Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia's Sacred Mountain

Motion Design
2021
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Client: Cleveland Museum of Art
Team: Dome Collective
Role: Motion Designer

This exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, that showed from November 2021 through January 2022, incorporates motion graphics, film, interactive media and mixed reality to draw visitors into a special world of ancient Cambodian sculptures, both physical and digital.

Immersive Timeline

I was tasked in designing, animating, and compositing an 8 screen audio visual immersive timeline called “Gods of Phnom Da: Global Journeys,” that traces the discovery and journey of the eight gods of Phnom Da. This roughly 5-minute visual timeline includes archival photos, video and photo documentation, digital map, timeline, subtitles, and audio narration.

I worked closely with creative directors at Dome and CMA curators to best communicate a very content heavy narrative. Motion became the guiding hand, and conclusion to the show, to help viewers not only understand their journey throughout the exhibition but also through the timeline of historical events.

Process

Initial iterations of the Immersive Timeline were developed as motion tests and spatial mockups. To explore the visual clarity and pacing of the film, we tested small details and how they were incorporated into the larger narrative context. These tests, while many were not included in the final, informed the motion system we developed for the final video.

Working Setup

Map Styling Tests

Image & Text Tests

HoloLens Experience

A HoloLens mixed-reality experience was also included in the show. Developed in partnership with Interactive Commons, it guides visitors through a complex story of the discovery, provenance, and restoration of the Krishna sculpture using augmented holograms, soundscapes, and narrated film.

Process

I also mocked up and prototyped elements of the Immersive Hololens experience. Motion remained simple in order to accommodate a very novel experience and technology for museum visitors, but was crucial in guiding the viewer throughout the narrative and physical space. This is where I created iterations of different paths and signifiers in 3D space to lead the viewer from station to station.