Motion Graphics & Compositing / Project 1 / Technical and Motion Graphics Sensibilities

25.4.2024 - 16.5.2024 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Elysa Wee Qi En / 0355060 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Motion Graphics & Compositing
Project 1 / Technical and Motion Graphics Sensibilities

LECTURES 

Week 2 / Introduction to Motion Graphics

• It's like animated graphic design
• Motion graphics is a way to communicate with others
• They can present a message when paired with music, maybe commentary
• Can be used to share information (like through ads, branding), or for movie title sequences, for storytelling, explanations, spreading awareness etc.
• Basically animation with text

Week 3 / Elements of Composition in Art

Composition = The arrangement of visual elements

Unity: Creates harmony by using similar elements, connected by one value for example
Balance: Symmetrical feels more calm while asymmetrical feels more dynamic
Movement: Arrangement and position can givea sense of movement, or elements like a flowing river. 
Rhythm: Can lead the eyes to view the artwork at a certain pace
Focus/Emphasis: Eyes naturally want to land on the focus of a composition or viewer will feel lost 
Contrast: Strong, high contrast provides a different feel to light, minimal contrast

Fig. 1. Examples of the principles of design (9/5/2024)

Week 4 / Kinetic Typography

• Creating keyframes is important, the key point of learning After Effects
• Use Easy Ease keyframes, it's the most important part in motion graphics
• Adjust the graph to make the transition smooth
• Add motion blur for smooth animation
• Create separate 'parts' in separate compositions and piece it together afterward

INSTRUCTIONS

Fig. 2. Module Information Booklet

Week 2: Practical

For week 2, we were given an exercise to create compositions in Photoshop and then animate them in After Effects. We needed to make three compositions using only the elements that the lecturer gave us and then pick one to animate. 

Here are my compositions:

Fig. 3.1. Composition 1 (10/5/2024)

Fig. 3.2. Composition 2 (10/5/2024)

Fig. 3.3. Composition 3 (10/5/2024)

I thought that composition 1 was too cluttered so I ruled it out. And I decided to go with compositon 2 to animate, as I felt that it had more things to animate than the third composition.

Here is my 15 second animation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLYZs7iKBSQ&ab_channel=E.W

Fig. 3.4. Week 2 Practical Animation (11/5/2024)

Week 5: Practical

For week 5's practical, we were assigned to do something similar to week 2. In the sense that we had to create another composition with provided elements (we were given a few more to choose from than week 2) and create a 5 to 16 second animation.

Here is the composition I created first in Photoshop:

Fig. 3.5. W5 Final composition (30/5/2024)

And here is the animation I created in After Effects:

Fig. 3.6. W5 Practical Animation (30/5/2024)

Project 1: Technical and Motion Graphics Sensibilities

For this project, we were given a project file with premade animations related to eight design principles. We had to remix and recreate these animations to convey the same principle, just in a different way. There are two parts to this project. 

The first part was simply to remix the eight animations. The design principles involved are movement, hierarchy, balance, direction, symmetry, focus, scale and rhythm. We had to then compile them using the preset provided by our lecturer and export it as an 8 second video. 

Fig. 4.1. Project 1 Composition Submission (23/5/2024)

The second half of the project is to use all these eight animations and combine them to create one 15 second animation. This is done by overlaying, replaying the animations, arranging them etc.

Fig. 4.2. Project 1 Composition Remix Submission (23/5/2024)

FEEDBACK

Week 3
General Feedback:
For W3 practical/Task 1:
- Work smart in your remixing
- To create a good animation, focus on part by part
- Part 2 is easy but focus on part 1 first

Week 5
General Feeback:
- Put music on Project 1

REFLECTIONS

Experiences
This was a good first introduction to the module, in my opinion. The workload is light, but it's not like it's useless work either. Then again, I already had experience with editing with keyframes, so I didn't need to learn that much. I only really needed to get more used to After Effects, since I normally use another app to edit, but overall this was good to help me gain more experience with After Effects. 

Observations
There can be many ways that such simple clips can be mixed and mashed to create a longer, visually interesting video. Also, there are many different ways that people can interpret the design principles. Despite being given the same principles and the same base project file, people came up with different ways to remix it and different ideas. It just shows that people think differently in creative, subjective situations. 

Findings
Because I was newer to After Effects, I was unfamiliar when I encountered some sort of bug. However, looking back at it now, I realise some things that became more difficult because I didn't know the tricks or I wasn't aware that something had gone wrong. It shows that even just a little bit of time, as long as there is experience, things can be learnt and people can improve at something.