Amateur at After Effects.

This past week I have been experiencing Adobe After Effects and I have to say it isn’t as scary as I had originally though it would be. Although I have had friends and classmates who have utilized After Effects within their projects, I never though I would one day attempt to tackle this program myself.

After my first official week of After Effects, I can say for myself that it is one hell of a program that where you can do almost anything you set your mind to. Granted, watching Video CoPilot tutorials has been a huge service to me and has personally made After Effects more manageable to comprehend. Although I still need the aid of tutorials I do honestly feel as if I am learning something that will hopefully help me in the future of me career.

But enough about me! I want to talk about one of my favorite animated shorts. Remember that short about the older gentlemen that is in a very heated game of chess with what seem to be his arch nemesis? Yeah Pixar’s “Geri’s Game” (yes, I had to Google the title.) has been and is still one of my most favorite animated shorts of all time. It’s just so comical and the twist at the end was just astounding. So yeah, refresh your memory and take another look.

Short is Sweet

Like many of my peers in the class who are still merely in awe of some of the larger and more ambitious projects we've seen as we scour the Internet for examples, references, and inspiration, I feel overwhelmed. Even a project as long as a minute still involves hours of work.

That's why I felt comforted when I found this blog post that showcases the results of a 5 second sandcastle building contest. Below are some of my favorites that highlight the fact that you don't need to create the next feature animation, especially when you're first starting out.

Sandcastle from Zublime on Vimeo.

 

There's An App For That from Mantas Bačiuška on Vimeo.

King For a Day - GSG 5 Second Project from Quin Barclay on Vimeo.

5 Second Project - Sandcastle from Sam Jones on Vimeo.


(VIA: GREYSCALE GORILLA)

TomSka Animations - asdfmovie

YouTube user, TomSka, made a series of random shorts that could get you chuckling if you enjoy animated people doing silly things. The series I'm talking about is asdfmovie. The name is as odd as the 6 episodes he's produced so far. The episodes have been made in Flash, simple, yet it works.

Here's the first episode to check out:

Each video is around 1-2 minutes each and more crazier than the last. The ideas used in each episode shows what would happen if you think outside the box.

Pixar: 'Knick Knack'

'Knick Knack' is a short animation by Pixar. It was created in November 1989 and shown in many animation shows. John Lasseter created this short animation. He said it wasn't Disney coming in and telling them they had to do this, he just did it because he wanted to. 'Knick Knack' was later re-released in 2003 and in 2006 but Lasseter made a few changes to it to make it more family oriented.

I love this short animation because the storyline seems so simply but it is so entertaining. 'Knick Knack' is about a snowman in a snow globe trying to escape to join the other souvenir toys at a party. Here are some storyboards for the animation.






Here is the original short: