Animation & Motion Design
Marta Lewandowska
Off Track
Off track is an animated piece that portrays the everyday battles of someone
suffering with mental illness.
For our protagonist a simple train journey feels like a fight between an
imaginary foe and himself. This represents the anxiety many people face when
faced with even trivial everyday tasks, always feeling like you’re running from
something that’s out to hurt you. Said “foe” is personified as a black bird
swooping in along after the protagonist, a looming threat always around the
corner, only visible to his victim.
During a moment of clarity, away from the constant tracking of the bird, our
protagonist is given medication that help him find the strength to stand up to
the bird; at least for long enough to complete his train journey. This is the
point where the tone of the animation shifts to a story of the main character
standing up to his pursuer, confronting his problems.
The background music shifts and expresses the repetitive sombre tone mental
illness often casts on a persons experience of everyday life. The same piece of
music transforms into something more rough, unsettling and unstable once
the protagonist decided to take in medication mirroring the emotion of the
uncertainty and the shift in attitude a lot of people experience when first
accepting help with an invisible illness.