Creative Process Journal - Design Skills & Technology by Jing Lin

Design Skills & Technology Lee Jing Lin

17750

Assignment 1

Creative Process Journal

contents THE BRIEF TIMELINE RESEARCH FONT SELECTION CONCEPT COPY WRITING STORYBOARD ART DIRECTION REFERENCES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXECUTION CHALLENGES REFLECTION REDO

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01 - 04 05 - 06 07 - 12 13 - 19 20 - 22 23 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 35 36 - 36 37 - 37 38 - 43 44 - 46 47 - 47 48 - 48

the brief

the challenge Task

You are to create Kinetic Typographic movie using Adobe After Effects. You will tell a short story about a renowned type designer named Adrian Frutiger. You may choose any part of Adrian Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story to narrate, e.g. his works, his font creation, his biography etc. Plan and write out the story outline in a short write up that suits the duration needed. Choose only one of his popular fonts, Univers or Avenir and translate it into a kinetic typography animation.

THE BRIEF

KINETIC: (of a work of art) depending on movement for its effect TYPOGRAPHIC: arranging type to make written language legible 30 sec to 1 min

MOVIE: a motion picture

the challenge Considerations

•

Style of the animation

•

Art direction

•

Storyline copy writing

•

Story telling effectiveness

•

Interesting music and sound to make the moving infographic more engaging

•

Animation effects and style to suit the moving animation or theme or style

•

Music, voice over narration and sound effects to suit design and animation

THE BRIEF

the challenge Specifications & Requirements

THE BRIEF

•

Movie Composition Size is at HD 1280 x 720 with frame rate 30 or 29.97

•

Duration, minimum 30 sec, max 1 min

•

Only vector graphics from Illustrator and text created from After Effects are allowed

•

No jpeg or imported images Movie to be submitted in MP4 with H264 compression, and After Effects file (ae) and all its link

assessment Marking Criteria

•

Kinetic Typography movie will be assessed according to design skills, technical skills and effectiveness of the movie and story

•

Knowledge and Understanding Cognitive Skills Practical and Professional Skills Transferable Skills

• • • •

Continuous Assessment – 100% In-class Assignment 1 – (30%) Formative Feedback In-class Assignment 2 – (30%) Digital Folder + thumbdrive – (40%) Summative Feedback

THE BRIEF

timeline

timeline MON

TUES

TIMELINE

JANUARY 2016 WED

THURS

FRI

SAT

SUN

START CPJ

RESEARCH

PLAN TIMELINE

LOOK FOR QUOTES

COMPILE RESEARCH

STORYBOARD

WATCH EXAMPLES ONLINE

ART DIRECTION

BEGIN EXECUTION

timeline

TIMELINE

FEBRUARY 2016

MON

TUES

WED

THURS

FRI

SAT

SUN

EXECUTION

DO REFLECTIONS

PREPARE FILES

FINAL EDIT

SUBMISSION DAY

research

formative years

RESEARCH

Early Life

Adrian Frutiger was born on May 24, 1928 in Unterseen, Canton of Bern, the son of a weaver. His career spanned the hot metal, phototypesetting and digital typesetting eras. Until his death, he lived in Bremgarten bei Bern.

As a boy, he experimented with invented scripts and stylized handwriting in negative reaction to the formal, cursive penmanship then required by Swiss schools.

His father and his secondary school teachers encouraged him to pursue an apprenticeship rather than pure art. After initially planning to train as a pastry chef and a sculptor, Frutiger secured an apprenticeship as a typesetter at the Otto Schlaefli printing house in Interlaken.

growing up

RESEARCH

Personal Life

At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed for four years, as a compositor, to the printer Otto Schlaeffli in Interlaken, also taking classes in woodcuts and drawing at the Gewerbeschule in Bern under Walter Zerbe, followed by an employment as a compositor at Gebr.

Frutiger married Paulette FlĂźckiger in 1952, who died in 1954 after the birth of their son StĂŠphane. He remarried to the theologian Simone Bickel in 1955. With her he had two daughters, who both experienced mental health problems and committed suicide as adolescents.

Disappointed by the standard of mental health care at the time, Frutiger and his wife founded the Fondation Adrian et Simone Frutiger to fund psychology and neuroscience research and developments in mental health support.

career

RESEARCH

Working Life

Charles Peignot, of the Paris foundry Deberny Et Peignot, recruited Frutiger based upon the quality of the illustrated essay “Schrift / Écriture / Lettering: the development of European letter types carved in wood”. Frutiger’s wood-engraved illustrations of the essay demonstrated his skill and knowledge of letter forms.

Frutiger’s first commercial typeface was Président — a set of titling capital letters with small, bracketed serifs, released in 1954. In 1956, he designed his firstof-three, slab-serif typefaces — Egyptienne, on the Clarendon model; after Univers, it was the second, new text face to be commissioned for photocomposition.

career

RESEARCH

His Works

Univers is the name of a sansserif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954. Classified as a neo-grotesque typeface, one based on the model of the 1898 typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk, it was notable on its launch for its availability in a comprehensive but consistent range of weights and styles.

Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988 and released by Linotype GmbH, now a subsidiary of Monotype Corporation.

The Frutiger family is neither strictly geometric nor humanistic in construction; its forms are designed so that each individual character is easily recognized.

The word avenir is French for â&#x20AC;&#x153;futureâ&#x20AC;?. Frutiger intended Avenir to be a more organic, humanist interpretation of these highly geometric types.

Although it was originally intended for the large scale of an airport, the full family has a warmth and subtlety that have, in recent years, made it popular for the smaller scale of body text in magazines and booklets.

adrian’s quotes Sayings

RESEARCH

“If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page ... When it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.”

“From all these experiences the most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together and that type design, in its restraint, should be only felt but not perceived by the reader.”

“The great stroke of luck in my life is to have been blessed first with an artistic feeling for shapes, and second with an easy grasp of technical processes and of mathematics.”

“The quality of the draughtsmanship – rather than the intellectual idea behind it – is my masterpiece. (...) It was the hardest typeface I have worked on in my life. Working on it, I always had human nature in mind. And what’s crucial is that I developed the typeface alone, in peace and quiet – no drafting assistants, no-one was there. My personality is stamped upon it. I’m proud that I was able to create Avenir.”

“I first experienced the power of type to make the whole intellectual world readable with the same letters in the days of metal. This awakened in me the urge to develop the best possible legibility. The time soon came when texts were no longer set in metal types but by means of a beam of light. ”

“The material of typography is the black, and it is the designer’s task with the help of this black to capture space, to create harmonious whites inside the letters as well as between them.”

“Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements. It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life.”

“When I put my pen to a blank sheet, black isn’t added but rather the white sheet is deprived of light. […] Thus I also grasped that the empty spaces are the most important aspect of a typeface.”

kinetic typography Meaning

Kinetic typography—the technical name for “moving text”—is an animation technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation. This text is presented over time in a manner intended to convey or evoke a particular idea or emotion.

There are two categories of kinetic typography, motion and fluid, and classification depends on the behaviour of the text. In motion typography, elements move in relation to one another, while in fluid typography, the letterforms themselves change even while remaining stationary.

RESEARCH

font selection

recap brief The Criteria

FONT SELECTION

Pick one typeface for kinetic animation

typeface Avenir

FONT SELECTION

Adrian Frutiger designed Avenir in 1988, after years of having an interest in sans serif typefaces. In an interview with Linotype, he said he felt an obligation to design a linear sans in the tradition of Erbar and Futura, but to also make use of the experience and stylistic developments of the twentieth century. The word Avenir means “future” in French and hints that the typeface owes some of its interpretation to Futura. But unlike Futura , Avenir is not purely geometric; it has vertical strokes that are thicker than the horizontals, an “o” that is not a perfect circle, and shortened ascenders. These nuances aid in legibility and give Avenir a harmonious and sensible appearance for both texts and headlines.

Weights*

Uppercase

Lowercase

Light Light Oblique Book Roman Book Oblique Oblique Medium Medium Oblique Black Black Oblique Heavy Heavy Oblique

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

*As of what I have in my computer

usage Posters

The range of weights in the typeface allows it to be flexibly used in body copies and titles in the poster.

FONT SELECTION

typeface Univers

FONT SELECTION

Frutiger imposed strict discipline across all elements of the series, from light to dark, extra condensed to extended, a concordance of design that was possible in the foundry type and photocomposition fonts. Any version may be mixed within a word with any other. It may be argued that the design of the most popular central series is limited by strict conformity to little used extremes. If Helvetica gives us the strongest central designs at some sacrifice in uniformity across the series, Univers gives us a uniform series by disciplining the central designs. Alteration of character widths required by the Monotype caster separates Monotype Univers from the original; the Linotype photocomposition version, designed by Frutiger, has a more even colour across the series, achieved by relaxing the original rigid formula for stroke width.

Weights*

Uppercase

Lowercase

Regular Italic Bold Bold Italic

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

*As of what I have in my computer

usage Posters

The typeface comes in a condensed weight which is good when there is long body copy and little space. Without compromising on the font size, using a condensed weight can save more space for more words.

FONT SELECTION

selection of font Avenir or Univers

FONT SELECTION

In evaluating the font I should use for my animation, the biggest factor that concerned me was the number of weights in the font family I have in my system. Currently, these are the font collections I own:

Avenir Under Avenir, I have a few families with many weights, almost twice as much as what I have for Univers.

Univers For Univers, I have many different families but with very little weights per family.

selection of font My Choice

FONT SELECTION

As the criteria in the brief mentioned that I could only pick one font to use, I decided to choose Avenir because when using one font, I can play with the different weights rather than to switch between the font families which may be very confusing.

not chosen

chosen

concept

ideation Concept

CONCEPT

Below are some of the ideas on the stylisation of the video that I had come up with: Concept 1: A Book I would animate the typography in the book, from blank pages to the words appearing on the book. The book will feature a cover, inside pages as well as back cover. This makes the reader feel like they are reading an actual biography of Adrian Frutiger. Concept 2: A Museum One of Adrian’s quotes about his typeface Avenir says that he considers it to be his “masterpiece”. Therefore, taking that idea into consideration, the museum concept is about a frame on a wall and his story being animated in the masterpiece.

Concept 3: A Movie This includes elements commonly associated and seen in movies such as the list of cast at the end of the movie, the title of the movie, the description of the story - the location/ period etc. As the story is being narrated, subtitles can be found at the bottom of the screen so that it is more clear.

the big idea Outline

Key information to include in video: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Chosen Concept

Date of birth Nationality Interests as a boy Working life His first typeface - Univers His masterpiece - Avenir

CONCEPT

Identity

Meaning: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is Below are common ideas associated with identity: Brand Identity: collaterals - letterheads, business card, website etc.

I thought that the previous concepts were too common and in order to stand out, I thought about ways to portray Adrian creatively. What is the best way to do so? I simply did not want it to be purely just typography animating the content, I wanted more narrative in it as well as design. Therefore, my final concept seeks to show my interpretation of what Adrian is. Concept: An Identity This concept is all about branding Adrian Frutiger, for in this way, it captures the essence of him and his work. The video will deconstruct his life and his works. In summary, it will portray Adrian as Avenir, that he is his masterpiece.

Fingerprint

Passport

deconstructing frutiger Visual Research

CONCEPT

Previously I had conducted a basic research on who Adrian is and what he does (pg 7-11). In this segment, I would analyse the visual identity of Adrian - his style, signature etc. This helps to give people more clue on who he is, using more than just words. 1.

3. Big hairdo Wide square glasses His books

Blue vest/sweater layered over white collared shirt

His signature

copywriting

breakdown Flow

I wanted to break down my storytelling into a few parts, so that it is more of a movie rather than a piece of dictation. Title

...................... 6 sec

Intro

...................... 2 sec

Beginning

...................... 10 sec

Intro

...................... 1 sec

Middle

...................... 21 sec

Intro

...................... 2 sec

End

...................... 12 sec

Outro

...................... 4 sec

Total time taken: 58 seconds

COPYWRITING

narration Script

COPYWRITING

Title: DECONSTRUCTING AVENIR - A SHORT FILM ABOUT ADRIAN FRUTIGER Voiceover: Adrian Frutiger. Born Switzerland, 1928. Aspiring sculptor, typesetter apprentice, and eventually, creator of celebrated typefaces.

Text on screen: In the beginning

Frutiger designed one of his most enduring typeface – Avenir. While Frutiger worked alone, at age sixty, quietly contemplating human nature, Avenir emerged. Geometric and sans-serif, it is a more organic and humanist interpretation amongst his other work. Released in three weights, Frutiger considers Avenir his masterpiece, saying,“My personality is stamped upon it.”

Text on screen: In 1988

For more than 50 years, Adrian Frutiger made the world legible. For as long as his type shall live, so does he.

Text on screen: A legacy

This is Adrian. This is Avenir.

storyboard

frame & sequence Start

in the beginning

DECONSTRUCTING AV E N I R A SHORT FILM ABOUT ADRIAN FRUTIGER

• •

•

Adjust tracking, loosen it Scale from small to large and opacity from unclear to clear & clear to unclear Create reflection effect for subtitle

Words rotate from bottom left to upwards (rotate) From big to small (scale) Introduce red background (pull from bottom to up)

Represents illustration

• • •

Quick flashes Large point size (fill screen) Blue background

ADRIAN

• • • •

FRUTIGER

Typewriter effect Words appear from left to right Animated illustration Dark grey background

S W I TZ Z E R L A

•

STORYBOARD

• •

•

Large point size (fill screen) Showcases each syllable upon pronunciation Underline each syllable using line (scale, unchained)

• •

•

Large point size (fill screen) Showcases each syllable upon pronunciation Underline each syllable using line (scale, unchained)

frame & sequence ND • •

•

Large point size (fill screen) Showcases each syllable upon pronunciation Underline each syllable using line (scale, unchained)

1928

•

Switch background (pull from down to up) Animate illustration using mask and position & scale)

Write-on effect, each number according to the voiceover Illustration from small to big (scale)

aspiring sculptor

•

Hue and saturation, change the colour, one word at a time (from top to bottom) Animate illustration opacity, rotation and scale

Switch background (pull from down to up) Animate illustration using mask and position & scale)

in 1988

Ondine Rusticana Frutiger Linotype Didot

typesetter apprentice

•

STORYBOARD

• • •

Quick flashes Large point size (fill screen) Blue background

frame & sequence

•

FRUTIGER DESIGNED

one of his most enduring typeface

Words appear from left to right, from low to high opacity Rotate and appear from bottom right to its position Words appear from sides to center

Avenir

• •

quietly contemplating human nature

• •

Clock to continue ticking Words appearing according to voiceover, from small to big and back to small

STORYBOARD

Swinging text 2D shadow, casted together with the swinging effect

aged 60

• •

g e o m e t r i c a n d s a n s - s e r i f, it is a m o re o rg a n i c a n d, h u m a n i s t in t e r pre t a t io n a m o n gst h is o t h e r w o r k

Avenir

EMERGED

•

• •

Words to mess up and fly around and finally, to settle down Words to appear from left to right while opacity changes from low to high. Disappears using masking Linear wipe for lightbulb light Animate the light to appear (opacity)

Animate each layer of illustration Number to animate from small to large (without decimals)

• •

•

Wobbly line to drop down Each letter appears from big to small with motion effect Sound effect to appear closely but individually and synced to line shape

frame & sequence

•

STORYBOARD

a v e n i r

o r g a n i c

h u m a n i s t

ge ome tric and s an s -s eri f, it is a more organ ic and , h u man ist interpretat io n amongst his ot her work

g eometri c a nd sa ns-seri f, i t i s a more org a ni c a nd , huma ni st i nterp reta t i on a mong s t hi s ot her work

g e o m e t r i c a n d s a n s - s e r i f, it is a m o re o rg a n i c a n d, h u m a n i s t in t e r pre t a t io n a m o n gst h is o t h e r w o r k

Stroke of line of shapes to be adjusted (wide to small gaps) Rotate the lines

• •

Previous word to disappear New word appears, adjust the opacity between each letter

• •

•

• •

Switch layers quickly Layers to be stacked nicely above each other despite weight differences

RELEASED IN THREE WEIGHTS

RELEASED IN TWO WEIGHTS

RELEASED IN ONE WEIGHT

• •

Switch layers quickly Layers to be stacked nicely above each other despite weight differences

Previous word to disappear New word appears, adjust the opacity between each letter Use camera to zoom in, turn on 3D layer for affected text layers

• •

Switch layers quickly Layers to be stacked nicely above each other despite weight differences

frame & sequence Frutiger considers Avenir his masterpiece, saying,

• •

•

Rotate text

a legacy

Y MY ALIT SON R r E D e P ig PE Frut ders TA M i IS S . I cons r his N T i UPO Av e n r p i e c e , te mas , g sayin

MY PERSONALITY IS STAMPED UPON IT.

Text appearing (blur to clear) Text appearing (large to small)

STORYBOARD

• • •

Quick flashes Large point size (fill screen) Blue background

End For more than

50 YEARS

•

• • •

Text appearing from bottom right to original position while rotating Text to have old feel - shaking 3D layer for illustration of globe Typewriter effect for text

THIS IS

FOR AS LONG AS HIS TYPE SHALL LIVE SO DOES HE

Adrian Frutiger made the world legible

•

Words to appear from left to right while opacity changes from low to high Words to blink

•

Masking and position as well as blurring effect for text Write-on effect for signature

art direction

moodboard

ART DIRECTION

moodboard

ART DIRECTION

swiss

Using the Swiss Style, it appropriately channels the vibe of Adrian Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life as he was born in Switzerland and most of his typefaces were influenced by the Swiss Legacy.

The Swiss Style began to emerge from the modernist and constructivist era and is devoted to the idea of simplicity. It strips down to the bare essentials of looking clean, sharp and simple.

moodboard Colours

Referencing colours from the International Style which is defined as the ideal pursue of simplicity in which it is minimal in style, unadorned and not elaborate in design.

http://swisscolors.net/

ART DIRECTION

moodboard Colours

ART DIRECTION

I chose to pick this block of colours as I felt that it is suitable to portray Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story. The red represents Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passion and his deep conviction towards the art of type. The blue represents the clothing he wears and sets a sombre tone to reflect his passing. Light and dark grey is used for tonal purposes.

Dark grey Red Blue Light grey

http://swisscolors.net/

audio references

ART DIRECTION

Lipstick by David Cabonara

Solara by Avia

Glass Bubbles by All Tiny Creatures

This song has quite a cheerful tempo and vibe to it.

This song has a modern chill vibe that slowly builds up, very suitable with the mood of my animated video.

The up tempo beat to this song is a bit too fast for the animation.

Mad Men Suite by David Cabonara This song may be a little to depressing but it sure channels the 1960s -1980s vibe. The Men Of Sterling Cooper by David Cabonara This jazzy-sensual tune is rather funky and not too upbeat. Nearing The End by David Cabonara A slow tempo melody that is a bit too draggy for my animation although the period it portrays is suitable.

I eventually chose this song because the rhythm and pace sync very well with the art direction of my video. Avoriaz by Avia A modern and funky tune to this song, would certainly consider using it. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not overly positive, but just right in its melody.

illustration Style

In order to suit the Swiss style which is clean and minimal, I chose this style of illustration for my animation because it has no textures, no excess lines and stripped to its bare essentials.

ART DIRECTION

references

visual references

REFERENCES

International Typography 2

Avenir Animated Type Specimen

Futura Font

- Fast glitchy moves - Interesting formation of shapes/lines

- “Adrian frutigeR” = “AveniR” - Interesting formation of shapes/lines

- Lists all letters of alphabet

Avenir, animated type specimen

Avenir (Animated Type Specimen)

Type Specimen: Adrian Frutiger

- Lists all letters of alphabet

- Typing style (with the blinking insertion point)

- Lists down all the weights

key takeaways

class exercises Highlights

Week 2 • Understanding compositions and layers • Window layout and interface • Animating with keyframes • Importing clips and media

Week 5 • Intro to 3D in after effects • Animating in 3D • Positioning, lights and materials • Intro to camera; animating camera

Week 3 • Pre-composition • Parenting and null objects • Working with solid, mask, shape and text • Working with effects • Background, scribble and stroke effects • Importing audio and markers

Week 6 • Exporting and rendering • Using render queue

Week 4 • Type and shape animations • Creating type animators • Animating shape layers • Animating strokes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

execution

working file

EXECUTION

Organising Compositions

Chopping Layers

Reduce Project

I organised my file into diffrerent comps so that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to work within the comp and have a separate main comp where I can place all the different parts. This way, the layers are more neat and easier to identify.

As I deal with a lot of layers, each of them occupying only a short span of screen time, I decided to chop my layers so that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier for me to know where to start and stop editing.

In order to save space, I would reduce project, meaning to delete unecessary layers or footages that I did not use.

Housekeeping In order to make sure I have a back up copy of all my files, I would save my file in a new folder every time I make a major change. This way, I can open up files at different progress stages and make changes versus re-saving over the same file name.

effects

EXECUTION

Tracking Type

Masking

For the title “DECONSTRUCTING AVENIR”, I used the Tracking Type effect to adjust the spaces between each letter of the word, from wide to narrow.

To reveal the words “aspiring sculptor”, I used the masking effect whereby a shape layer is placed above the text layer and when the toggle mode changes, I choose “Alpha Matte”.

After I applied this effect onto the type, I realised that by using just this effect alone isn’t very natural and smooth, hence, I adjusted the scale and opacity as well. I made the text go from small to big and from disappearing to appearing.

I used this effect quite a number of times and usually I would animate the Position together with this effect to achieve the look that it came from somewhere near, but you cannot see the entire transition of text.

effects

EXECUTION

Reflection

Stroke Animation

For my title I wanted to make it less flat without animating in 3D as I thought it was quite gimmicky, and so I tried to create a reflection effect on the sub-titles.

I wanted to animate the shapes that I used in my video and so I adjusted the “Dash” and “Gap” properties so that the stroke is not always constant, it changes as though it’s like a bubble that is about to burst.

I managed to achieve the look by duplicating the text layer, and flipping it on the X Rotation to 180° and 42° on the Orientation. Because it is a reflection, it cannot be too harsh, and so, I lowered the opacity to 17%, its maximum appearance. I proceeded by adding opacity animation to the text. At first I tired to parent the reflection layer to the original text layer but decided to animate it differently and separately.

effects

EXECUTION

Write-On Effect

Text Animator

I wanted to find a way to reveal the text “1928” interestingly, as though it was written by someone. Hence, I went to look up online and searched and I found an effect under Effect > Generate > Write-On. The tricky bit about this is that I have to manually mark out each point on the shape of the numbers and adjust the brush size so it reveals just the right amount of text.

Out of all the effects, one of which I used was the Animator for Text. For this effect, since the word “DESIGNED” appears from the bottom right of the screen, I had to create a mask so that it does not show the dangling bits.

Another tricky bit is the brush width that comes with it, because I had to adjust the size of the brush, if it’s too thick, it will reveal too much text and if it’s too thin, it will reveal the text partially. The trick here is to create as many keyframes so that at every point, I can carefully adjust accordingly, to make it more accurate.

The animation features the letters in the word to rotate and pop up from the bottom right of the screen.

effects

EXECUTION

Swinging Text

Casting 2D Shadow

I wanted the word “AVENIR” to swing so I click on Animate > Enable per-character 3D and added another Animate > Rotation. On that layer I adjusted the X Rotation so that the text is completely hidden. Then under Range Selector 1, I click on Add: > Selector > Expression and I copied a code and alt+click twice to paste. Next, I had to adjust the Grouping Alignment (anchor point). I can adjust the number of times it swings through “swings” and to affect the time for each individual letter under “Time Offset”.

I wanted to create a 2D flat long shadow for a text which animates and synchronises together with effects on the text layer too. I used a couple of effects such as “CC Radial Fast Blur”, “Matte Choker” and “Fill”.

effects

EXECUTION

Soft Edge Shape (Light)

Counting Numbers

The light in the light bulb animation was created in After Effects from scratch. I drew a circle and filled in with bright yellow. The next step is to apply a blur filter on the layer, I chose the effect “Fast Blur” and set the amount of Blurriness to give that soft look, mimicking light.

For the number “60”, I wanted it to animate in increasing numbers and I wanted to do it efficiently without having to type all the numbers. Hence, I used the effect “Slider Control” and on the same layer, I opened up the Source Text property to enable the expressions by clicking the keyframe and holding “alt”. The next step was to grab the expression whip and link it to the slider control effect. Now when I go to the timeline, the numbers are modified but they are all in decimal points. Hence, to round the numbers, I had to edit the expression by changing it from:

As I animated this effect in a sub-composition, I had to make sure it was fitting into the frames properly as if I did not, when I import this layer into the main comp, you can see the border of the comp and the light ending abruptly.

effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”) to Math.round(effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”))

challenges

obstacles

EXECUTION

Speeding/Slowering Audio

The next step was to adjust the keyframes. Originally, there will two keyframes, one at the start of the audio, the other at the end. By moving the keyframe at the end closer to the start of the timeline, it speeds up the audio, and if you move it closer to the end, it slows it down.

The narration that I had recorded originally was 49 seconds, which I had planned for it to be 40 seconds. Therefore, I went to search on how to speed up the audio. After looking up online, the method of adjusting the speed is to select the audio layer, right click on it: Time > Enable Time Remapping.

Because I wanted to speed up the audio, I dragged the keyframe towards the left.

Audio Pitch

obstacles

I went to search on a few videos on how to change the pitch of the audio because after speeding up and slowering the pace of the narration, the tone of voice became higher and lower subsequently. Therefore, I needed to match the tones, to make it sound similar. However, I went online and search on â&#x20AC;&#x153;change pitch after effectsâ&#x20AC;? and the most of the videos recommended that I should use the program: Adobe Audition to edit the audio and then import it to After Effects. However, I do not have the software on laptop to edit the pitch of the audio. Hence, I went to l look up on forums and came across this on the Adobe website:

EXECUTION

And so, I tried to use the method from Adobe. This is the original keyframes of the speed graph layer for the audio:

Now I tried to lower the pitch by dragging the marker down.

obstacles

EXECUTION

Voiceover Generator

Unsatisfied with my original voiceover, I decided to use a software to read the narration then I would record it and import into my video. After experimenting with different software, I decided to use www.naturalreaders.com as they give functions such as the speed and type of voice. However, the problem with this software is that it only takes up a certain amount of words. Hence, I had to record many times as I had organised the narration into different sentences. During one part of the narration, the initial words were “As long as his type lives, so does he.” The voice over, however, pronounced “lives” as a human live and not life - lives. Hence, I had to change the narration to: “As long as his type lives, so does he.”

The site allows users to choose the speed of narration, from -2 to 6. Generally, I would use Speed 3-4 and for more dramatic parts, -1. The benefit of using this site is that there is a range of speakers ranging from US to Arabic. I chose to use UK, Graham because his voice suits the mood of the video.

reflection

REFLECTION

Thoughts As this project is done using After Effects, I naturally wanted to explore different effects to use while challenging myself to maintain a consistent mood and tone throughout the video. Another challenge I faced was to sync everything to the voice over, and what helps is to source for the audio and record the voice over before animating. This way, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much easier to sync with the voice over. In my video, I make a conscious effort to use minimal graphics and try to focus more on the typography to tell the story. The illustration serve as a secondary element to help the reader visualise Adrian Frutiger. Just like the program we used in Semester 1, Edge Animate, it requires logical thinking because after all, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a software. Mastering After Effects is a useful skill as it teaches me about keyframes which can be used on other programs such as Photoshop and Premiere. It is also a layer-oriented program. Overall, I found After Effects to be very fun to use and it is very expressive in animating not just typography but other elements as well, such as audio and vectors. Another thing I like about After Effects is the 3D feature, it makes it very dynamic and feels like a lot can be done to achieve a industry standard. Perhaps one factor that I dislike about it is that it takes up a lot of RAM space, causing my computer to occasionally lag and slow down.

redo

editing

As an effort to challenge myself to do better, I made a couple of changes for Assignment 1.

REDO

The changes are: 1. The background colour: to give more contrast to the text 2. The chapter title: instead of it appearing one at a time, I used the typewritter effect so that it is more smooth 3. Edited the illustration so that the emphasis is placed on the text and not the table Given more time, I am sure I am able to make more major changes, making the design more captivating than before.