Puppet Tool

For the next project I had the idea of doing a type of puppet effect using video/ picture files of myself and some friends. At first I started looking up different options of animating my own face, body etc. and ended up getting the idea from this video tutorial on youtube and it takes you through the process step by step so its easier for people who are less experienced with graphic design like myself. Granted the guy that narrates the tutorial is annoying as hell so I had to mute it and follow along but it wasn't that difficult. He's got a bunch of other video tutorials that work with animating the body to do many things.

Bass/ Treble Tutorial

Last week in class we went over the steps to tracking the bass and treble with different types of layers. I was going through some tutorials on youtube and stumbled upon this step by step video that teaches you to makes a pulse logo that reacts to the audio (bass/treble). The videos twenty minutes so its a bit long but when you get the steps down its easy to do with any song!

Stromae's New music video

I honestly have never heard of this artist before and in reality have never been to passionate about French rap but this video came up on my newsfeed and it is pretty amazing. I'm in love with the style and the message is loud and clear. I'm not too deep into the twitter-sphere but I feel like this applies to most social media platforms. People can get easily wrapped up into social media to the point where it's comical that that it's called "social" media when in reality it makes us more inclusive in the real world.

The story is very clear too the point where it doesn't even need the subtitles. Definitely worth checking out.

The Dissolution of Communication

This video is an interesting application of clean, consistent design to express in an "infographic" way the theme of how social media creates the illusion of communication without actually achieving it, and in fact, most likely, creating in us a feeling of loneliness that grows as we collect more "friends" 

 You can probably figure out by now most of the techniques used in this piece, but the most interesting aspect is the use of color, composition and simple shapes to convey a powerful idea.

 

Re-Imagined Title Sequence

I'm a big fan of the British TV show QI and I saw this animation that was tweeted by the host, Stephen Fry. It's a title sequence for the show that was made by a professional studio. They didn't make it for any reason except that they are fans of the show and thought that the existing titles could be improved on.

The titles they made are good, but what interested me most was the idea behind it. First of all, it's cool that professionals still have time to make things just for fun. Also, it's fantastic publicity for the studio. Although there's no chance the show will change their titles, Studio Tinto got their work noticed by lots of people. Stephen Fry has over four million followers on Twitter.

Making fan made stuff for free might be a good starting point for new animators trying to get their work seen. It's also important to remember that social media can be great publicity.

So here's Studio Tinto's version of the titles.


QI Title Sequence (Re-imagined) from Studio Tinto on Vimeo.


And the show's official titles. I actually like this one better, but that might be because I'm so used to it.

Never.no and Vizrt to be partners

Over the past two years and especially during the current presidential race there has been a growing trend of integrating social media into live television. Viewers can tweet everything from questions for a political debate to comments about a live broadcast with the chance of it showing up on television screens across the nation. I'm sure a few of you, like myself have wondered exactly how this is done. As it turns out the system is much more complex than I first thought. Apparently television channels like the BBC and NBC out source this function to a variety of companies offering various options for creating an interactive environment for viewers by integrating  social media and mobile phone applications with live television. On top of the company who develops the technology to make this happen an entirely separate group of companies are hired to design the real time 3-D graphics you see on the screen. According to braodcastnewsroom.com two of the leading companies on both ends of this new technology have just announced a partnership that will not only be lucrative for them, but also has potential to make getting access to this technology a lot easier for clients. The website quotes the CEO of never.no (one of the companies involved in the partnership) as saying "Vizrt is the world leader in real-time 3D graphics, and never.no is the world leader in social TV solutions. Together we bring to the market an unmatched end-to-end solution to connect the audience directly to the action on TV." So, will we be seeing more and more social media on our television screens over the next couple of years? My guess it yes. Let's at least hope they come up with some good looking graphics to go with it!

After Effects Twitter

After Effects has a Twitter? YES!

I've noticed that they answer questions, redirect newcomers, and promote with the newest tutorials and videos to watch. @AdobeAE

Follow @CreativeCow too for the latest motion graphics tweets!

And there is also a @AfterEffectsHelp Twitter which is not associated with Adobe, but is still willing to help with any of your urgent questions!

http://twitter.com/#!/AdobeAE