When Buck Hit Me-Part II: The Shift
IV. Stepping Into Motion
After that day, I made a decision.
I started learning After Effects seriously, not to finish homework, but to understand why that Buck piece felt so alive. My teacher had worked with Lark and collaborated with people from NotReal, so I started seeing glimpses of the professional world.
Cinema 4D felt overwhelming at the time, so I began with AE and visual design. But that Buck piece stayed in my chest like a song I couldn’t stop replaying.
When I applied to SVA, they asked:
“Why motion graphics?”
I answered with complete honesty:
“Because I once saw a title sequence that moved me more than anything I had seen.”
V. Rewatching the Piece With New Eyes
Years later, I revisited the title sequences, now as a designer.
Suddenly, the magic became understandable:
Color: deep reds and blues creating a subconscious world.
Textures: shapes with weight, softness, resistance.
Transitions: no cuts, only transformations.
Symbolism: surreal, psychological, mythic.
It wasn’t literal storytelling.
It was metaphoric storytelling.
Buck wasn’t animating a sequence, they were animating a state of mind.
VI. How It Changed Me Forever
That title sequence didn’t just inspire me.
It rewired me.
It taught me:
design can be emotion
transitions can be meaning
motion can be language
symbolism can be more powerful than dialogue
It shaped how I see motion design, how I build frames, and how I think about storytelling.
VII. Why I Still Return to It
To this day, I revisit Spectacle of the Unreal whenever I feel lost creatively.
Not for technique. Not for reference.
But to remember the exact moment I fell in love with motion
the moment it stopped being “animation”
and became a doorway.
Sometimes one piece doesn’t just impress you.
It chooses you.
And for me, that beginning was a single drop of water
falling into the unknown and showing me who I could become.
