changes, but don't really change on the inside. While this keeps their lives structures, it also keeps it stagnant. Using a grid to convey this along with a sense of figure ground with the little people throughout the animation. The citizens are empty on the inside even though they go places. A moving paper texture is used in large empty, graphic spaces to highlight that it is empty.
Styleframes
