Text Animation Playing Around

I'm going to be straight with you: in the wake of finals month I have had a lot to do in a little time. I don't mean to push this class to the back, but my other classes and projects hold a lot of weight, unfortunately this one I've had to prioritize behind them. But today I turn in two final projects that will free me up immensely. My time on this project will speed up greatly henceforth,

Lately I've been just testing text animations to find "spacey" ones that fit the theme of time travel. Any suggestions for animations would be greatly appreciated.

Cat Character Alter Ego

I may make her a guide character, from line to line, sequence to sequence, to tie these sequences together if I feel the typography doesn't do it well enough, or if I simply have time to do it I want to do it. She ties into the concept because: A) She is my alter Ego in a world and time where everything is metaphorical, B) The concept implies chasing stars, and cats are notorious for being hunters/chasers, but mostly so in a playful manner (particularly a house cat such as this)

Should I include her, I will conclude her as my alter ego, emulating from me. Her conclusion will be in the last line of the poem in which she "shoots" through the night sky and forms the constellation Leo.

Practice Renders

Background OST possibility

Type Exploration

Poem for my final

Made of star dust.

1) When I close my eyes, I see the stars.

2) They guide me from this world,

3) forever burning my path through time.

4) Forever just within my embrace

5) it is my fate to chase them forever through the universe. 

6) Which star then, will I catch? Is it this one that I pursue?

7) Will it be the one that makes dream come true?

8) They tell me that I can’t catch a star. They are there and I am here.

9) But how can I be here, when surely I am there?

10) I run with them; I dance with them;

11) They lead me through the cosmos: 

12) through darkness,

13) and light,

14) cold, 

15) and warmth,

16) emptiness,

17) magnificence,

18) fields of color

19) and magic,

20) and all the splendor they tell me I can’t have.

21) Because I already have it, 

(29) and all I have to do is catch it

22) For it is I and I am it,

23) my future, my past, and my dreams.

24) Forever in front, forever behind,

25) Forever so close and to their sparkling gleams,

26) I cannot be without thine, 

(30) and thine cannot be without me

27) For they are the stars and I their dust,

28) Without them I cannot shine. 


This poem has several different meanings to me.

1) A literal and metaphorical shooting star: literally falling bits of space debris we call "shooting stars" happen in the blink of an eye, yet we so revere them; but once they're gone another one comes flying through, and if that one is more splendid than the last that one becomes the most current image in our mind. But a literal shooting star is not shooting through space at all, but rather a star is a beacon in the sky that only burns out at the time of its death - and until that day, it's light shoots further and further on into forever. Like our thoughts and feelings, the topical treatment of our desires may seem fleeting, as though we move from one thought/dream to the next in the blink of an eye - but true shooting stars, our true dreams, shine their light on everything around us and never burn out, representing the dreams within our heart we allow to grow with us as time moves on.

2) The English term for a famous person is a "star." Stars live long and bright but eventually burn out. Depending on their influence in the solar system(s) lives around them depends on how far and long their light shines from the time of their birth till years after their death - similar to a celebrity's life and influence after death. However, in this poem I'm referring to this idea, but not in relating it to celebrities, rather in relating it to our personal selves as stars in our own rights, making impacts and leaving behind influences during and after our lives - sometimes its bright, sometimes its dull, but like a star we are all made of star dust, so the cycle is all the same.

3) We are like the trail of dust following a shooting star - the dust trail is but a glow that emanates from the star, and trails behind it. It looks like the dust trail is chasing after the star, following it everywhere in the universe that it flies - and sometimes that's how we feel about our dreams: chasing them wherever they go no matter what it puts us through - yet like the star dust that's forever clinging onto the star, it feels like we may always be just chasing, or even being dragged behind, our dreams to no avail of catching them. When in reality, a star dust trail glows from the star, all around the star, and leaves this big beautiful trail behind it. Like the star, we can't truly direct where our dreams take us, how big and beautiful they are, how far our reach is, or how long we stay burning, but we can choose to pursue them and shine from them, through thick and thin, and all the things our dreams show us. Truly these are the desires of the heart because even though we look like we're just chasing them, really we are a part of them, and they a part of us.

PSA Final

This is the final product of my PSA assignment.

Progress Renders Part 1

PSA Pt. 3

• These are contact sheets of my blank puppet and subsequent character puppets. 
• Each puppet is comprised of 14 parts: 1) Head, 2) Torso, 3) Two hands, 4) Two feet, 5) Two upper arms, 6) Two forearms, 7) Two thighs, 8) Two Calves.
• Characters include the heroin and her daughter, the pirate and his son, the knight in shining armor and his daughter, and the lone girl in the bumper end scene.
• These puppets are all comprised of all 14 pieces (clothing is attached to each individual one) and are ready for rigging.

This is the robot that the heroin will defeat to save her daughter (disassembled, of course, to be assembled in After Effects as the animation process demands)

Practice with Duik Tutorial!

I made this practice run of Duik's rigging tutorial. Tutorial can be found here:

http://duduf.training/?p=736

This video compares Duik's puppet tools to After Effects built-in puppet tools. Clearly we can see whose tools reigns supreme.

PSA Progress Pt. 2

Project #3: PSA Concept

Please scroll all the way down for the full post.

This video will be created in honor of the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence. You can visit their website here:
http://www.nccadv.org/

My concept will be to create a simple cartoon with a drastic turn around: to the outside world what looks like a happy family can really be a house of horrors. We all know the child abuse ads in which a young person is/has been physically abused, but we are rarely see verbal abuse, which studies have shown is prevalent in as many as 35% of American households.

I intend to draw attention to the emotional, psychological side of verbal abuse. Even without using fists a parent can scare their children from ever trusting them for love, care, and support.

Even as children we all have the "fight-or-flight" instinct. When a child is verbally abused, or exposed to it, they often bottle it up and let it build. This often forces them to recede into their mind and find a happy place to escape the violence.

Video tutorial I will base my animation on: Ross Plaskow

FIRST SCENARIO:
A princess in a castle guarded by a dragon.
Knight in shining armor swoops in
Knight Fights off dragon
Knight saves princess
Princess hugs him tight

SECOND SCENARIO:
Young boy is fighting off undead pirates
He's losing, looks scared
Pirate captain swoops in
Captain fights them all off with young boy by his side
They celebrate their victory
Boy jumps into his arms

THIRD SCENARIO:
Little girl is in danger (house on fire? stuck in a tree?)
Super hero (a woman) swoops in
Heroin saves her
They fly off together
Little girl looks very happy

FINAL SCENARIO:
(Reality sets in)
A little girl is sitting in a dark corner
Hands over her ears, head down
Tears dripping from her face
Parents fighting, doors slamming - graphic dialogue, very hurtful language
One parents starts shouting about the child
Child curls up even tighter,
It becomes apparent the wonderful fantasies were all happening in her head

Message pops up on screen along the lines of:
"Your child needs a hero. Don't be the monster."
"Don't be the monster. Be their hero."
"Be their hero. Not the monster."

Inspiration videos:

Marisa S. Interstitial Final Product - PLEASE WATCH IN 720HD

Progress pt. 2 Interstitial PLEASE WATCH IN HD

Progress pt. 2 PLEASE WATCH IN HD

New practice video. Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI0QCOP_ASE (parts 1 - 5) https://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeaftereffects/particle

Interstitial Progress - PLEASE WATCH IN HD!

At this point I was going to animate this character-rig. But there are three reasons why I have made the decision not to.
1) I have used high res graphics. That alone has slowed down rendering. Character rigging? Takes longer than I thought.
2) It didn't have the feel I wanted. I intended for this interstitial to have a dream-like quality. I was not achieving that as easily as I thought.
3) this interstitial is supposed to be our selling point. My selling point? My favorite art form is concept art. It's raw and beautiful. Completely animating this character made it feel "too finished." I feel that didn't represent me. I will be incorporating the techniques used to make this "ember" composition into the techniques taught in the following (five part) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueIRPMBP0Zk

Interstitial Name Process pt. 1 - Write-On Name

Interstitial Process pt. 1

Essentially I am creating myself in my own little world; one which encompasses a sort of imaginative fantasy only achieved in ones dreams. I use lights in all of my decoration and revere it atop most forms of art. If you're ever seen the Disney film Tangled you know that paper lanterns are a symbol of finding and pursuing ones dreams; I wish to incorporate this into my interstitial as since my Disney College Program my drive in life has been to remember my dreams and pursue my passions.

My process will be to animate this Adobe Illustrator version of myself and the lantern. These are my rigging characters. This project will be completed in Adobe After Effects.

Assignment #2 Tutorial Practice

Monty Python and the Holy Graphics - Project #1 FINAL CRITIQUE

Motion Graphics Art 3312 - 101 - Project #1

This is an animated typographical rendition of the "French Taunting" scene from the 1975 British comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, made with Adobe After Effects. Out of the many memorable scenes from the film, I chose this one because it has very colorful language which paints a picture on it's own without needing the use of picture itself.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was originally a film later adapted into a Broadway production in 2005. Like the other Monty Python films and television series, Holy Grail was produced to be a mock-stage play, a film which relied heavily on less-than-sincere theatrical techniques, including stage left-to-right setting, audience-oriented voice projection (with the occasional breaking of the fourth wall,) and re-purposed actors and props. The actors lay on the cheesiness even thicker with their unconventional acting and outrageous character development. In a nutshell, you could say the film was made to be a 'bad play' but achieved just the opposite in ratings and reviews, with a very dedicated fan following.
I made this piece to resemble the poor but genuine quality of the film, with wacky stage presence, unnecessary incidents, and the occasional malfunction of the set. If there was anything I'd have done differently, it's spent time making the words come to life with more 3D effects and shadows to make them appear as if on a stage themselves.
Enjoy.

First Critique

Due to recent events in life, this is all that I have done of this project because I've had to rate other classes on a higher priority than this one in the tightened time frame I've had. But now life is back to normal and I will be caught up to speed on this project with this coming weekend. So far, this is what progress I have made on "Monty Python and the Holy Graphics," a word play on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.