#project 01

Project 01 — Book Trailer — Final

For Project 1, I chose to create a book trailer for Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (1980). In his book, Carl Sagan describes many complicated topics in astronomy, simplifying the concepts so it can be more easily understood. Through the success of this book and its accompanying documentary series, Sagan brings science into the mainstream. 

Design Statement

For my book trailer, I aimed to capture and highlight the sense of wonder and fascination, and also the philosophical ideas that Sagan expressed in his book. To achieve this, I wanted the visuals to be unconventional and unique, and this was done through a “motion collage” approach. Furthermore, the slow animations made the piece feel surreal and dream-like — combined with the calming audio and Sagan’s unique way of narrating, the overall piece becomes moody and atmospheric.

I divided the piece into sections, each a different “collage in motion.” Each collage was composed based on the narration and music. Animations are slow to emulate the feel of “floating in space.”

Colour-wise, I am aware that this is an unconventional scheme for a space-themed animation. I was, however, inspired to base the colour scheme on The Average Colour of the Universe, Cosmic Latte. Combined with my collage approach and the light-hearted mood of the video, I believe the colour palette is effective.

I also paid particular attention to the audio. The audio drives the overall trailer and was just as important in delivering the intended mood. The use of a calm piano piece with Sagan’s philosophical and colourful narration further enhanced the fascinating nature of Sagan’s main idea. While the voice over was taken from an already-old recording of the show, I added reverb to his voice to emphasize the far-awayness of Sagan’s voice — the fact that he is speaking from the past into the future.

Overall, these visual and auditory considerations were successful in expressing my intended message, and would surely entice the audience enough to read Carl Sagan’s amazing book.

Audio Credits

Narration / voice over are excerpts from Episode 1 of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" (1980)

Background music: Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47 (Frédéric Chopin), performed by Alfred Cortot (1933)

Visual Credits

NASA on The Commons