(exercises) C O M P O S I T I N G A N D S P E C I A L E F F E C T S
Aug 28 '18 - Sept 10 '18 (W1 - W3)
Jaslyn Tjhai (0333039)
Compositing and Special Effects
Exercises
W E E K 1
August 28 2018
On the first week of class, Mr. Kannan briefed us on what we are going to do for this module. Below is the module outline.
Mr. Kannan then showed us some examples by our senior and also his expectation towards use based on what we wanted to achieve for ourselves. We then have a discussion on how to create a good Title Sequence which is related to our first project. We were divided into two groups where each of us look for 3 movie or TV series's title sequence and explain what we think about each one also what makes it good. Below are all the videos that both groups presented on.
Both our groups discussed and came up with the conclusion that in order to make a good title sequence, it has to fulfill these requirements:
- Good tempo
- Clear and strong concept
- Good and suitable choice of color scheme
- Shows glimpse of the movie
- Good visual storytelling
- Good choice of typography
- Design elements should depend on the movie genre
- Duration should be around 1 minute
- Interactive animation that's engaging to the viewers
- SFX should be able to create suitable ambiance and reflects the movie genre
- Smooth transition and camera angles
Mr. Kannan then explained each elements that we have to take note on for out first project.
August 31 2018
There was no classes today as it's Malaysia's Independent's Day so Mr. Kannan posted a lot of articles and references, as well as tutorials for us to kick start our After Effects. We were asked to do an exercise based on the tutorial that he posted on Facebook. Here's what I came up with.
W E E K 2
September 3 2018
On the second week of class, Mr. Kannan introduced a few of the things that we will always use on After Effects, as well as a few tricks that we can use for our works in the future. He explained a few shortcuts as such:
- R - rotation
- S - scale
- P - position
- M - mask
- T - opacity
- A - anchor point/light attribute/camera attribute
- Ctrl + S - save
- Ctrl + Shift + S - save as
- E - efx's
- U - on/off applied keyframes
Mr. Kannan also explained about the steps on the replacement of object/graphic/video elements.
- Make sure you highlight your layer on timeline
- Also highlight the image on project window
- Hold + Alt drag and drop on the layer
Then Mr. Kannan showed us a video about the 12 principles of animation and he wanted us to use a box to make a video that shows that as an exercise.
After we got used to After Effects, we can start to think about our first project. We can either recreate a movie title sequence or make our own using those as references. The theme for it is Technological Impact. We were also asked to create moodboards and sketches for our first project where we can start to do the storyboard by next week.
September 7 2018
On the second class of the week, Mr. Kannan wanted us to update our blogs on the exercises that we did and he also showed us tips on creating a moodboard. These are what I learned in class from Mr. Kannan today.
Making mood board:
- Look for all the references and images that gives you inspiration
- Extract from all the references you are using
- Write a short description on what you wanted to use from the elements you find (style guides, colors, fonts, etc.)
After creating the moodboard, start working on thumbnails.
Thumbnails are basically ideation of how your composition is going to flow; sketches.
"Ideation process should not hold you back in terms of polishing"
Moving on from thumbnails would be storyboards, then animatics.
We also did a short exercise to try out the tools that we can use in After Effects where Mr. Kannan showed us trim paths, repeater, wiggle, etc.
We were also asked to do an exercise on kinetic typography so this is what I came did for the exercise.
W E E K 3
September 10 2018
No class was conducted today as it's a public holiday so Mr. Kannan shared a few tutorials on Facebook for us as exercises and wanted us to update on the progress of our project. Below are the exercises I did based on the tutorials.
W E E K 4
September 21 2018
On the fourth week of class, Mr. Kannan showed us some tutorials on what we can do with text and also puppet pin tool where we were ask to look for a picture online and try to make it 3D by moving the expression of the person.
Then we also had another exercise where we were asked to form a group of 3 and create a composition based on what we know using texts and basic shapes. Here's what my group came up with, where we divided each of our tasks.
After the exercise, Mr. Kannan explained that we should be planning together on what we wanted to do before we start doing the composition with no direction. Planning is a very important part of the process to ensure we don't waste any time. Then we were reminded a few things regarding our first project before he dismissed the class.
W E E K 5
September 24 2018
On the fifth week, each of us consulted Mr. Kannan for our work to show our progress. We didn't do any exercise in class on this day.
September 28 2018
We were introduced to matte painting on today's class where Mr. Kannan showed us some examples as well as a few tutorials. We were also introduced to vanishing points in Photoshop where we then bring the elements to After Effects. It was kind of challenging because everything was a mess once brought into After Effects and having to adjust the camera.
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