Motion Graphics Final Project Booklet

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.