Design Field
Motion Design
Client
Studential Project
Year
2025
Tools
The Brief
As part of a motion design course, I was tasked with creating a title sequence for a book. The objective was to distill the essence of the book and develop visuals that effectively and engagingly convey its core themes. For this project, I selected American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. The book tells the story of Lydia, a bookstore owner from Acapulco, who escapes to the U.S. with her son after a drug cartel murders their family. It explores themes of immigration, identity, survival, and love as they travel on freight trains with other migrants seeking a better life.
The Concept
To show Lydia’s immigration journey through a freight train’s breakdown. Changing conditions, scratches on the cars, and an unexpected shift onto another track represent the struggles and trauma Lydia faces. At the end, only the lead car (Lydia) and an accompanying car (Luca) remain, disconnecting from the track as the train breaks through the Mexico-U.S. border.
