A simple way to start thinking about motion is through a gif, a short animated image that is controlled through individual frames. Using something interesting that happened over your summer break as inspiration, make a 15 to 30 frame, looping gif.
Choose a word and create an animation that reinforces the word's meaning. Do this for a total of 3 words. You can come up with your own word or use any of the words below. The file does not have to loop seamlessly but can if it makes sense. Use Futura Bold for setting your words.
Once you have your three different words, pick three of the four methods of creating your animations below. Your final output should be three different animations that are around 1 second each. Each animation should be a different word and use a different method of creation.
A flip book is more or less a physical gif. Images are placed in a sequence that allows a user to flip through them and create motion from still frames. A flip book is also like a stacked storyboard. Instead of the frames being shown in side by side sequence they are stacked on top of each other. If we took apart a finished flip book we would have a pretty good storyboard.
On the first page of the flip book draw a circle. On the last page of the flip book draw another circle. The circles could be the same size and in the same place or different sizes in different places. Now create a narrative between that connects those two circles by drawing on the pages in between.
We will look at these in class and then display them in the hall for a week.
Make a 15 second animation using the layered Illustrator file on Blackboard and some kind of audio. The animation should be 15 seconds long and uploaded to the Vimeo group when you are done.
Find a short bit of spoken audio. The audio could be from a movie, tv show, speech, etc. but should not have much background noise. Make a short animation that has the words come on and off screen timed to the audio track.
Make a realistic ball bounce around the screen. The ball should pretend to exist somewhat as a real object and use the sides of the frame as walls. The ball should bounce or interact with those walls at least once on each side. Motions and physics can be exaggerated.
Make three different text animations using text animators. Write the properties you are animating for each word somewhere on the screen. If you are animating multiple properties, make sure you list them all. Work at 1920x1080 and upload the final video to Vimeo labeled E6 - (class time).
Recreate a Joseph Müller-Brockmann poster (download some images here) as accurately as you can in Illustrator (1080x1920) and then animate it in After Effects. The posters are generally in German so you might not be able to read all the content but I would try to find out what kind of event the poster is promoting. Knowing the event might influence the motion of the poster. Your animation should enhance and bring the poster to life. Try to only animate existing pieces of the poster and not bring in additional forms.
Make a short video that animates an existing, relatively well-known logo. The video should help explain the meaning of the logo. For example, you could pick the Target logo and your video would somehow emphasize that the logo is a target. The choice of logo is up to you but the colors, logo, and type should all remain the same. You are not redesigning anything.
The video should be square at 1080x1080 and uploaded to Vimeo when you are done.
Working with time most likely is a new dimension to consider. Before making things move, we want to make sure we have a plan for that movement. Pick a simple task and thoroughly document that task through photographs. Perform the same task multiple times taking photos from different angles and at different times. Now, translate that documentation into a storyboard and design concept boards for key frames. The storyboard will give you an idea of pacing and narrative while the concept boards will show the visual language of the finished sequence.
The fictional, final sequence would have a title slide with the name of the sequence, have around 5 to 15 seconds of action, and have ending credits. Your final deliverables will be a storyboard and at least five concept boards showing key frames (title, three frames from your sequence, and ending credits).
Each class you will create a video based on a design concept or principle. The first video will have no obstructions on it, only the time (15 seconds) and size (1080x1080) will be required. During the following classes we will impose a series of obstructions that you will respond to by remaking the original video. The goal is not to find ways to work around the obstructions but to find ways to use the obstructions. The end will be a series of four videos that should be visual different but all feel like a set based on their topic.
At the beginning of each class we will screen the videos and the top 3 videos in each category will get to choose a limitation for the next video.
Each individual video will be submitted through Blackboard before class and the final four videos will be combined into one video and uploaded to Vimeo on the last day. This video should have a title slide before each video listing the obstructions.
Design a moving poster for a future event that is happening on campus. The design must retain the formal elements of a poster, communicate using the traditional rhetoric of a poster, and must scale to fit the portrait format (1080x1920). The choice of movement should feel natural and not distract from the content of the poster. The movement should emphasize the message of the poster not confuse the message.
Design a title sequence for a book show of your choice. The book should not already be a movie. You will come up with the cast and crew on your own. The title sequence should be at minimum around one minute long.
Make at least a one minute video combining type and audio. Keep in mind that certain aspects of the audio can influence decisions you make while animating the type. Outside shapes, colors, and lines can be use but no pictures or videos. The video should have a title scene that includes the title for the audio and who made the audio. For example, a song would have a song title and artist name and a movie scene would have the movie title and characters involved.