Logo Transition Practice

Type Practice

This is one of my attempts for kinetic typography. This type of kinetic typography maybe used in my production as the main character is a desperate woman out to find her Mr. Right.

After Effect Practice

Here I have create 3 different layers that I will be experimenting with and will eventually render.

Here I have experimented with the timeline and I've changed the timings on when each layer comes in and out of frame.

Once I experimented with the time I went to the composition menu and click on add to render queue.

I then saved it as 'Render Test' and chose the format I wish for it to be rendered at.

Then I click on 'Output to:' to change where they final product will be saved.

I then clicked on 'lossless' to check the render setting and then hit render.

Here is my final test render.

Reading Summaries

Jon Krasner - Motion Graphic Design applied history and aesthetics

Chapter 2 - Motion Graphics in Film and Television

Film Titles

‘A film’s opening titles are the first images that viewers experience..’ this is the very reason that them beginning couple of minutes can make all the difference in the viewer’s opinion about how the film will be,

I plan to make a title sequence that is engaging and give the chosen audience enough information about what the film will be about.

Network Branding

Today’s multichannel universe branding is often necessary for a network to keep up with its competition. Television companies have become increasingly image conscious, investing large amounts of time assessing audiences and spending huge sums of money on developing their on-screen look.

·         Station IDs – Station Identifications (also called strings or network IDs) identify the station or network being aired.

·         Show openers – like a magazine cover or the introductory credits to a movie, a show openers sets the stage for the upcoming program.

·         Show packages – a show package is a “video information system” containing  an assortment of design elements that are used to promote a program.

·         Lower thirds – are a combination of graphics and text that appear on the bottom portion of the screen to identify the station, the presenter and content being aired.

·         Mortises – full screen graphics that are used to frame live footage. Not only that they are sometimes used in combination with lower thirds.

·         Lineups and upfronts – a lineup is a full screen graphic that informs viewers about a network’s upcoming program schedule by displaying the names of the shows, date and times. An upfront is a marketing piece that is designed to promote a network’s shows to advertisers.

·         Tags – a tag is a succinct, 3 – 4 second presentation that occurs at the beginning or end of a spot, news opening, or advertisement.

·         Network packages – is a complete “video information system” that is comprised of promotional elements including station identifiers, bumpers, lower thirds, and mortises.

·         Promotional campaigns – are designed to make the public more aware of a product, brand, or service. Getting the right message across and making sure it is clear is vital to a campaign’s success.

Commercials

Television commercials are one of the most desired campaign vehicle and one of the most effective methods of generating brand recognition to facilitate product sales.

Public Service Announcements

A Public Service Announcement (PSA) is a non-commercial spot that aims to raise public awareness about specific issues such as energy conservation, global warming, homelessness, and drunk driving. PSAs are also used to promote non-profit organisations such as United Way, Red Cross, and American Cancer Society.

Music Videos

Cinematic traditions that have been carried over from film into music videos have been enhanced with the incorporation of special effects and animation.

Chapter 7 - The Pictorial Composition

Principle of Compostion
Compositional principles can be used to express concepts and emotions to clearly and effective communicate messages.

·         Unity – in design unity is an underlying principle that refers to the coherence of the whole-the sense that all of the parts are working together to achieve an overall harmony.

Gestalt Theory

-       Explores how visual elements in a composition could be comprised in to an integrated “whole” to achieve a sense of harmony.

·         Balance – is a primary component of our day-today lives and once of the primary methods of achieving unit.

-       Symmetrical balance – is the division of a space into parts that are equal in size and weight

-       Radial balance – is a type of symmetrical balance in which images are emitted from a focal point.

-       Crystallographic balance – contains many focal points that are strategically arranged into a repeating pattern.

·         Figure and Ground – ground – defines the surface area of a composition and figure refers to the subjects that occupy the foreground space.

·         Negative space – related to figure and ground is the concept of positive and negative space. Positive space is areas that are occupied in a composition and negative spaces are areas that are unoccupied or empty.

·         Size and scale – many compositional possibilities can be derived from manipulating size and scale. Size relates to the format (or the frame) that elements are placed in and scale describes the relative relationships that exist between elements.

·         Edge – throughout art history, edge relationships have been a fundamental component of design. They define compositions’ parameters and play a critical role in establishing eye movement and hierarchy.

·         Direction – has a powerful control over how a viewer’s eye moves within a space.

·         Contrast – visual contrast is one of the most important principles of graphic communication and expression. The most standard types of contrast are scale, value, colour, shape , surface, proximity and orientation.

·         Hierarchy – most viewers rely upon visual clues to direct their attention. Visual hierarchy is a product of their need for direction.

·         Repetition and variety – repetition is the recurrence of one or more elements in a composition. With subtle variations, repetitions can inject a provocative, visual beat.

Constructing Space

·         Juxtaposition and Superimposition – two methods of constructing space. Spatial juxtaposition is the placement of two or more elements that are related or unrelated in meaning in close proximity to suggest a new meaning. Superimposition involves overlaying one element on top of another.

·         Grids – a grid is a formal, underlying structure that can serve as a guide to making purposeful design decisions regarding the placement, sizes, and proportions of elements in a composition of maintain a sense of organised unity.

Chapter 4 - Motion Graphics in the Environment 

New Technologies

Digital technologies are playing a much greater role in shaping our visual, public landscape. Video Wall Systems which display large images without compromising screen resolution, not only that they are thriving throughout the world in almost every arena. The advantages of video wall architecture is that is it scalable and interchangeable, allowing many screen sizes and horizontal or vertical configurations.

LEDs unlike LCDs can be built to any size and aspect ratio. They are also visible in front windows since they are bright enough to compete with sunlight and they also have the viewing distance of less than 3 feet, since the pixels are densely placed.

Immersive Environments

Immersive environments shape a sense of place by providing order, ambience, comfort and insight to physical or virtual space. They are a combination of architecture, interior design, images, motion graphics and sound that provide aesthetic and meaningful experiences and enhance social interation. They are designed to blend physical and imaginary worlds in which moving images, audio, text, etc can respond to humans. 

Interior Design

The infusion of motion graphics into interior space has become a vital component in establishing mood and atmosphere.

Exhibit Design

The field of exhibit design combines graphic design, interactive media, motion graphics, and product design.

Educational installations

Motion graphics have played a significant role in interactive educational installations

Animated Exteriors

Motion graphics are playing a much greater role in shaping our architectural, urban landscape, due to the rapid advancement of LED technology.

Digital Signage

Digital signage is one of the fastest growing marketing opportunities in the world today – ranges from sports scoreboards to giant video screen in large public space such as shopping centres.

Performance

The integration of motion graphics into live performances including musical concerts, ceremonies and awards shows has increased substantially over the past decade.

Chapter 9 - Conceptualisation 

Assessment

·         Defining the objective – Every design begins with an objective. Once it is established, it should be kept in mind from conceptualisation through design to the final execution.

·         Targeting the audience – the goal of visual communication is to facilitate a reaction from an audience, and this audience should be clearly defined in order to meet your objective.

·         Researching the topic – research is key to effective communication. Intriguing concepts and cutting-edge design may not be enough to effectively communicate the information if adequate research is not conducted ahead of time.

·         Understanding the restrictions – budgetary constraints can limit the use of materials, equipment, and reliable technical support etc. designers are forced to be realistic about what can and cannot be done within the given time.

·         Considering image style – several types of images to choose from including photographic, typographic, illustrative, abstract and so forth. Different visual styles from graphic, to textural, whimsical, sketchy or blended etc.

Formulation

·         Brainstorming – first step in generation ideas.

·         Pathways to creative thinking – creativity can be mistaken for originality, when in fact, very few original ideas exist. Many designers merge previous concepts in their own personal way.

Inspiration – the motivation force behind innovation.

Risk taking – throughout history, stylistic movements in art and graphic design were manifested from ground breaking visionaries and experimenters who deviated from the norm.

Experimentation – contributes to ideation by opening up your thought processes and eliminating contrived or trendy solutions.

Cultivation

·         Evaluation – evaluating your concept objectively helps you decide what to keep and what to discard before plummeting into production.

·         Selection – process of selection begins after.

·         Clarification and refinement – depending on the client’s and test audience’s response, your concept will most likely require further clarification.

Storyboards

Storyboards are the next step. It’ll help establish basic narrative structure, shows when events will take place and unfold overtime, identifying the key transition between them 

Animatics

Animated storyboards are sometimes needed to pre-visualise and resolve the motion and timing of events.

Chapter 10 - Animation process - Creating Motion 

Frame-by-Frame Animation

An animation that is created on a frame-by-frame basis. Flip book were the earliest frame by from animation. The individual images create the illusion of continuous motion when flipping the pages quickly.
Frame by frame animations include two types of frames – key frames and inbetween frames. Key frames are nonadjacent frames that identify the most major changes in the scene. These are used as guides for constructing the in between frames that complete the transitions between the key frames.

·         Direct-on-film – refers to the “cameraless” animation technique of creating images directly on a filmstrip.

·         Freehand animation – the process of freehand animation, covers a wide gamut of styles and genres, from traditional figurative animation to expressive abstract painting and spontaneous gesture drawing,

·         Collage and mixed media – technique of collage involves assembling printed and found material, provided early 20^th-century painters a heightened sense of spontaneous, artistic freedom.

·         Stop-motion – this continues to be practiced in motion graphics. Stop motion animation was applied to still photographs to create the effect of implied movement.

·         Rotoscoping – the practice of rotoscoping – drawing or painting over live footage – covers a wide range of animation approached including freehand, image alteration and compositing.

·         Film capture – the rich, soft quality of motion film is attributed to the light sensitive emulsion that is capable of capturing high-resolution images photographically.

·         Digital capture – for processes that don’t involve rendering frames by hand, the advantages of capturing frames on a computer are instantaneous play-back, preservation, and affordability.

Interpolation: An Overview

Interpolation is the process by which an element’s spatial or visual characteristics are animated between two or more instances in times. These instances are known as Key frames.

Spatial Interpolation

Spatial interpolation also referred to as path animation involves animating an objects position, orientation or scale. Linear spatial interpolation occurs on straight motion paths and nonlinear spatial interpolation occurs on curved motion paths.

Visual Interpolation

Visual interpolation involves animating an objects visual appearance by changing its geometry, colour, transparency, or surface texture.

·         Interpolating form – animating changes in geometry can be achieved by morphing or by applying distortion effect.

·         Interpolating surface – in addition to form, surface properties, such as value, colour, opacity and effects, can be interpolated through key frames.

Temporal Interpolation

Temporal interpolation describes how elements move through time.

Coordinating Movement

Multiple transformations can be combined on a timeline, allowing an element’s absolute and relative positioning, scale and orientation to be animated simultaneously

·         Parenting – parenting in animation is a powerful technique that allows you to create relative movement between elements by setting up hierarchical relationships.

·         Nesting – complex animations may consist of many different types of movements. This technique of nesting allows you to organise individual movements into separate animations that can be later combined.

Chapter 6 - Images, Live-Action, and Type

Visual Properties

·         Form - Form is the most basic element of visual communication. Graphic, photographic or typographic it can be strategically used to symbolise and suggest ideas. It can also spatial depth, provide emphasis and help organise important information and can direct the viewer’s eyes throughout each frame.

-       Abstract form – Modern art was found on the exploration of pure, non-objective abstraction and the basis of visual experience was the perceptual effect of form and colour on the viewer.

-       3D form – 3d modelling and animation has been used in motion graphics since the 1970s. Today the combination of 2d and 3d works has become a practice in film titles, network packages and digital interface. 

·         Value and colour

Value measures the lightness and darkness of an images tones or colours. It can help enrich visual messages by creating focal points in a composition. Colour has the ability of creating a mood, symbolise ideas and express emotion to gain a desired response from the audience.

The components of colour are:
 - Hue - denotes colours with regard to their identification
 - Saturation - measures a hues purity and intensity
 - Value - describes the colours brightness

·         Texture and pattern – in addition to value and colour, surface texture and pattern can add contrast and depth to a composition while providing viewers with the sensory experience of touch.

Image Considerations

Live Action Considerations

Over the past decade, live action content has had a greater presence in Motion Graphics work. 
Factors that should be considered when working with live action:

·         Form or context of project

·         Filmic properties

·         Cinematic properties

·         Filmic form – while film scholars consider the narrative, the documentary and the experimental films to be the three major forms of filmmaking most commercial forms of motion graphics are narrative.

·         Filmic properties

-       Tone and contrast

-       Lighting

-       Depth-of-field and focus

-       Camera angle and shot size

·         Integrating live-action – whether live-action content occupies the full frame or is incorporated as smaller elements into a larger frame, its presence can accentuate the message and mood being communicated.

Typographic Considerations

·         Typographic form and motion – the role of excessive kinetic typography is to represent a concept in a visual format. Rather than being literal, it can convey an intended emotion through its unique graphic impact and its movement in space.

·         Expression through typeface – in addition to a font’s ability to look good and move smoothly is its ability to match the style and tone of the other element in a composition.

When choosing typeface, be sure to choose a type that appropriately expresses the message is key to achieving effective communication. 

Chapter 5 - Motion Literacy - Choreographing Movement

Spatial Considerations

Spatial consideration, such as the positioning, size and orientation of elements, the direct that they travel, the manner in which their motions influenced other motions and the relationship of their movements to the boundaries of the frame are all important factors that should be considered when choreographing animation.

·         Spatial transformations – describe the conditions of elements with regard to their positioning, orientation, size and relative scale inside the frame.

·         Direction – the direction or “route” that elements travel is also an important consideration with regard to how movements will occur across the frame. Two types of directions that elements can – linear and nonlinear – in a straight line or on a curve.

·         Frame mobility – involves the perceived motion of the viewer with regard to how the content is framed over times. Frame mobility, which is achieved through actual camera movement or simulated camera movement, can achieve various compositional framings

Temporal Considerations

·         Time – choreographing motion requires a fundamental understanding of how time is measured. Depending on if you are designing for film, video or digital media, each format has its own standard for measuring time.

·         Velocity – velocity is the speed in which elements move or change over time and space.

Coordinating Movement

·         Basic animation principles

-       Squash and stretch

-       Follow through and overlapping

-       Pause

-       Anticipation

-       Timing

-       Acceleration and deceleration

-       Secondary action

-       Exaggeration

Chapter 8 - The Sequential Composition - Designing in Time 

Sequential Composition

Sequential composing is a development process that, with dedicated thought adequate planning, can enhance artistic expression and conceptual impact.

Forms of Continuity

·         Spatial continuity - Used to create onscreen and off-screen space in a way that keep up the viewer’s cognitive map - in other words, the viewer’s sense of where things are in the frame and constant. 

·         Graphic continuity – considers the inherent visual properties of line, form, value, colour and texture.

·         Temporal continuity - controls the timing of the action and contributes to the plots manipulation of story time.

·         Action continuity – actions of animated graphic elements and live-action images can be carried smoothly across cuts and transitions to preserve both spatial and temporal continuity.

Forms of Discontinuity

Discontinuity editing offers an alternative approach to editing using techniques that are considered to be unacceptable to traditional continuity principle.

·         Narrative and non-narrative forms

·         Graphic considerations

·         Subjectivity

·         Spatial discontinuity – Allows you to reconstruct an environment that partially relies on the viewer’s imagination. Can be used to establish the characters viewpoint or intensify the emotional impact. 

·         Temporal discontinuity – Allows you to create deliberate ambiguity, build tension and intensify emotional impact. 

Montage

The technique of montage can be used to help audience connect or identify with the subject matter. 

·         Conceptual forms – involves juxtaposition 

·         Analytical forms – tells stories in short hand by condensing events. 

Chapter 11 - Motion Graphics Compositing 

Compositing

Composting involves seamlessly merging a variety of separate visual elements into a uniform, seamless compositional space. It allow you to create unusual relationships that are impossible to achieve in the real, physical world by combining live-action footage, graphics, hand drawn elements and typography.

Blend Operations

The most basic compositing techniques involve controlling the transparency of multi-layered images and the manner in which their colour “mix” visually.

Keying

Keying is a technique that eliminates a selected range of colours to create areas of transparency.

·         Chroma and luma keys

-       Chroma keys – are single colours that are used to substitute parts of a scene with new data

-       Luma keys – are brightness keys that enable a range of tonal values to become transparent

Alpha Channels

Alpha channels are one of the most powerful compositing techniques of combining static and kinetic images and typographic content. The term “alpha channel” is based on a 32-bit file architecture. It contain three channels (RGB) but its carries a fourth channel that functions to store transparency information.

Mattes

A matte is a static or moving image, which, like a stencil, can be used to govern the visibility of another image.

·         Luma mattes – is an external image that is used to make portion of another image transparent based on its combination of RGB brightness values.

·         Matte styles – alpha channel mattes and luma mattes can be composed of solid shapes, feathered shapes, gradients, typography, and entire images.

·         Travelling mattes – a matte that changes its appearance or position for each frame in cases where the subject moves or changes.

Masks

·         The nature of splines – paths that consist of interconnected points that form a line segment or curve.

·         Rotoscoping and animated masks – hand executed mattes. Technique of interpolating the changing geometry of a spline mask can automate this process.

Colour Correction

Representing colour accurately and consistently is a critical part of compositing. Colour correction and enhancement operations can rectify mismatched colour between different sources, enhance colour or alter colour to achieve certain types of effects and consistency between visuals.

Angie Taylor - Design Essentails - For the motion media artist

Chapter 3 – Composition

Composition refer to the arrangement of the individual components of you design; it’s the sum of all of the parts that form a finished piece of work. The location of an object, its proximity to other elements in the design, and its properties can convey messages, meaning and feelings to the viewer.

The Elements of Composition

Any picture, design, or scenes are all made of individual elements that make up components.

·         Shape – the shape of individual objects should be considered when putting together your design not only that but the shapes created by groups of objects or even shapes that form parts of bigger objects.

·         Space – space where nothing exists also forms a shape. Referred to as negative space. Creating more space around an element in your design gives it more importance and perceived value. Negative space can also lead the viewer’s eye to where you want it to go or trick it into seeing a hidden message

·         Line – line only exists in art and design. It’s an imagery element that we use to define an edge where two surfaces meet.

·         Scale – describes the relative size of objects in your design. An object in proportion with one another in a composition shows unity whereas object with different proportions gives a sense of surrealism and draw attentions to it.

·         Orientation – refers to the rotation of objects in your composition.

·         Depth – refers to the apparent solidity of individual objects. You can give depth by exaggerating its three-dimensional qualities, by shading or adjusting the lighting.

·         Motion – movement of objects within your design. 3 elements to create motion: speed, direction and motion path that the object travels along.

·         Colour

·         Texture – used to attract attention, create contrast, or convey feelings.

Arrangements of Composition

·         Framing – aspect ratio 4 x 3 or 16 x 9 all landscape orientation.

·         Staging – director or camera crew design the layout of the space where the action is going to take place. – Structure of the set, props and the actors. Also referred to as mise-en-scene.

·         Grids – flexible system that encourages consistency and order.

·         Screen Division

·         Irregular Grids

·         The Rule of Thirds – used in photography, films and graphic design. The screen is divided 3 ways vertically and 3 ways horizontally making up 9 rectangles. This then helps positioning elements in your composition.

·         The Divine Proportion – formula for creating perfectly aesthetically pleasing compositions..

·         Other Screen Divisions:

-       Lower Thirds – graphic element sits on the lower thirds of the screen.

-       Square with Side Panel – typical for a menu system.

·         Breaking the Grid

·         Perspective Grids – depth of composition

Principles of Compostion

·         Unity

·         Limitations

·         Harmony

·         Repetition

·         Variety

·         Direction

·         Grouping

-       Similarity

-       Proximity

Gestalt

This theory proposes that the human brain is naturally inclined to group items and to see and describe them as single objects.

·         Emergence – human brain forms an object from a pattern.

·         Reification – our brain creates a shape from negative shape.

·         Multistability – when the interpretation of an ambiguous image jumps back and forth.

·         Invariance – human brain recognises an object, even when viewed in different conditions.

§  Emphasis

§  Continuity

§  Balance

§  Symmetry

§  Hierarchy

§  Contrast

§  Movement

Chapter 8 – Communication

Visual communication is about your designs, your passions, your ideas and finding the best way to communicate them with the world.

The components of Visual Communication

·         Story – can be silent films, paintings and still images.

·         Theme – unifies and gives the story its core purpose

·         Symbolism -

·         Meaning – convey correct meanings through the use of colour, animation, typography etc.

·         Literal meaning – words equate facts, whereas images are a little more ambiguous.

·         Ambiguous meaning – words can mean two different things e.g. the actual meaning of a word and the slang meaning of a word such as ‘wicked’.

·         Abstraction – abstract art attempts to communicate without using references to anything that exist within our universe. Abstract imagery – more to do with conveying a feeling and less with communicating a literal message.

·         Conformity – key to a good design is to use established rules that conform to people’s expectations but introduce small changes in one area – just enough to make your design stand out from the rest.

·         Rebelliousness – experimentation, risk taking, breaking new boundaries – these are vital practices if we want our craft to continue evolving.

Communication with People

·         Knowledge – share knowledge with other people. Two types of knowledge, explicit knowledge – communicated easily in written or spoken form and tactic knowledge – more difficult to communicate using only the written work and often require some sort of physical of visual demonstration to get the point across.

·         Learning styles – by being sympathetic to other people’s needs, you can improve your own communication skills.

§  Auditory – learning most through verbal discussions, listening, hearing or reading the written word.

§  Visual – get the most from images or other visual stimuli. - rely on body language and facial expression to communicate their messages. Often use diagrams graphs and presentations.

§  Kinesthetic – physical engagement with the subject – hands on approach. Minds move quickly, they’re good at problem solving and are great at sparking off lots of ideas.

·         Being Aware – being aware of personality difference can help you understand how your colleagues and clients think

I personally think that I am a mixture of both kinesthetic and visual learner. Mostly leaning toward kinesthetic because I find I learn more when I’m physically doing something. My imagination helps me to think of many different ideas and I prefer to have a hands-on approach.

Communicating with clients

·         Pitching

-       Evidence of requirement pinned down early.

-       Focus of design process rather than presenting a single finished design.

-       Outlining your design process.

-       Sell you services – what makes you unique, how you come up with ideas, how you work as a team and communicate throughout the design process.

-       Keep presentation simple and concise.

-       Be sure of your resources.

-       Ask plenty of questions at the early stages.

·         Structuring the pitch

-       Start with the most important information first – people’s attention is most fresh at he start.

-       Recap key important factors at the end again.

-       Practice constantly and test your timings.

-       Never use your notes in a presentation.

-       You should know the presentation thoroughly so that no questions asked will throw you off.

-       Be snappy and to the point.

The Communication Process

·         The Brief and the First Client Meeting – establish the brief, determine the needs of the client, find out who the target audience is and find the best way to communicate your idea to the audience.

·         The Script

·         Brainstorms

·         The Second Client Meeting – client leads the meeting – you can guide them gently and persuasively. Pick up responses by observing their reactions to the work you present to them.

·         Storyboards – plan out the project; work our timings and spot potential problems before they occur.

·         The Third Client Meeting – change will be more difficult.

·         Creating Source Files and Shooting the Video – shooting lists, lists of drawing – these will help you devise a schedule.

·         Reviewing the final piece

·         Making Changes

·         Billing – include time, materials and equipment costs.

Networking

·         Online Networking – viewer an easily catch up on news from lots of different people on one site. You can each thousands of people more easily, update content more easily as it’s a vast database.

·         Facebook

·         LinkedIn – work related networking – extend connections.

·         Twitter

·         Blogging – posting regular updates of information on an online page that users can subscribe to.

Websites can project a professional image and it isn’t even expensive to do so anymore.

Presenting Yourself

·         Showreels

·         Resumes (CV)

·         Portfolios

Chapter 2 - Planning

The Design Process

·         Preparation – Establish the brief. Do the research: visual, technical, and sketching ideas

·         Development

1.     Design the Project – develop ideas, mood-boards, brainstorms etc.

2.     Respond to the Brief – negotiate ideas and present ideas

3.     Design the Project – create storyboard, source the core materials and images.

4.     Create the Digital Media Project – develop your working prototype.

·         Testing – test product and evaluate and carry out technical checking

·         Delivery – deliver final project.

Preparation Stage

·         Understand the Brief

·         Establish the Brief

·         Research

-       Visual Research – study magazine, TV ads, movies, artists etc.

-       Technical Research

·         Experimentation

·         Sketchbooks and Scrapbooks

·         Brainstorming

The Development Stage

·         Mood-boards

·         Storyboards – helps avoid misinterpretations

·         Animatic

·         Software

-       Adobe Photoshop

-       Adobe After Effects

·         Digitalizing work

·         Scanning

-       PAL Dimensions

-       NTSC Dimensions

·         Scanning Settings

-       Colour

-       Levels

-       Size

-       Crop

·         Photographing Artwork

-       White balance set correctly

-       Frame tightly around artwork save time on cropping

-       Use standard lens to avoid distortion of the image

-       Avoid using flash – can burn out the image

-       Don’t use digital zoom – can degrade the image

·         Creating your own composite images

·         Nonphoto Blue Removal

The Testing Stage

The testing stage is divided into audience and technical testing. For audience testing try it out on the target market in a focus group or with other selected individuals. Find out their views on it.

Technical testing is the process of check whether or not your product works as it should.

The Delivery Stage

Clients will always make minor adjustments and tweaks to your final product.

Time Management

Scheduling is crucial to the success of a project.

Meet Deadlines

Chapter 6 - Colour

Colour is the first thing to attract your attention. Colour can convey a mood however in order to use colour effectively you need to know its power and how to manipulate it. Colours having meaning, mood and cultural associations.

Colour and Meaning

·         Red – can represent heat, fire, love, passion, blood, anger and revolution

I will be using red in my production but I’ll be using it to represent love and I’ll use to highlight important elements in my design to draw the viewer’s eye.

·         Yellow – highly visible and bright. It can represent sunshine, brightness, happiness and optimism.

I will use yellow to brighten up my production to keep in looking happy and light-hearted.

·         Orange – signifies warmth and suggests coziness.

This particular colour will bring my production to life and make it look energetic.

·         Blue – peaceful and calming colour.

I’ll use this colour slightly to keep the production colourful.

·         Green – nature and growth

·         Purple – luxury, bravery and wealth

I’ll use this colour when showing what my main character is like.

·         Pink – girls and make up and dolls

I’ll use this colour to show that this film is a chick flick.

The Artists Colour Model

The model consists of the colour wheel.

Primary Colours – Red, Yellow and Blue

Secondary Colours – Green, Orange and Violet

Tertiary Colours – Yellow-Orange, Red-Orange, Red-Violet, Blue-Violet, Blue-Green and Yellow-Green.

Neutral, Tints and Shades

Black and White – known as neutrals – mixing these add shades of grey in-between.

They can also be mixed with colour to make them lighter or darker.

Add black – you create a shade.

Add white – you create a tint.

Colour Theory

·         Monochromatic – is made up of a single colour that uses the neutrals to add variations in terms of contrast, lightness and darkness. However this colour scheme isn’t very vibrant so it wouldn’t work well in my production.

·         Analogous – typically uses 3 colours that are adjacent to one another

·         Complementary – colour pairs that are exactly opposite each other on the colour wheel. The colour are very vibrant and fun which is ideal for my production

·         Split Complementary

·         Triadic

·         Clashing Colours

Digital Colour Models

RGB – Red, Green, Blue (additive colours)

CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (subtractive colours) – used in print publishing

RGB is the most common colour model used to describe colour for anything that will be viewed on a screen.

Hue, Saturation and Brightness

·         Hue refers to the essential, pure, core component of a colour, with no adjustment in terms of lightness and saturation.

·         Saturation refers to the intensity of a hue. Pure colours – full saturation. Colours that appear to get lighter are increasingly desaturated.

·         Brightness refer to the lightness or darkness of a colour.

Chapter 4 - Animation

Animation is the process of sequencing drawings, computer generated artwork or photographs of models to create the illusion of a moving image. Animation can be hand-drawn, computer generated and model animation.

Traditional Animation

Traditional stop-frame animation was created by photographing a series of hand drawn image that were then transferred to film and played back to give the optical illusion of moving image.

Computer Animation

The tendency of untrained computer animators is to rely on the computer’s immense capabilities to exactly replicate real-world physics.

Animation Terms

·         Stop-frame animation – which is traditional animation.

·         Cell animation – it’s made up of images drawn or painted onto sheets of clear celluloid, which can then be layered on top of one another and moved independently, making the drawings more flexible so they can be reused in different scenes.

·         Rotoscoping – process of drawing over individual film or video frame to create lifelike animation.

Keyframes

Points where major changes occur in the animation – the most important, or ‘key’, moments of the animation – thus the term keyframes.

Tweening

This is the drawings that fill in all the frames in-between the keyframes

Interpolation

This term describes how change occurs between keyframes and how objects travel from one position to the next.

Velocity

This term describe the rate of change of an object’s position as it moves.

Motion Path

This is the path that the object travels along in an animation.

Animation Types

·         Straight-Ahead Animation – animator draws a series of frames in sequence, one after the other, until he/she reaches the end.

·         Pose-to-Pose Animation – animator starts by sketching out ideas and then storyboarding the complete animation before any production takes place. This is what I’ll be doing so my ideas can be approved and to make sure that that’s the idea I definitely want to go with.

·         Computer-Generated Animation – software applications allow you to animate your designs.

The Laws of Physics

·         Mass

·         Gravity

·         Weight

·         Direction Force

·         Arc

·         Damping Force

·         Acceleration and Deceleration

·         Resistance

The Rule of Animation

·         Timing – most important aspect of animation.

·         Squash and Stretch – for an object to look convincing, it must give when external forces are applied to it.

·         Exaggeration – a method of emphasising something to increase its significance or draw attention to it.

·         Staging – setting the scene involves attracting the viewer’s attention and focusing it on a particular subject or area of the screen before the action takes place.

·         Anticipation – also attracts the viewer’s attention to part of the screen but some anticipation occurs naturally.

·         Motivation – occurs when one action clearly shows that another action is about to take place.

·         Secondary Action – any type of action that results from the main action.

·         Overlap – when one action overlaps another – helps to make animations flow nicely and have natural rhythm.

·         Follow-Through – something that occurs in nature but is often exaggerated in animation

·         Balance – crucial for an animation to be convincing.

·         Rhythm – helps to work out the timing of your animation.

·         Camera Movement – can lend filmic conventions to your animations.

I will use exaggeration, staging and anticipation to direct the viewer’s attention to a particular part of the screen. This will help to make the main parts of my animation stand out.
I will use an upbeat rhythm to make my animation run smoothly but create a light-hearted mood.


     Chapter 7 – Editing

The Principles of Editing

·         Storytelling – best way to learn about story telling is to read stories and watch films. Then notice the patterns they follow, and try and see if you can use what you observe in your own work. Most stories begin by establishing the main characters and the location.

·         Establishing shot – similar to ‘setting the scene’. It tells the audience who the main characters are and what their location is and any other point factor they need to know. In abstract animation or graphic sequences, the establishing shot may introduce a company logo or some important message that you want the viewer to think about while watching your sequence.

·         Maintaining Flow – the flow needs to flow seamlessly after the story has been established. This is so the viewer is completely unaware of the technical process that has taken place. Creating a flowing story is more about creating a rhythm that people are comfortable with following.

·         Pacing and Rhythm – pacing – speed of the sequence. Fast pacing creates excitement, interest or tension – used a lot in action movies. Slow pacing – romantic film or period dramas. Pacing can vary over the duration of the piece. Rhythm is most associated with audio but can also occur visually.

·         Continuity – good continuity is achieved when the viewer hardly notices the cut in between the clips exist. Things to consider when trying to achieve a sense of continuity:

-       Direction – the direction of movement of elements in your shot can determine where the best cuts should be. Movement should almost always remain continuous and follow the same direction.

-       Cuts – when starting out its better to stick to simple cuts as much as possible.

-       Match cuts – when the editor matches one shot with another. Viewer’s eye accepts the transition between one shot and another because the movement and composition of the shot of the shot are continuous, even though the subject matter has changed.

-       Jump cuts – when the editor switch between different views of the same subject – creates a deliberate disjointed or jarring edit,

-       Cutaways – used as a kind of transition where editing from one shot to the next is problematic. A cutaway involves cutting to a completely separate but related scene.

-       L-cuts – happens when the editor cuts the audio at a different point from the video

-       Transitions – can be used to soften cuts and they are mostly used for two reasons.

1.     If a cut just won’t work or is too jarring, a cross-dissolve can ease one shot into another more smoothly.

2.     You can also use cross-dissolves to create a feeling that time has elapsed between one shot and another.

-       Dissolves – tend to be quite soft, since they transition between clips by fading tem in or out. Cross-dissolve – fades out outgoing clip and fades in incoming clip. Additive dissolve – combines the colour values of the clips to create a blend.

-       Wipes – pushes one image off the screen and pulls the next on.

-       Iris – one clip opens from a specified centre point to reveal another.

-       Map – uses an image map to determine how one clip blends with the next. You can choose between luminance maps, which use the luminance values to determine the transparency of the outgoing and incoming clips, and other channel maps, which allow you to use colour channels, alpha channels and other image channels to create the blend between clips.

Editing Applications

·         Avid

·         Final Cut Pro

·         Premiere Pro

Tools

·         Ripple – allows you to trim a clip by adjusting it’s in or out point, just like the selection tool does. It automatically prevents gaps in the timeline by dragging the clips adjacent to the edit point in the same direction as the edited in or out point.

·         Roll – instead of just moving the adjacent clip to close the gap it simultaneously trims the adjacent clip. If you’re trimming the out point to the first slip, this tool will extend the incoming slip by moving it’s in point to the same location in the timeline.

·         Slip – allows you to change the portion of footage used in a clip while maintaining its duration and position in the timeline.

·         Slide – allows you to move a clip along the timeline.
    Chapter 9 - Technical 

Video Format

There are different video formats depending on the geographic location where the finished movie will be viewed.

·         PAL (Phase Alternating Line) - For Europe 

·         NTSC (National Television Standards Commitee) - US, Canada, Mexico and Japan

·         SECAM (Sequence a memoir) - France

Each format had different rules regarding frame rate, aspect ratio, colour gamuts and field order which must be followed if you want your footage to look the same on any device.

-       Frame rates – is the number of frames that are transmitted for every second of footage. The higher the frame rate the smoother the footage. Your frames rates should be based on what your final output will be.

o    European PAL used 25 fps

o    NTSC use 29.92fps

o    Film frame rate is 24fps

The choice of frame rate is based on the data transfer rate of the delivery medium.

-       Timecode – When working with animation software, time is measured in frames. The footage is measured by the number of frames it is made up of. Most editing and motion graphic applications let you measure time in SMPTE timecode. This allows you to measure time a lot easier because it is divided into hours, minutes, seconds and frames.

-       Fields and Interlacing – each frame of footage shot using a video camera consist of two separate fields. These two fields are captured in sequence onto videotape and then combined when you capture the footage into your computer to make up one complete interlace frame.

-       Deinterlacing – this problem can be resolved by using a deinterlace tool on programs like Adobe After Effects. It’ll also interpolate the gaps to create a full picture so you can apply effects and transitions to individual fields rather than to the mixed frames, ensuring the highest quality possible on output.

-       Aspect Ratios

The two things to consider when talking about aspect ratio is Pixel and Frame.

o    Pixel Aspect Ratios – Pixel is an abbreviation of picture cell. The pixel aspect ratio determines the dimension of each individual pixel used to make up the complete picture. 

o    Square Pixels – computer display pictures using square pixels. Any original footage created in 3D software like Maxon Cinema 4D and illustration and image applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop usually consist of square pixels.

o    Non-square Pixels – the pixels used to make up an image on a video monitor or a television are not square but are rectangular in shape.

-       Frame Aspect Ratios – The frame aspect ratio describes the dimensions of the screen that the footage will be displayed on. 

o    Standard Definition TV – Most TVs have either 4:3 frame aspect ratio or in the case of wide screen TV a 16:9 frame aspect ratio. 

o    High-Definition TV – HD uses square pixels and has a fixed 16:9 resolution of 1920x1080.

o    Computer Displays – Computer displays resolution can be changed depending on the graphics display capabilities of each particular system. They can be 4:3 but more commonly 5:4. Players like QuickTIme an Windows Media will resize to fit the content. 

o    Film – digital film sizes range from 2K (2048 x 1556) to 4K (4096 x 3112).

Digital Video Platforms

There are many different types of platforms which allow you to view and edit videos on your computer, such as Apple's QuickTime and Microsofts Windows Media Player. 
Each platform supports a selection of different codecs for outputting video for a multitude of different delivery media.

·         Compression and Codecs – Codec is an abbreviation of compressor/decompressor. Codecs compress footage when its written to disk. Codecs are also responsible for decompressing the video when you try to view it. The same codec has to be on the computer as the one you use to compress when writing to disc or the footage will not play. 

·         Data Rates – the speed at which video frames can be played from a disk is also known as the data rate.

·         Compression – codecs work by compressing the footage when it is written to the hard disk or to videotape and then decompress it again when it is played back. There’s different ways of reducing the amount of data that the computer has to deal with.

Spatial Compression – affects one single frame at a time. It works by looking at each frame and reducing the information on a frame by frame basis

Temporal Compression – works by comparing the data across multiple frames. Temporal compression is divided into two categories:

Lossy – reduces the file size significantly but you may also use quality

Lossless – reduces the file size of your video without affecting the image quality.

Transparency

·         Mattes – a matte is an image or movie that tells the compositing software which areas in your image or movie should be transparent and which areas should be opaque.

·         Alpha channels – is a matte that is embedded into a separate channel image.

Straight alpha channels – has transparency information only in the alpha channel of the image.

Premultiplied alpha channels – is one or all of the RGB channels in the image will have used the alpha information to change the appearance of the image.

·         Masks – user-defined shapes that select areas of your image for transparency or opacity.

·         Layer modes – used creatively to combine images together without altering the opacity of the layers.

·         Add – adds the values from the selected layer to the underlying layers.