The starting point was a Next.js and Payload CMS foundation wearing a literal macOS desktop skin — wallpaper, dock, icons, window chrome. It behaved like software demoing itself, not like an archive of a director's actual work, and a generic template grid could never carry the specific rhythm of motion-forward, culturally fluent work.

The CMS, data model, and Next.js foundation stayed. Everything public-facing was rebuilt around a studied 'Marked Frequencies' direction, translated from two reference archives rather than copied from either: one fixed, centered project stage where image, atmosphere, title, and metadata morph in place, advanced by a single wheel notch or short touch gesture instead of an open carousel. A dashed white route and a hand-authored 15-frame walking glyph carry the sense of motion instead of a generic loader, and the app cuts between two surfaces — a dark 'room' for media routes and a light 'sheet' for reading — with no cross-fade between them.

Each layer has one job. Read it top to bottom — that's roughly the path a request takes through the system.

• Studying two reference archives for confidence and pacing, then translating rather than cloning, produces a stronger identity than either source alone.
• An authored motion signature — one specific glyph, one specific line — reads as intentional in a way a generic spinner or carousel never does.
• Building the reduced-motion and WebGL-failure paths alongside the primary experience, not after it, is what keeps the hierarchy legible when the flashy parts are off.