๐
Week 01 - Week 06
Qistina Nuralya Maria Binti Azly / 0354180
Motion Graphics and Compositing / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
PROJECT 1: TECHNICAL AND MOTION GRAPHICS SENSIBILITIES
Table of contents (Jumplinks)
1. MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET (MIB)
Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6
3.1 Week 1 - Introduction to Motion Graphics
1. MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET (MIB)
This is the Module Information Booklet for this module:
2. LECTURES
Week 1
We were briefed about our module and the tasks ahead of us. Then Mr. Fauzi gave us a task to introduce us to motion graphics.
Week 2
Mr. Fauzi refreshed our minds about the principles of design and also After Effects by having us try animating simple motion graphics of said principles.
Week 3
We were essentially a week in advance of the Project which gave us an advantage in preparation of the different principle designs to be used for our final composition.
Week 4
Learned more about kinetic typography, which will help in the projects after Project 1.
Feedback:
- Try add more dynamic movement to the graphics
- Imagine the graphics moving to the beat of the music
Week 5
No classes as per the Deepavali holiday.
Week 6
Because of the road closures for the ASEAN Summit, most classes were held online including MGnC. We were introduced to "keying" which is a tool for whenever we use green screens. Mr. Fauzi also gave a brief introduction to our upcoming Project 2: Channel Bumper.
Mr. Fauzi planned for a replacement class for Week 5 to be on Thursday afternoon, but I unfortunately could not make it as I was helping man a booth at an event on campus (╥﹏╥) But of course, I read through Week 5's materials.
3. EXERCISES
3.1 Week 1 - Introduction to Motion Graphics
Task: List down 3 of your favourite Motion Graphics works and explain why you like it the most.
My first impression of this motion graphic was that it had a nice retro feel to it. In addition to the retro feel, the whole vibe felt like a pop-up ad you’d get while scrolling through the internet.
It has a simple “pop out” kind of movement but the stuttering of each line keeps it interesting to keep looking at. The colour palette is also very pleasing with the warm and popping orange hues with soft yellow accents.
Overall, I just really like any type of motion graphic that has “imperfect” or stuttering lines since it adds the slightest bit of motion to an otherwise probably static animation.
~~~
Fig 3.1.2 Motion Graphic #2 - Joy Division: Disorder (Source)
This motion graphic is simple yet it still managed to catch my eye. I thought it looked like a concert band poster with how the text was formatted and the choice of font as well. The subtle movement of the text and background gave a vintage feeling, like the frames were separate processed films compiled together, giving the “imperfect” alignment of each frame.
The main point being of course, the morphing technique the artist used for this motion graphic. The hand-drawn feel to it adds to the charm and interest of the whole subject. The morphing between each different quirky drawing is also timed well, given the theme of the graphic. The morphing is also extended to some of the typography as well like with the “Disorder” title.
Overall, I enjoyed the indie band vibe this gave off and how apparent it is that a person was behind the motion graphic with the homemade feel of it.
~~~
Fig 3.1.3 Motion Graphic #3 - Letters (Source)
This one in particular I was interested in because of the subject; Severance! I’m a big fan of the show so to suddenly see content of it in the wild pertaining to Motion Graphics was a pleasant sight. This graphic has more motion per se than the previous two and can very well be its standalone animated teaser for the show.
I was most intrigued by the flow of the papers flying through the wind and how you can see the “At the center of industry, there is dust” quote on some of the papers; albeit it’s a “blink and you miss it” kind of detail.
Overall, the mysterious nature of the motion graphic left me wanting to know more about the show or Lumon Industries and its mysteries. The sounds also add to its mystery effect.
4. PROJECT PROGRESSION
Task Requirements: Each student will explore and increase their technical proficiency and knowledge levels in the appropriate software individually but also with assistance of peers and facilitator. Based on the template given, study and re-create the animation. Animate your own animation based on the Principle of Form and Design.
4.1 Part 1 - Pre-comp
We were actually supposed to only do the first four principles initially but I was confused so I did all 8 in one go. It definitely took a long time but at least I now am a bit ahead of initial plans.
Balance
I started with Balance first because I had a few interesting ideas on how I could execute the "Balance" theme. I took inspiration from the original render Mr. Fauzi made with the teetering scale thing but added my own flare to it and make it seem like the ball on top of the "bowls" was trying to balance itself with each left-right sway.
It wasn't all too hard because I mainly had to adjust the anchor points and rotation.
Movement
For movement, I was a bit stumped so I took to Pinterest and found an inspiration for the design principle. It was basically a still image of lines leaning against each other creating the illusion of movement. So I then took that concept and applied it to my own render.
Hierarchy
I had a bit of a hard time for Hierarchy because I wanted to create something "original" but ended but being a bit stuck. I then sorta took inspiration with how newspapers align their text and images in blocks so the main design is something sort of like that. But then the main focus of the Hiearchy was that the moving lines would be the first thing then only the boxes.
I think I could've done better but I had to move on to the other design principles (˙◠˙)
Symmetry
For Symmetry, I wanted to play more with boxes so I tried to apply it for this render. I just made a simple symmetrical shape and made it rotate around like a carousel. I had an idea for the boxes in the corners to shrink and enlarge but I felt it would be a bit too much movement so I kept it simple.
Focus
I went with a "bullseye" kind of feel for Focus. I made it so the eye would first be focused on the quick moving ball then bam the bullseye appears. It's simple but I think i worked the principle correctly. The only thing I wished I did was looping it properly and smoothly.
Rhythm
I was listening to music when I was doing all the principle renders so when it came to Rhythm, I had the idea to make it like those typical equalizer bars you'd fine in 2000's music videos. I initially made mine right-side up but realised it'd be more interesting if I made it upside down.
Direction
For most of my principles so far, they haven't really taken the whole square space of the canvas so I decided to try mix things up with Direction and make it occupy the whole space. The idea was that the arrow going diagonally will "swipe" the lines into the direction it was going.
I had a hard time trying to time things so the transition wouldn't look too choppy but there are some parts where I'm not fully satisfied but it works nonetheless.
Scale
Since Scale was the last principle I worked on, my creative juices were run dry so all i could think of was just playing around with the curves of transitions and making it a simple "star slowly coming closer to the camera" idea. But as I went to do my Part 2, I remade it so that it'd look more polished and clean.
The idea for the reworks was a simple enlarge and shrink concept for the big circles and how the rectangles change shape according to the circles.
4.2 Part 2 - Composition
Since Part 2 needed us to pick a song or music to use for our base in the composition, I decided to go for the latest tune that's been stuck in my head and that is: Passing Out Pieces by Mac DeMarco.
I took the first 16 seconds of the songs since I wanted just the instrumentals and the rest of the song has vocals. I started by feeling out the 16 seconds of the song I chose. And imagining what each beat would look like with my graphics and how things would transition together.
P.S: It's gonna be a bit hard for me to describe really what I'm doing for each "shot" or progress since I mainly just relied on the "feel" of the whole composition rather than planning it out properly so please do bear with my descriptions (แต—แด—)
I chose to start the composition with Symmetry bouncing in flow to the left because it was what I could visualize for the first few beats. In hindsight, I definitely should've drawn out a plan for the composition but with the music beats, I felt it was more fun to flow my work with the song (winging it basically เดฆ്เดฆി ห͈̀꒳ห͈́ )✧ ).
I also added a second similar bounce/pop in Symmetry but now with where the previous Symmetry faded out.
Fig 4.2.2 Composition progress.
Next, I made the Symmetry get "dunked on" by Balance as both it and Hierarchy fall down into the composition. Here, a challenge I found was that Hierarchy wasn't looping properly so I did have to manually edit in a new Hierarchy in as the old one clips away.
Fig 4.2.3 Composition progress.
Then I had the plan of "Ooh what if the ball from Focus emerges from the ball from Balance and it knocks down Balance away?". This thought became a nice transition I made where the big bullseye of Focus could pop up and cover the whole screen before it slides up and reveals the next principles.
Fig 4.2.4 Composition progress.
As Focus goes away, Hierarchy slides in with Rhythm sliding in from the opposite way. I had similar issues before with the looping/conveyor belt effect so I resolved with just manually placing each new loop with the another of the same render.
Fig 4.2.5 Composition progress.
I then used the lines/rectangles from Rhythm and tried my best to transition it to Scale's rectangles where it'd quickly swoop in and take the whole composition space and mainly focus on the bigger circle of Scale. I had to rotate it also so that it felt more dynamic of a movement.
Fig 4.2.6 Composition progress.
From the same rotating motion, I made Balance reappear again by having the ball be at the center of when big circle in Scale when it came expanding out. So that also meant I matched its rotation to Scale.
Fig 4.2.7 Composition progress.
I made Balance then rotate 180 degrees and slid in 2 Directions and let them finish one transition before I made them fly up whilst rotating to give way to Movement.
Fig 4.2.8 Composition progress.
I then used Rhythm again to push aside Movement.
Fig 4.2.9 Composition progress.
Lastly, I die the Focus transition again but now the ball is coming from the Rhythm lines. At the end, the audio also slowly fades out to make a nicer loop to the very beginning of the composition.
For almost all of my renders, i used motion blur since I think it fit the vibe of the song a lot. I apologies again for my not-so-clear descriptions for my progress; however, you can properly see the fruit of it in 4.3.2 ◝(แตแแต)◜
4.3 Final Render
Final Part 1: Pre-Comp
Final Part 2: Composition
5. REFLECTION
I thought doing this Project would be easy since I've dabbled a bit in After Effects but I now know to never underestimate a Project's workload (╥﹏╥) I did of course have fun with Part 2 since I had creative free will to do whatever I wanted with the song I chose so figuring things out like timing was a un thing to do with my favourite song in the background.
The things I struggled most with was probably more on the technical side of things as to me, any Adobe software can be a bit overwhelming to learn for my brain so tools like preset transitions, which usually can be easily found, is harder on me because I'm not too coordinated with my memory (╥‸╥) But I powered through nonetheless with the help of the lectures and also some self-learning on YouTube!
Overall, I'd say I can see my current level of understanding of After Effects (for now I am satisfied with Project 1) but I know I can definitely improve more in the future especially with the upcoming Project 2 to which I've already found a teammate for. This Project was a nice exercise/warm up for things to come.
๐
Comments
Post a Comment