Motion Graphics Final Project Booklet for Karol Kozlowski MA Film - cinematography specialism 2014/2015
Idea, Aim & Concept
First idea for this animation came to my
to develop listening skills as well as helps to
head when I found on the internet multi-
concentrate on different levels of one song.
track masters for Bob Marley song “Is this
The very first concept of the animation was
love”. By that time I started to play around
simple. Basic shapes pulsing and changing
with mixing this song in Adobe Audition. I
colors in the rythym of music. After watch-
was able to separate each instrument as well
ing “An Optical Poem” by Oskar Fischinger
as vocals which was very inspiring for me.
decision was made that these shapes will be
I decided to make my own mix separating
circles. Each circle was going to appear when
the instruments and making them entering
the new instrument was entering in my mix.
the composition individually. The aim of this
After some tests I found it to be too simple
process was to make the listener aware of
and one day I woke up with more advanced
how many different instruments are playing
idea, to make this shapes form into some
in one song. This sophisticated mix allows
image by the end of my animation.
Inspiration
I started to search for some inspiration and visual references for my project. I saw many visual music videos. The screenshots are presented from the ones which were most inspiring for me.The number one were mentioned before Fischinger’s “Optical Poem” (1938) and John Whitney “Catalog”(1961), in which abstract shapes are converting to writings and the other way round. Next I decided that the final image created by the end of my animation will be Bob Marley himself. I started to search Google to find
Len Lye - Kaleidoscope (1935)
some nice photos and designs containing the king of reggae. I found plenty of interesting works of art. I decided to keep my final image in a painting-like style, which I think goes well together with the abstract forms from the begening of the animation.
Norman McLaren - Dots (1940)
Storyboard
1.
2.
3. 1. Single circle appear when we her the first instrument, it will be pulsing and changing its color with the music. 2-3. Next circles appear with next incoming instruments, their movement is equivalent
4.
5.
6.
to the first one and is based on the instrument they belong to. 4. When the music goes on single circles are spreading to multiple ones. 5-6. Finally spreaded circles are reaching the unwind position to reveal final image of Bob.
Making-of
Sound “Is this love� multitrack contained 23 tracks in total. I decided to mix it to 13 tracks, which is equivalent to 13 spreading circles in my animation. Some of the original tracks were removed from my final mix, some of them, like trumpet and sax got merged together. Sounds were mixed by changing volumes of particular tracks, which can be seen on the screenshot from Adobe Audition. The final output we 13 individual mono tracks and one master track.
Design Design of the final image was done in Adobe Illustrator. I traced selected Bob Marley’s photograph using the brush tool. I was painting just by clicks to create single circle shapes. The design had to be done on 13 separate layers, only one color could be assigned to each layer. Each layer was assigned to one music track. I had to also think about the order of the layers, they were going to appear one after the other and I wanted to start with simple shapes moving to more complex adding details with every new layer.
Animation Animation was done in After Effects. I had to
and “Expresions” were used to animate size
start animating from the end as I had my fi-
and color change of the circles. Next all 13
nal image done in Ilustrator. I exported eve-
compositions prepared in that way were put
ry single layer from Illustrator to multiple
together in the final composition, were an-
layers, having every circle on separate layers.
other position, scale and rotation changes
This layers sets were imported as a com-
were added. Due to the fact that so many
positions. The most expanded one have 767
Illustrator layers were used with “continu-
Illustrator layers. Animation of transition
ously rasterize” option turned on, it took
from one to multiple circles was done at-
around 8 hours to make the render.
first. Secondly, each composition was placed in another one together with appropriate music track. “Convert audio to keyframes”
Final result
click to watch on YouTube
Final statement
It was a pleasure to work on this project. It
me to Photoshop. Brush was perfect to do
In conclusion I would like to say this project,
involved a lot of creativity as well as techni-
this drawing, but it was not a vector and I
although seemed to me challenging in the
cal thinking. I had to plan very well every
needed to scale the layers. Next I moved to
very begining, was completed with the full
aspect of animation before statring to work
Illustrator. Drawing shapes were the same
success. It was also an invaluable chance to
on it. It was extemely important to be aware
time consuming as in After Effects. But the
improve my design and editing skills using
of what I am doing and how it will all work.
brush tool here was what I was looking for.
several different programs. I experimented
as a final result I had spend a lot of time
The sound as I stated before was prepared
with sound, did a vector painting and man-
on considering the best approach to my
in Adobe Audition. This booklet in being de-
aged to merge it into the animation.
idea. I wanted to make it effective, but also
sign in InDesign.This all makes a good exam-
spend on it reasonable time. I did several
ple that it is not enough to know just one
tests with shape layers in After Effects and it
program. Modern graphic design recquires
would take me ages to draw the final image
to be able to juggle between as many as
by using the shape layers. Another tests led
possible. My project is a great example of it.