Hey @Claire. I don't have a lot of time right now to dig into everything here, but I wanted to offer you some quick advice about how to get the most out of these forums....
Keep it simple. Don't list a bunch of requirements ("it should start in the middle, then fan out, then have a spotlight, then an SVG appears, then it scales, pinned until finished..." - that's way too hard to follow). Just pick the very first thing and see if you can make that work. If you get stuck, only post a question focused on that one thing, like "how do I trigger the pinning when the SVG is in the center of the viewport?" Keep your CodePen focused only on that one piece. Then once that's answered, move on to your next question.
Baby steps
Again, don't list out all your problems (the list of requirements that you're having trouble with). You'll get a lot more people willing to help you if you show a willingness to keep things simple and clear for them.
And definitely keep your questions focused on GSAP-specific things (like the API) rather than general logic stuff (if possible).
Good luck with your project. π