Scott Pilgrim is Possible!

This week I'm posting about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This is a movie based on a graphic novel and because of that it incorporates a lot of graphic novel and video game elements as effects. I enjoy this movie quite a bit because of these elements and how the effect the look and feel of the movie. There's a lot of effects used to add excitement to the film by making it feel really fast paced and choppy. More importantly I feel like a lot of these effects are totally replicable with the skill set we now have in After Effects. I post a lot about effects like this, by that I mean effects we are able to replicate, but that's because I think it's really cool. Being able to look at a movie like this and say "I could do that" is pretty cool. granted it takes a lot of work to mimic anything like this but with the exception of the flaming sword I think it's all stuff that we've gone over in class. There's a lot of 2D elements layered over the video track, like the "LEVEL UP" graphic and the others like it. Those are things we could make in Photoshop or Illustrator and incorporate into  a movie with ease. I just can't believe how cool effects like this are so simple to create. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of time effect to put these things together but it's totally doable with what we know now.

Nuit Blanche - So many layers!

This week I decided to go back and view some of the older vimeo links I have amassed and I came across this classic. It's a short called "Nuit Blanche" and it is about the moment when strangers connect. This video is incredible to watch and the efforts taken by its creators to make this project come together must have been immense. This video really stood out to me because its the type of material I really want to learn from this class. (especially the slow motion water and glass shattering!)

Click to watch the movie here but make sure to check out the accompanying video of the process to create it below!

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Making Of Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.


-Samuel Dickinson

2D Image to 3D Animation

Hey guys,

So, I'm sure this is just the first of many different tutorials we'll all be posting throughout the semester. I'm also almost certain someone in past semesters has posted this exact same one, since it's such a simple concept with a great final product. A couple of months ago my friend was working on creating a reel for a documentary company he was hired by. While he had footage for many of the pieces they had produced, for some he only had images. I'm pretty sure he used this exact same tutorial to create the effect he eventually used in the reel. Even if you do have footage for a certain project, I think this is a really awesome way to incorporate your After Effects skills and introduce individual projects in your reel. The video starts off by showing you how to separate the different elements in a photo or other 2D image into layers, which we just happened to learn about on Monday. Then he pulls the whole image into After Effects to create the 3D simulation. Even though we haven't talked about using cameras in class yet he makes it seem like using them wont be that hard. Any of you who have taken topics in 3D know that controlling cameras in Maya isn't exactly easy. Don't worry, I have a feeling camera's are one of the many elements that will be much easier to use in this class than 3D. On a side note, if I could offer any advice to the rest of the class it's to follow this guys lead on naming each of your layers. If you haven't done much work with animation or Photoshop before this, trust me when I say that labeling each layer will make your life a lot easier. Especially when you're a weeks worth of work in and 100+ layers deep. Anyway hope you guys find this tutorial interesting, I know I did!

I couldn't figure out how to embed the video directly so just click on the text below. Sorry Arturo :-(.

Virtual 3D photos

Motion Graphics Showreel

So I came across this motion graphics guy's showreel from 2007 on Youtube. I haven't seen too many reels for motion graphics, so I don't have much to compare it to, but it seems pretty cool. The video description says that it's a mix of his personal and commercial stuff.

I think my favorite part is the recycling bin logo coming off the bin and the face effects that show up towards the beginning of the reel. He also seems to really like camera mapping (at least I think that's what it's called), the zooming in and out of a series of 2-D images to create a 3D world. He seems to do that a lot, especially with tree branches. The video that comes up first on his channel is like that as well- it uses what looks like paper cutouts stacked on top of each other to make a layered environment. I think it's cool that he has that as his favorite technique, it makes you recognize his work more easily. If I find any other reels that have patterns or techniques/looks that they seem to favor, I'll post them, too.