Week 10 – Week 14 | 28/11/23 – 26/12/23
Emily Soh Ching-Ling | 0359478
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Digital Photography & Imaging | Section 05 | GCD61204
Project 4 — Self-Titled
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 LECTURES
1.1 WEEK 10 — INTRODUCTION TO AFTER EFFECTS
WHAT IS AFTER EFFECTS:
- Adobe After Effects: A 2.5D animation software for animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing.
- Uses:
- Film, TV, web video creation.
- Used in the post-production phase.
- Allows the user to combine layers of videos and images in the same scene.
HOW TO USE AFTER EFFECTS:
- Photoshop is used for compositing layers.
- All layers should be arranged and renamed accordingly to make it easy to animate in After Effects.
2.0 INSTRUCTIONS
3.0 WEEKLY EXERCISES
3.1 AFTER EFFECTS EXERCISE
Instructions: Animate this composition in Adobe After Effects.
- Compositions Settings: 1080 px (width) × 1920 px (height)
- Duration: 15 seconds
- Render Output: .MOV / .MP4
- Upload the final outcome onto YouTube.
After Effects was harder than I thought. I attempted this exercise a few times before finally getting it to work how I wanted.
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| Figure 3.1-1: Process, Week 10 (04/12/23) |
Figure 3.1-2: After Effects Exercise (Final Submission), Week 10 (04/12/23)
4.0 PROJECT 4 — SELF-TITLED
Instructions: Create an animated video that showcases your abilities in Typography, IVN, and DPI.
- Typography: Use the custom font you've created.
- DPI: Incorporate a self-portrait.
- IVN: Weave a relative motive through the font and imagery.
4.1 IDEA DEVELOPMENT
4.1.1 BIOGRAPHY
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF.
- I'm Emily, otherwise known as CL. I'm a 19-year-old design student who enjoys daydreaming instead of living in reality.
WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?
- My passion is bringing to life the fantasy world in my head. Worldbuilding and creating have been constants in my life, and getting a degree in Creative Media Design was the first step to accomplishing this dream.
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM?
- I want to share this world of mine with others. I want them to see the wonder and touch their hearts. I want it to inspire people to create their own works of art.
HOW DO YOU WANT TO VISUALISE YOUR DREAM INTO AN ARTWORK?
- I'd like my artwork to showcase my creative vision and what I want to project onto the world. I want it to be colourful and full of light, like a prism.
4.1.2 ARTIST'S STATEMENT
TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK.
- My work represents my dream of showing people a world other than the one we live in.
WHAT IS THE CONCEPT BEHIND IT?
- The concept behind it is to provoke a sense of wonder and curiosity in the viewer by blowing open my mind and giving them a taste of what's inside.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU WANT TO SEND?
- That there is so much more the world has to offer if you dig deep enough.
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO / QUOTE?
- What is passion if not love for the world?
4.2 DESIGN DIRECTION
4.2.1 RESEARCH
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| Figure 4.2.1-1: Mood Board, Week 11 (08/12/23) |
4.2.2 SKETCHES
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| Figure 4.2.2-1: Sketches, Week 11 (10/12/23) |
Out of the bunch, Sketch #3 and #4 were my favourites because of how absurd they looked, and the creative potential. I chose Sketch #3 for my final artwork mainly because the roundness of the pot looks like a brain, and it fits the concept in my artist's statement (i.e. to show people my thoughts).
4.3 DIGITAL POSTER
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| Figure 4.3-1: Images — Before Editing, Week 12 (12/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-2: Images — After Editing, Week 12 (12/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-3: All Elements, Week 12 (13/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-4: After Adjustment Layers, Week 12 (14/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-5: With Overlay & Backlight, Week 12 (15/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-6: Shadow & Ripple Effect, Week 12 (16/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-7: Gradient, Week 12 (17/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-8: Creating Extra Assets (me lying down) for After Effects, Week 12 (17/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-9: Final Adjustments (Rearranging Layers + Increasing Contrast), Week 12 (17/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.3-10: PSYCHEDELIA — Digital Poster (Final Submission), Week 12 (17/12/23) |
4.4 EXECUTION & POST-PRODUCTION
Something I noticed when browsing through my seniors' attempts at this project is that many of them either 1. didn't sync the music to the animation, or 2. used music that didn't match the vibe of their poster, which admittedly annoyed me a bit because it felt less immersive.
For my own animation, I chose something synth-wave for my background music since it would compliment my cyberpunk-looking poster. The song I chose (Titanium by AlisiaBeats) starts off softer, then builds up to the climax. I tried my best to pace my animation with the music (i.e. soft music = gentler actions, loud music = bigger actions).
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| Figure 4.4-1: Importing PSD & MP3 Files into AE, Week 13 (22/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.4-2: Hand-Raising-Lid Motion, Week 13 (24/12/23) |
Animating the hand was the trickiest part so far. I wanted to make the motion look as natural as possible, so I took into consideration when the hand would rise and when it would dip, until I realised I used too many anchor points for each minute action which made the motion stiff and janky.😖
I reduced the anchor points from around eight to five and the animation became much smoother, thankfully.
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| Figure 4.4-3: Background Objects Flying Motion, Week 13 (24/12/24) |
From then onwards, it was relatively easier (and also repetitive) to animate since I was doing the same animation for five of the background objects.
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| Figure 4.4-4: Light Bursting Out Motion, Week 14 (26/12/23) |
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| Figure 4.4-5: Me-Popping-Up-&-Down Motion, Week 14 (28/12/23) |
I learned how to use Masks to create the appearing and the disappearing effects for the light (Figure 4.4-4) and for the transition between me lying down and me sitting up (Figure 4.4-5).
Figure 4.4-6: PSYCHEDELIA — Video (Testing), Week 14 (31/12/23)
I think the start and end of the video could use some transitions (it feels a bit abrupt). In the final video, I did a fade-in transition and flashing transition for the start and end.
Figure 4.4-7: PSYCHEDELIA — Video (Final Submission), Week 14 (31/12/23)
Link to YouTube video.
Psychedelia/ˌsʌɪkɪˈdiːlɪə/nounUnusually strong experiences of colour, sound, smell, taste, touch, and other mental effects such as feelings of deep understanding or imagining things that do not exist.
I decided to name my artwork PSYCHEDELIA. PSYCHEDELIA stands for the way I think and create. It's colourful, it's loud, it's overwhelming at times, and lastly: it is me. A peek into my brain, if you will.
5.0 REFLECTION
5.1 EXPERIENCE
Learning After Effects was... interesting, to say the least. I really struggled with it at first, mainly because the software looked so confusing compared to the other Adobe apps. It took some time to warm up to, but I think I can say I've mastered the basics, at least.
That aside, the freedom of self-expression felt great. It's nice to finally put myself out there, so to speak.
5.2 OBSERVATIONS
Something to note about After Effects is that it requires you to think in advance about the entire creative process. What do you want to animate, what assets do you need, which layers to group in Photoshop, how to arrange layers so that it makes sense, etc etc. While planning is something you still need to do when using other software, it's more apparent with After Effects because realising you forgot a certain asset while halfway through the animating process is excruciating.
It really forced me to actually use my brain and plan, as opposed to my usual method of "we'll make it work" and "we'll do it when we get there".
5.3 FINDINGS
Since I'm new to After Effects and haven't fully built muscle memory of it yet, I still need to jot down shortcuts and notes about the software... which I haven't done. Which meant I had nothing to refer to after the 3-week break between the After Effects Exercise and starting on my final video.😓
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