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.

The Secret Life of the Burrowing Owl

Came across this video on Vimeo. I thought it was such a cool and unique way to do a short informational documentary, and keep in fresh and interesting. I loved the idea of animating animals over actual footage of their inhabitants. It also seems like a good way to shoot something like this on a low budget, since you don't have to try and hunt down this animal and wait for good action shots.

At the beginning, many of the animals didn't have shadows, which made them seem like they're on a different plane than the background, and the walking was a little robotic at times, but overall I felt this was done very well. The owl especially.

What's interesting to me is the amount of planning and visualizing shooting this real footage must have taken. To imagine exactly where the owl would be had to have been a tough situation, and to make sure you got all of the shots to animate over definitely took some time and precision. Kudos to whoever script supervised this...

Anchorman! And green screen

So I hope you guys are all as excited as I am for Anchorman 2!

But for something actually pertaining to class, let's talk green screen. Forrest Gump was the example Arturo used in class of putting yourself into old footage. For my project I am inserting myself into an old Three Stooges cartoon so it is similar in the style with black and white footage. The thing that makes the integration realistic in Forrest Gump is the grainy feel. Forrest fits right in the scene, the lighting on him is the same as the other characters and Forrest even casts a shadow on JFK as he shakes his hand. Paying attention to those little details in the scene is what makes the integration look realistic. I hope mine looks this good!

Green Screen

So for our next project we are placing ourselves in a movie or video that we get to choose.  I found this guy on youtube and i thought these videos were pretty cool.  In the first one, most of the images are static and you can see how he cut the picture into layers to place himself inside the city.  The first video also has him waling through a field of butterflies, and you can tell he created all the shadows to look real.

After watching the second video you can tell how much better he has gotten from doing tutorials.  He did an excellent job with the lighting.  Without the lighting, i do not think the meteor scene would look real.

keep watching and reading tutorials and in no time, you'll be a pro.

So last week in class we learned the basics of green screen and color keying and i thought that it would be helpful if i found a tutorial to create shadows.  Without shadows, it simply looks like your person or object is floating.  This will help you make the object 3D as well.  It is another simple tutorial, hope you guys enjoy!

                                                 USE THIS LINK if the video does not load.