After Effects | COMD 411 01 | Spring 2011: March 2011

Project #6: Video effects

Due Date: March 31, 2011

Animation:

Select 20 seconds of video footage (can be more than one clip) and use After Effects effects to make it unrecognizable. Use your creative judgement to make it an interesting abstract piece rather than a pile of heavy effects. Set it to a soundtrack of your choice.

Specs: 1280x720 @ 29.97 fps

Week 10: March 31, 2011

EFFECTS–PART 2

Effects categories and noteworthy effects (continued)

Time effects
CC Force Motion Blur
CC Time Blend/CC Time Blend FX
CC Wide Time
Echo
Posterize Time
Time Displacement
Time Warp

Simulation

Explore the entire group

Generate

Ramp
Fill
CC Light Burst
CC Light Rays
CC Light Sweep
Stroke (see the next section)

STROKE EFFECT

To simulate handwriting, always use the Stroke Effect, NOT the Write-On effect (Effects > Generate > Stroke)
Using the stroke effect:

Create a solid black layer (Layers > New > Solids)
Use the pen-tool to trace the shape you want to reveal. You don't have to close the mask path. If you do close the mask path, make sure to set the mask to "none".
Create more masks for better timing control
Add Stroke effect to the layer
In the "Path" pulldown , chose a mask (you must create a new stroke effect for every mask you have)
Adjust stroke effect settings:

color: always make it white
brush size: make it slightly thicker than the shape you are revealing but not thick enough to reveal undesired parts of the shape out of order
paint style: on original image

Animate by changing the values of "Start" or "End"

If you are animating multiple Stroke effects, set keyframes to the first one and duplicate (Command + D) in the "Effect Controls" window and change the "path" of each to correspond with the desired mask. When you duplicate a stroke effect, the keys are also duplicated.

TUTORIALS:
Stroke Effect:

http://layersmagazine.com/animated-handwriting-in-after-effects.html

Inspiration 03.17.11: Effects

PIC Agency: “Push” title sequence
http://vimeo.com/14434360

Ghost Town Media: Linkin Park music video
http://www.motiongraphics.it/2010/11/linkin-park-waiting-for-the-end/

Sarofsky: The Killing title sequence
http://www.sarofsky.com/#killing

Click3X (http://www.click3x.com/): music video for Solange's "I Decided"
http://www.click3x.com/#/our_work/music_videos/i_decided

Week 9: March 24, 2011

TRACK MATTES REVIEW

EFFECTS (PART 1)

To apply an effect to a layer, select the layer and go to Effects > "category" > "effect name"
Adjust your effect in the "Effect Controls" window (by default appears on the left side next to the "Project" window).
When you apply an effect, keep in mind that you can set keyframes to any effect control that has a "stop watch" symbol next to it.
Effect categories and noteworthy effects:

Color Correction
Blur and Sharpen

Gaussian Blur: use for general blurring
Unsharpen Mask: use to sharpen your image. For best results, create a luminance mask and apply sharpening to highlights only:

duplicate the image/footage three times
leave the bottom layer as is
set the layer second from the bottom on "Luma Matte" setting (the top layer will be used as the mask)
apply "Unsharpen Mask" to the layer second from the bottom. Thanks to the Luma Matte mask, the sharpening will only be visible in the lighter spots.
Control the amount of sharpened highlights visible by applying "Curves" or "Levels" to the top (mask) layer and darkening/lightening it.

Stylize

Glow

Distort

Mesh Warp/Liquify: use for precise distortion of images/video over time
Offset: use to create an illusion of a very long, seamless moving texture
Optics Compensation: use it to create an illusion of 3d space/fish-eye lens effect

Transition

Linear Wipe: use as a more visually creative substitute to fade an image/footage on or off. Make sure to have the feathering set at a high value.
Gradient Wipe: use to fade an image/footage on or off based on the luminance values of itself or another layer in the comp (specify the luminance reference layer in the "Gradient Layer" pulldown.

Week 8: March 10, 2011

TRACK MASKS

alpha matte

create a mask based on the top layer's transparency

luma matte

create a mask based on the top layer's luminance (black and white values)

track mattes and nested comps

USING ORGANIC ELEMENTS

building a track mask transition using Ink or Smoke footage

luma matte vs alpha matte
use Curves or Levels (Effects > Color Correction > ...) to force perfect blacks/whites for luma-mattes
use Solid layers (Layer > New > Solid) to force full-frame black or white color (for luma mattes) or 100% matte opacity (for alpha mattes)

paint spatter

TUTORIALS:

Simple Track Mattes:

http://macdesignpro.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=33209

http://vimeo.com/20941657

Ink Bleedng Effect in After Effects (creating a Luma Matte mask):

http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/ink-bleeding-effect-in-after-effects-like-gnarls/

Splatter Effect:

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/fun_with_ink/

Inspiration 03.10.11: Blending Modes

Johannes Nyholm: Dreams from the Woods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yedD4JsZyT0&feature=related
* This is a traditional puppet piece that can serve as inspiration for the look and feel blending modes will help you achieve.

Inspiration 03.10.11: Mixed Media

Emanuel Cohen (Universite du Quebec a Montreal): “A Bout De Mots”

http://vimeo.com/14434960*AE + negative scans

Andrew S Allen (www.andrewsallen.com): The Thomas Beale Cipherhttp://vimeo.com/19115071

Fran and Will Krause: Dog in a Burning Building
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYjli42Rxwk

Edouard Sallier: The Replicants "User"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOaLA0vAPUU

Week 7: March 03, 2011

TYPOGRAPHY: PART 3

text animators (continued)
advanced settings

based on
shape
randomize order/random seed

text animator presets

"Effects and Presets" window > Brows Presets (dropdown menu)

BLENDING MODES

blending mode types
stencil/silhouette
blending modes within nested comps: collapse transformations

Inspiration 03.10.11: Ink

Danny Yount (Prologue Films): Sherlock Holmes title sequence
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/01/21/sherlock-holmes/

Troublemaker Studio: Machete title sequence
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/02/28/machete/
* scroll down for the making of cool masks.

Sehsucht: KHD Symphony in Red
http://vimeo.com/12259774

Christopher Hewitt
Reading Nature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ZhNsGrhiI&feature=related
Laika: http://digup.tv/?rub=galerie&item=49&lang=en

Project #5: Animated Song Lyrics

Due date: March 10, 2011

Animation:
Choose 20 seconds of a song and animate the lyrics. Make your type reflect the meaning of the words.

Use both the manual and the text animator techniques. DO NOT use a text animation preset unless you modify it beyond recognition.

Specs:
- 20 seconds
- 1280 x 720 @ 29.97 fps
- h264 or mpeg4 compression; DO NOT hand in animation compression files: they are too big for me to upload.

Student Work: Project #4

A Ten Letter Word

Theo B: http://vimeo.com/20355274
Anna F: http://vimeo.com/20355183
Makenzie J: http://vimeo.com/20357879
Eunice J: http://vimeo.com/20610704
Chris P: http://vimeo.com/20355089
Sarah S: http://vimeo.com/20355224
Christiana T: http://vimeo.com/20355108

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