After Effects Text Tutorials

I found some After Effects tutorials that describe how to use the Text tool. I thought they could be useful for those working on their Title assignments. Ranging through a number of different styles, the tutorials cover many different kinds of text effects.






















For my title sequence, I'll probably end up using the jitter type or maybe the handwriting tutorials. I think either of them make the most sense for the good dinosaur.

Composited Typography

One of my favorite kinds of motion graphics is the use of text. Previously, I had written about some awesome Kinetic Typography, but I left out the whole idea of Compositing Typography! This idea of Tracking the Cameras Movement and adding in poignant text that relates to the Message.
I find the message is much stronger when the main ideas are highlighted with motion graphics. I know I've seen this in many different places but most recently, I've run into videos by Prince Ea:

Perhaps you've seen one or two of his videos. His videos perfectly demonstrate what I was talking about. I think the paring of Text, Slam Poetry, Cinematography, and Music combine to give messages a whole new dimension.

Many of Prince Ea's major projects have been in collaboration with Motion Graphic Artist Hodja Berlev and as it turns out most of his work is in After Effects. I find what he does really fascinating, and I think getting the chance to watch over his shoulder may be one of the coolest experiences.

I think this team in general, is doing a lot of good in the world of social media, and I think that if I could just be a part of what they're doing, the experience would be awesome. I would love to help them spread the words they're saying, and maybe even help in a larger more physical way.

This is the kind of thing I would love to do.

Kinetic Typography

The Perfect Cup of Tea by George Orwell from Luís Sá on Vimeo.

I was playing around with a number of basic After Affects tutorials the other day when I came across one for kinetic typography. Kinetic typography is when animation is used to express ideas and emotion via text. Above is an outstanding example. It's eye-catching and entertaining.

Adding movable text to something that's usually static is a great way of capturing attention--especially when the message or topic it might be somewhat boring or standard otherwise. It's a fun way to potentially introduce something... Or someone. All of a sudden I've got this great idea for a "welcome to my personal website" type video. How impressive would that "hello" be?

Here is basic tutorial I think a lot can be learned from:

Kinetic Typography

I have always loved watching the creativity of kinetic typography projects. Kenetic typography is the idea of taking words and animating them.

FROM PAPER TO SCREEN from Thibault de Fournas on Vimeo.

For the most part these projects are timed to music:

or sometimes music videos:

Some projects have some really interesting messages and tell really beautiful stories:

ChildLine: First Step from Buck on Vimeo.

But I think that this style of media is the most powerful because it forces your audience to read and watch you message in a one of a kind way. Similar to the way Prezi adds interest to a presentation, Kinetic Typography makes any poem, lyric, or written work come to life in it's own way.

Inspiring

After our attempts to animate our names in class, I felt good about what I had done. It was exciting. Then, I saw a few advertisements on TV that inspired me to look up some real motion graphics designing. I came across this website that showed 25 different motion graphics animations and was completely blown away by what I saw. It made my name look like a drawing done by a two-year-old child. So much for feeling good about getting my name to write itself across the screen. I know there is a lot to learn, probably more than we could ever possibly learn in this class, but it is inspiring to see the complexity and beauty of professional work in the industry.

I just want to share a couple that really caught my eye out of these 25:

The end of this video blew my mind. It had been completely designed with the entire speech written out  in different ways, but all on one "canvas." Then to match the pacing of the talk and incorporate not only camera motion over the words, but zooms in and out and different twists for emphasis, must have taken quite a while. The animation added to some of the comedic tone and phrases and made the viewer actually read the most important parts of the speech. It really made the whole video come alive.

Speaking of which, this one was my next favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnKirux5EPA

Unfortunately, the video wouldn't load on the blog, but I encourage you to check it out. It is a commercial for Clear Water and Unicef. The animated water was fantastic and it was interesting how even the water bubbles seemed to have child-like shapes and spirits to their movements. In this we also see the importance of sound, even in animation. Without the sound, I would never have been as drawn into what was happening. This was created in a way that made me feel like a child again. I'm still smiling from watching it.

Finally, there is a third lesson learned from watching these examples:

Motion graphics is not just about adding cool explosions or aspects to a video or film. It is about telling a complete story. Just like any other medium, we can use motion graphics to pull an audience in, tell a story, and reveal a conclusion. Only with this medium, we can do really, really, really cool, shocking and amazing things! I encourage everyone to go and watch some of the videos on this website:

http://creativeoverflow.net/25-amazing-motion-graphics-animationsvideos/
(written by Harry Jay Clement)

Even the examples that aren't ads seem to tell a story through the motion graphics and the sound. They are inspiring. I hope that the next time I animate my name, maybe a lot later in the semester after we have learned more, I can make it seem more like a story and less bland.

by Amber Capogrossi

Cool Typography

I just wanted to share something I ran across on Vimeo. It's more like an advertising video. But I think the way it animates the words and objects in the video just flows really smoothly together. There are so many cool videos like this if you go to the Vimeo website and look under staff picks. However, the Vimeo media player as we all know has some technical difficulties.

Eckert Caine - Bridge from ale.pixel on Vimeo.

"I'm Mad as Hell" Speech

Forgot to embed the video. It's a really good video, so if you have time, watch it. It's a good speech, anyway. Sorry for the extra post.

Kinetic Typography

While I was working on the Dot Dot Dot re-creation, my friend showed me a cool animation that was done in a similar style. It's an animation of what's written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (I think).

I don't think you could make all of the elements in After Effects (like the birds or the lines turning into figures). I think you would have to either do all of this in Flash (like the original Dot Dot Dot animation) or create certain elements in Flash or Photoshop and import them into After Effects in order to complete the video. But the movement of the text and basic shapes is definitely do-able.

The other video I found that was done in this style took the "I'm Mad as Hell" speech (I can't remember what movie it's from) and turned it into kinetic typography while playing the original audio underneath. I think this was the first example of kinetic typography I had seen before finding the Dot Dot Dot video. I really like that style of animation and I'd like to do my own, but I have no idea what pre-existing audio or text to base it off of. If anyone has any ideas, let me know...