We live in a busy world - there is so much stress from work, so much pressure online,
so many repressed emotions; one of the main reasons for all of this is the lack of time
to react or process any of our feelings or experiences. People always feel the need for
some sort of an escape from these daily problems and pressures from time to time. 
This feeling of wanting to escape, to get away, is known as escapism. One of the means
of escapism is music. Music acts as a medium of escapism as it articulates what and
how we are feeling in a given time and space.It helps us escape the stress and the
anhedonia we often come across in our daily life every now and then.

Understanding how music causes the feeling of escapism led me to further research on
the various methods in which music can help provide a means of a getaway. During my
research I came across the work of Alain de Botton, who launched The “Book of Life”.
This book provides an interesting philosophical insight on soothing through music and
places and environments. In chapter 5, ‘Calm: Serenity’, the author mentions that by
reflecting upon the art of soothing, we attend to how much we are missing out on. This
chapter really emphasizes the need to grow attentive and deeply invest into the missing
pieces of our essential nature. It is due to missing out on soothing that life seems to be
more difficult than it should be. These days rejection seems so bitter, social media is so
exhausting, uncertainty is so frightening and sleep feels so undeserved. However, there
are some substitutes or methods to soothe oneself and one of the methods is music.
Music exists to take us further away from the mundane, to transcend the regular and
perceive ourselves from a soaring height. We need the sound to help us fully articulate
our feelings and emotions, and an ever-lasting playlist that can regularly draw ourselves
back to our more hopeful, sensitive and resilient selves.

 

After understanding how music helps in soothing the soul, I looked into how one can
be soothed with visuals. Once again, referring to the Book of Life, there is an article
called the ‘Wisdom of Nature’, wherein the author writes about how nature and different
elements in nature have the tendency to calm us. The author notes that nature acts
as a reminder to all of us in relation to all the consolation and redemption available in
our environment. It is through the act of observing these natural elements, that we become
involved in noticing the separate, independent order of nature. We are struck by the
plentitude of existence and our tendency to observe is renewed, it provides an awakened
sensitivity to all the richness and complexity of life that, recently, was forgotten to appreciate. 

 

Through this project, my aim is to visually explore and communicate the idea of escapism
through music. With the help of these designed motion graphics, I aim to induce a feeling of
calmness and provide a medium to temporary getaway from the daily stress of life.