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MOTION GRAPHICS & COMPOSITING | PROJECT 4 — ABSTRACT MOTION



Week 11– Week 14 | 07/01/25 – 25/07/25
Emily Soh Ching-Ling | 0359478
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Motion Graphics & Compositing | Section 01 | DST60704
Project 4 — Abstract Motion

TABLE OF CONTENTS 


1.0 INSTRUCTIONS 


2.0 PROJECT 4 — ABSTRACT MOTION 

Instructions: 
  1. Create a strongly themed abstract motion graphics video.
  2. Medium: 2D, 3D, mixed media, or any experimental visual output.
  3. Requirements:
    1. Size Resolution: 1920 × 1080.
    2. Frame Rate: 25 fps.
    3. Format: .mp4, H.264, 48kHz.
    4. Duration: 30–60 seconds.
    5. ☑ Upload to YouTube.

2.1 RESEARCH

Ideation

Right off the bat, I knew I wanted to do something retro in the style of paper collage stop-motions. I figured an old-school audio would fit well with my theme, so that was where my research began.

Idea #1 — Small Acts of Kindness

Figure 2.1-1: "Loneliness has followed me my whole life", Week 12 (08/07/25)

I have never watched Taxi Driver (1976) before, so I'm not too familiar with the context of this particular scene. However, this quote stood out to me during research. 

Loneliness and isolation are prevalent issues in this era, as people struggle to form meaningful connections with others. If I were to use this audio, the message of the video would be how small gestures of kindness can change a person's life.

Idea #2 — Digital Child Neglect

Figure 2.1-1: "It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?", Week 12 (08/07/25)

"It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?" was an American TV public service announcement popularised in the 70s, reminding parents to check on their kids as children of that time were frequently unsupervised. 

Nowadays, parents are more mindful of their children's physical safety, but it got me thinking about online safety, considering how many parents are unaware of their children's digital footprint and internet usage. 

Proposal

Figure 2.1-2: Proposal, Week 12 (08/07/25)

I have ultimately chosen Idea #2 for this project. The topic resonated with me for personal reasons, and I like the juxtaposition of having a retro theme with a modern message.

2.2 PRE-PRODUCTION

Thumbnails, Storyboard & Animatic

Figure 2.2-1: Thumbnails, Week 13 (14/07/25)

Figure 2.2-2: Storyboard, Week 13 (16/07/25)

Figure 2.2-3: Animatic, Week 14 (23/07/25)

Mock-Ups

Figure 2.2-4: Mock-Ups — Before VS After, Week 14 (24/07/25)

Figure 2.2-5: Loop, Week 14 (24/07/25)

To get a general idea of the positioning and final look, I made scene mock-ups in Canva. I realised the solid colour background looked plain and not "messy" enough when compared to the other assets. 

To remedy this, I replaced the background with a paper texture loop, which took a ridiculously long time to figure out (using this tutorial).

2.3 PRODUCTION

Adobe Photoshop

Figure 2.3-1: Cleaning Up Images in Photoshop, Week 14 (22/07/25)

Figure 2.3-2: Edited Images, Week 14 (22/07/25)

I sourced all of my images from Freepik. They were then cleaned up and colour-matched in Photoshop.

Adobe After Effects

Figure 2.3-3: Wiggle Effect, Week 14 (23/07/25)

Something I noticed when watching my video references is that none of the static objects are truly static. They move very slightly to make the animation livelier. I added the wiggle effect to all paper assets. For assets that are simply "floating" there, I kept the wiggles per second lower, while more aggressive scenes (such as the "computer screaming into ear" scene) had more wiggles. 

Figure 2.3-4: Transition — Reference, Week 14 (23/07/25)

Figure 2.3-5: Transition — Before VS After, Week 14 (23/07/25)

While animating, I realised the slide-down transition looked too abrupt and didn't flow smoothly (i.e. the different-coloured backgrounds were clearly two separate items). Paper-tearing transitions (e.g. Figure 2.3-4: timestamp 0:14) seemed more natural for this style of animation; therefore, I changed it to the above transition to keep it stylistically on point. 

Audio

Figure 2.3-6: Voice Changer — 1st Row, 5th Icon, Week 14 (22/07/25)

Figure 2.3-7: Edited Audio, Week 14 (22/07/25)

All audio files were cleaned and processed in Adobe Audition. I put the narration through a voice changer to make it sound like it was coming out of an old TV. The final video and audio were then combined in Premiere Pro. 

2.4 FINAL SUBMISSION


Figure 2.4-1: Project 4 — Video (Final Submission), Week 14 (27/07/25)

Figure 2.4-2: Project 4 — Compilation (Final Submission), Week 14 (27/07/25)

3.0 FEEDBACK 

3.1 WEEK 14

Specific Feedback:
  • Since your work is a PSA, you can link to an organisation related to digital child abuse as a CTA.
  • Good job, looking forward to the final product.

4.0 REFLECTION 

4.1 EXPERIENCE

I'm quite satisfied with how this turned out. I learned a few new motion graphics techniques during this process, particularly in the style of paper collage animation. After Effects used to be my most hated Adobe software; now I've become a lot more comfortable using AE.

4.2 OBSERVATIONS

Studying the style of animation you're emulating in detail is the key to saving time. I'm glad I made mock-ups beforehand; it saved me the trouble of using more brainpower during production. 

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