Motion Graphics

I know we’ve done some simple, maybe a little bit boring, things to start out with, but it is all for a reason — this project specifically. Pick a piece of instrumental music. Using just solids, masks, and graphic shapes try to make something that looks like what the music sounds like. I'll post a couple pieces you can choose from if you don't have a preference or know what to use. Make what you consider to be a “Motion Graphic” with the skills we've learned so far. Make it something that you like.

Need to know to complete (more or less):
- Nesting
- Precomps
- Parenting
- Solid layers
- Masks
- Shape layers
- Simple transitions:
* wipes - radial and linear
* where to find more of these in AE and in Bridge
- Bringing in PSDs
- Bringing in AI files

We'll be going over this in class and in assigned demo the next couple weeks so you can make this happen

Where use of motion graphics is often seen today is in speculative videos to either show design ideas, quickly mockup user interfaces, or give us a lens into a possible future. We’ll look into how one can use AfterEffects and a few simple video skills to build our own examples of this. If you don’t know what to do, just pick an “app” or other device or tool and show us how that works…

This project is about combining video and graphics. It is also about telling some sort of narrative or design story. You don't have to create an app, but you should explain how something works, or imagine a scenario that suddenly is easy to recreate because of After Effects as a tool. Think of how you can use AE to make or show us something that would either take too long or be too complicated to actually make or create.

Need to know to complete (more or less):
Everything from earlier plus:
- Green screen stuff
- basic video stuff
- motion tracking
- mixing video layers with everything else

Using all the various tools and functions and techniques we’ve seen in the last few weeks (or will see) you’ll need to build an animation of text elements (keep it too as few other simple design elements as possible … I’d like to really see this as a typography exercise). I encourage you to find an existing project or idea that you can use for this.

The main requirements for this project are that you predominately use text. Animating song lyrics could be one option, playing with a poem that you like could be another, seeing how motion can be used to change the feel or flow of a novel another. My preference is that graphics, imagery, other video, etc. be used at a minimum and only for conceptually important instances.

Need to know to complete (more or less):
Everything from earlier plus:
- Cameras
- Dealing with 3D
- Text tools
- Test transistions
- Wiggle stuff
- better working with layers, layer effects, some track-matte stuff …

Based on what we’ve done so far, pick what you like, and do something great! Some of you might want to keep working on one of the other projects; some of you may want to do something new; some of you might want to work on Web stuff; and some 2nd years might be working on their thesis sites… We'll try to figure out a way to help everyone! We’ll probably split into smaller groups and meet at different times to make it easy to cover different topics and different interests for these last couple weeks.