Jon Krasner - Chapter 4 - Motion Graphics in the Environment
New technologies are playing a much greater role. Video Wall Systems which display large images without compromising screen resolution has become very popular. Benefits of video wall system is that it is scaleable, interchangeable, and allowing many screen sizes with both horizontal and vertical configurations.
LEDs unlike LCDs can be built to any size and aspect ratio.
Immersive environments shape a sense of place by providing order, ambience, comfort and insight to physical or virtual space. They are an assembly of architecture, interior design, images, motion graphics and sound that provide aesthetic and meaningful experiences and enhance social interation. They are designed to combine physical and imaginery worlds in which text, moving images etc can respond to humans.
In recent years, motion graphics has played an important role in interactive educational installments.
In retail space, immersive environments can be used to create branding experiences by putting guests into new exotic worlds.
Digital signage is one of the fastest growning marketing opportunities. They range from sports scoreboards, to giant screens which are placed in shopping centres.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 9 - Conceptualising
Assessment is the first stage of conceptualising. It begins with a clear objective. In then moves to targeting the audience which again, should be clearly defined. Next you do thorough research on your topic as it is the key to effective communication. When conceptualising, you have to be aware of the restrictions - what you can and cant do. There are limits such as on the use of material, equipment etc. no matter the dealine, you have to make sure your work is realistic.
Then moving on to image style. There are many types to choose from, such as, photographic, typographic, abstract etc. These can take on different visual styles. Techniques such as cropping, lighting, colour correction etc can all enhance the expression you are trying to create.
Formulation - Forming creative ideas
Brainstorming will allow you to explore ideas further and generate new ones. Sketch new ideas, write them down, record them as they come to you as they could make interesting work. Creativity block happens to a lot of people, when their mind goes blank and cannot think of any ideas. There are many ways to help your brain start generating ideas again such as games. Think of original ideas to make your work interesting and different. Look an inspiring artists to help you with your work. Take risks and be different. Experiment with different ideas to see what works best.
Once ideas have been formed, they must be cultivated through evaluation, selection, clarification and refinement.
Storyboards are the next step. They help establish narrative structure, shows when events will take place and unfold. Will identify editing and post production that will need to take place.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 10 - Animation process creating motion
Frame by Frame animation
Individual images that are displayed in a quick succession to create persistence of vision - the illusion of continuous motion.
Flip books were one of the first frame by frame animation techniques.
Frame by frame animations include two types of frames - keyframes and inbetween frames.
Unlike frame by frame animation, interpolation software can calculate intermediate data between key frames to produce linear or non linear uniform motions.
Spatial interpolation or path animation involves animating its geometry, colour, transparency or surface properties.
Temporal interpolation describes how elements move through time.
Velocity is a temporal property that can be controlled by governing the distance between keyframes as well as through the technique of time stretching.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 8 - The sequential composition designing in time
Forms of continuity
The application of continuity editing to motion graphics can allow you to be clear in your storytelling and delivery of information.
Spatial continuity
Used to create onscreen and offscreen space in a way that keep up the viewers subconscious map - in other words, the viewers sense of where things are in the frame and constant.
Temporal Continuity
Controls the timing of the action and contributes to the plots manipulation of story time.
Action Continuity
Action is carried smoothly across cuts and transitions to keep up both spatial and temporal continuity.
Forms of discontinuity
Discontinuity editing is guided more by emotion rather than story. Used to create anxiety or anticipation.
Spatial discontinuity
Allows you to reconstruct an environment that partially relies on the viewers imagination. Can be used to establish the characters viewpoint or intensify the emotional impact.
Temporal discontinuity
Allows you to create deliberate ambiguity, build tension and intensify emotional impact.
Montage
The technique of montage can be used to help audience connect or identify with the subject matter.
Conceptual - involves juxtaposition
Sequential - tells stories in short hand by condensing events.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 1 - Drawing
Drawing Materials
As i am a beginner when it comes to drawing, i have no certain preferences of drawing materials. Angie Taylor suggests beginners experiment with all different materials to see what is preferred and what materials give you certain effects. Its good to find your own style rather than being swayed by others choices.
Sketchbooks
Not many people find the time to practice drawing. Angie TAylor recommends that you should carry a small book around with you so you can practice in your spare time - a spare 5 minutes on the train will benefit you.
Pencils
There are many different pencils to play around with, its good to try them out to see what gives a better effect for what your creating.
The traditional woodencased pencils range from 6H to 6B. The lead of the pencil is measured by letters and the numbers indicate the hardness and blackness of the graphite thats used to make the lead. The letter H presents the hardness and the letter B stands for blackness.
Harder graphite creates sharper lines but the harder the graphite the lighter the pencil mark.
Softer graphite creates softer and darker lines.
Pens
Some people enjoy drawing with pens. There are also a variety of pens you can use to draw.
Marker pens can be used to blacken large areas and finer roller ball pens can be used to create detail.
Paints
Watercolours - water soluble, translucent.
Masking fluid - used to stop paint bleeding over white areas.
Gouache (poster paint)- applied using very little water. Opaque.
Acrylic - Flexible. Can be watered down and sponged or used very thick.
Erasers
Erasers come in very handy to undo the mistakes you have made but they can also be used as a drawing tool. You can use the eraser to 'draw' on a shaded piece of paper.
Basic Drawing
Each object can be broken down into simple shapes such as a square, rectangle, triangle or circle or a combination of these shapes. Start learning to draw by looking for these shapes and basic colours and patterns.
Freehand sketching
Its difficult to draw a circle free hand. To practise, lightly draw over an already drawn circle to get a feel to the motion used. Make sure everything's well balanced.
Adding depth
This can be done by use of shading and 'light'. It can make the object look more real and appear solid.
Directional lighting
To determine the direction of shading, you have to decide where you think the light source would be placed.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 5 - Type
What is Typography
Typography is used to describe a design concerned with type. It is the art of selecting typeface, sizes, colours and textures onto pages or screens and alignments of words and letters.
Fonts: styled collection consisting of the full alphabet, numbers, and various other characters such as punctuation.
Typeface: Collection of fonts
Character: single units that can represent letters or numbers.
Italics - used for supporting texts like captions and quotes.
Special characters - used to differentiate certain characters from the rest.
Ligatures - When a combination of characters forms an unpleasant shape.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 9 - Technical
Video Format
There are different video formats depending on the geographic location where the movie will be viewed.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line) - For Europe
NTSC (National Television Standards Commitee) - US, Canada, Mexico and Japan
SECAM (Sequence a memoir) - France
Each format had different rules regarding frame rate, aspect ratio, colour gamuts and field order which must be followed if you want your footage to look the same on any device.
Frame rates
Frame rates is the number of frames that are transferred every second of footage. The higher the frame rate the smoother the footage. Your frames rates should be based on your location.
European PAL used 25 fps
NTSC use 29.92fps
Film frame rate is 24fps
The choice of frame rate is based on the data transfer rate of the delivery medium.
Timecode
When working with animation software, time is measured in frames. The footage is measured by the number of frames it is made up of.
Most editing applications allows you to measure time in SMPTE timecode with lets you measure time easily as it is divided up into hours seconds and frames.
Fields and Interlacing
Footage shot on video cameras consists of two separate fields which as slotted together to make one image. These two fields are captures in sequences onto videotape and then combined when you capture the footage into your computer to make up one interlaced frame.
Deinterlacing
Programmes like Adobe After Effects can deinterlace and separate the fields.
Aspect Ratios
The two things to consider when talking about aspect ratio is Pixel and Frame.
Pixel Aspect Ratio
Pixel is an abbreviation of picture cell. The pixel aspect ratio determines the dimension of each individual pixel used to make up the complete picture.
Square Pixels
Computers display pictures using square pixels. Any footage created in programmes like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop etc usually consists of square pixels.
Non Square Pixels
Video monitor or television use rectangular pixels rather than square.
Frame Aspect Ratio
The frame aspect ratio describes the dimensions of the screen that the footage will be displayed on.
Standard Definition TV
Most TVs have either 4:3 frame aspect ratio or in the case of wide screen TV a 16:9 frame aspect ratio.
HD TV
HD uses square pixels and has a fixed 16:9 resolution of 1920x1080.
Computer displays
Computer displays resolution can be changed. They can be 4:3 but more commonly 5:4. Players like QuickTIme an Windows Media will resize to fit the content.
Digital Video Platforms
There are many different types of platforms which allow you to view and edit videos on your computer, such as Apple's QuickTime and Microsofts Windows Media Player.
Each platform supports a selection of different media delivery as well as QuickTime and Windows Media which are the standard ones on most computers.
Compression and Codecs
Codec is an abbreviation of compressor/decompressor. Codecs compress footage when its written to disk. Codecs are also responsible to compression the footage when you try to view it on a platform (QuickTime/Windows Media). The same codec has to be on the computer as the one you use to compress when writing to disc or the footage will not play.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 7 - Editing
Video editing developed from film editing, which was physically cutting the film at certain places and pasting it together to either change the time events take place in a story or to change the perception of the story.
Video editing was a similar process. Editing performed directly on tape had its downfalls as it could not be 'undone'. This type of editing is known as Linear Editing as the process is basically pasting clips one after the other in a sequence. Linear editing can also be mixing two videos onto a third tape.
Non linear editing allows you to work backwards, forwards or even randomly. It was a non destructive way of editing footage and viewing it in any order you like.
The principles of editing
Storytelling
Editing has been made simpler since the introduction of Apples Final Cut Pro and Adobes Premiere Pro. Cutting footage was not about just putting random footage together but its about telling the story.
Establishing Shot
Establishing shot is basically setting the scene. It tells the audience who the characters are, where the location is and any other important facts.
In abstract animation, an establishing shot may introduce the company logo and any important messages you want the viewers to think about.
Motion Graphics pieces arent usually very long so you dont have much time to make an establishing shot very clever.
Maintaining flow
From the establishing shot, you need to make it flow easily so the viewers are unaware of the technical process that has been done to achieve this. MTV famously broke this rule.
Pacing and Rhythm
PAcing refers to the speed of the sequence. Fast pace can be used to build tension or excitement. Slow pace can be used to create an uncomfortable or awkward feeling or they are also used in romantic films.
When editing you can create some sort of rhythm through the use of varied length of shots and transitions in a sequence.
Continuity
Continuity is when editing is so smooth that the cuts in clips go unnoticed by the audience.
Direction
Direction of movement can determine when to add the best cuts.
Match Cut
Match cut is when the editor matches the action from one shot to the other.
Jump Cut
Jump cut is when the editor switches between different views of the same object, usually to create a deliberate jump in editing.
Cutaways
Cutaways are used to break up a scenes thats too long or maybe boring.
L-cuts
L-cuts happen when the editor cuts the audio at a different point to the video.
Transitions
Dissolves
Dissolves are quite soft transitions, the slowly dissolve as the next clip comes in.
Wipes
Wipes pulls a new clip onto the screen while pushing the old one off. It is often used to symbolise a change in time.
There are different styles of wipes, just as a clock wipe.
Iris
An iris transition is similar to a wipe but instead of moving the clip of it brings in a new one from the centre of the screen.
Editing Tools
Ripple - allows you to trim a clip from its in or out point.
Roll - Trims adjacent clips.
Slip- Allows you to change the portion of footage in a clip while maintaining its duration in the timeline
Slide- Allows you to move a clip along the timeline
Jon Krasner - Chapter 11 - Motion Graphics Compositing
Motion Graphics compositing allows you to effortlessly incorprate many types of content into a uniform, mulit layered space to create unusual, visual relationships.
Blend - allows you to determine how the pixel information of images blend to create different effects
Keying - is eliminating a selected colour tone
Splines - allow a alternative technique of masking unwanted parts of an image
Colour correction - allows you to change and enhance certain colours to repair mismatched colours
Jon Krasner - Chapter 7 - The Pictorial Composition
Compositional principles can be used to express concepts and emotions to clearly and effectively communicate messages.
Design principles such as unity
figure and ground - surface area of a composition.
negative space - positive space being the areas occupied in a composition, negative being the unoccupied or empty space
hierarchy - allows you to direct a viewers attention throughout a frame on an informational and visual level
juxtaposition - placement of two or more elements that are un/related in close proximity to suggest a new meaning
and superimposition - overlaying one element on top of another
can be used to create space.
Space can be suggested rather be shown and defined by physical boundaries.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 5 - Motion Literacy - Choreographing Movement
Motion literacy invloves the understanding of spatial properties, such as positioning, scaling, orientation and direction.
These all determine the physical relationshop between the elements in the frame.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 6 - Images, Live-Action, and Type
Visual Properties
Form is the most basic element of visual communication. Graphic, photographic or typograohc form can be used to symbolise and suggest ideaas. It can provide certain emphasise on important information and can stragetically direct the readers eyes in all works.
Abstract form - Modern art was found on the exploration of pure, non objective abstraction and the basis of visual experience was the perceptual effect of form and color on the viewer.
3D form - 3d modelling and animation has been used in motion graphics since the 1970s. Today the combination of 2d and 3d works has become a practice in film titles.
Value and Colour
Value measures the lightness and darkness of an images tones or colours. It can help convey messages by creating focal points in a composition. Colour has the capability of creating a mood and atmosphere. It can symbolise ideas, express emotion to gain a desired response from an audience.
The components of colour are:
Hue - denotes colours with regard to their identification
Saturation - measures a hues purity and intensity
Value - describes the colours brightness
Each colour can evoke different emotions, such as red can indicate anger or passion, yellow can indicate happiness. Each colour also has its own culture association, for example white in India represents death whereas black in England represents death.
Live Action Considerations
Over the past decade, live action conent has had a greater presence in Motion Graphics work.
Factors that should be considered when working with live action:
form or context of project
filmic properties
cinematic properties
Type
Kinetic forms of typography can convey emotions through graphic impact and movement. Type can now be perceived as physical shapes that create complex semiotic experiences through metaphor and emotion.
When choosing typeface, be sure to choose a type that appropriately conveys and expresses the message you are giving.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 1 - A Brief History of Motion Graphics
The idea of animation began long ago when drawings where found in the caves which would symbolise movement, such as lots of legs to show running.
Animation would not be possible without the understanding of the human eye. Our brain is tricked into perceiving a rapidsuccession of different still images as a continous picture - this is known as persistence of vision.
Optical inventions first began when optical devices emerged throughout Europe to provide animated entertainment. Games where created which allowed elements to be moved across a stage or lit from behind to create a sense of depth of field.
In the 1600's a Magic Lantern was created. It involved the projection of hand painted or photographic slides which were moved and light up by fire which created a projection.
In Britain, Louis and Auguste Lumiere managed to develop the first mass produced, camera printer projector of Modern Cinema where for the first time in history, cinematographic films were projected on a large screen for the paying public to watch.
During the 1950s Saul Bass became the movie industrys leading film title innovator.
New developments also led to the concept of creating drawings that were specifically to move on a big screen.
Felix the cat (created by Australian cartoonist Pat Sullivan, animated by Otto Mesmer) was the first animated character to have an identity on tv screens.
The idea of creating a likeable character took the audience away.
During the 1960s Friz Frelengs opening cartoon for Pink Panther became icons of pop culture.
Early cinematic techniques that were used in experimental avante garde film and title sequences became adopted in television.
Jon Krasner - Chapter 2 - Motion Graphics in film and tv
Film Titles
'Opening credits are designed to create the context of a film and establish expectations about its atmosphere and tone' Page 26
This is why i have chosen to make my opening fun and uplifting as would the rest of the film. I want to use a fun colour palette and have a comedic feel to the short sequence.
Motion Graphics have started to appear much more in music videos such as Gnarls Barkley - Run
Angie Taylor - Chapter 8 - Communication
Visual communication is one of the most important aspects of a designers job.
I will take into consideration the story, theme, symbolism, meaning etc when planning my piece.
Be careful if using ambiguous imagery as it might not work and come across how you expect or want it to.
I, myself, think i am a kinesthetic and visual learner, mainly kinesthetic. I prefer a more hands on approach and feel that i remember more when i physically do something myself. I find if i listen to a person talking, i dont remember as much and find i drift off into my own thoughts. I like to explore new things myself and come up with lots of different ideas.
Pitching Tips
*Outline design process rather than presenting a single finished design
*Sell your services - speak about why your unique, how you come up with ideas and your team work skills
*Start with the most impotant info so it stays fresh in their minds
*Recap important factors again at the end
*Be snappy and to the point
Angie Taylor - Chapter 6 - Colour
'Colour is the first thing to attract your attention' Page 224
Colours are interesting to look at and fun to experiment with. There are so many colours to choose from - its sometimes difficult to decide out of the variety of choices.
Ill be focusing on colours for screen design rather than print design.
Colour can be used to convey a mood to the viewer as well as make the work look more pleasing.
Each colour has a meaning, mood and cultural association, which is why the colours i use have to be chosen purposefully.
Colours i would like to experiment with for my work are:
Yellow - as it represents sunshine, brightness, happiness and optimisum. - I want to give off an upbeat, happy, comedic vibe as this id the genre of film i am going for.
Purple and Orange - portrays rich life - wealth and luxury. warmth, coziness, cheerful and energetic.
Blue-(Dull) - poorer life - colder, winter
(bright) - outside - calm, peaceful
As my target audience are females, i am going to use softer colours as they are more attractive to that gender.
The Artists Colour Model
Refer back to the colour wheel to learn which colours compliment each other.
Colour Theory
Monochromatic - lack of contrast and isnt so vibrant - this wouldnt work for me as i want my work to be vibrant
I would like to experiment with complementary colours which are found directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. This would help me create vibrant colour schemes that are at the same time in harmony.
Digital Colour Model
RGB used to describe colours used on screen.
I would like to experiment with different hues, saturation and brightness of the same colour.
I also know to be careful when choosing my adjacent colours.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 2 - Planning
Important stages
*Break down brief into parts
*Research each part in detail so you have enough knowledge on doing whats asked of you
*Come up with a rough idea - ensure you will be meeting the briefs' criteria
*Experiment with idea - add more details, look at inspirations, take photos, books etc to give you ideas for your own work
*Sketch ideas - allows you to be more creative in other ways
*Brainstorm - try different ideas and elaborate on the ones you do have
*Create a moodboard so you know your on track meeting requirements of brief - such as colour, fonts, logos etc
*After approved, start to storyboard. Storyboard will keep changing.
*Start off with a rough design, simple with room for addition - approve then expand
*More detail, show colour, camera movement ideas - approve
*Digitalise work - create using computer software such as Illustrator in my case
*Manage time carefully - be sure to make my own deadline and stick to them so i can make sure i am on track
Angie Taylor - Chapter 4 - Animation
Animation is the process of sequencing drawings, computer generated artwork or photographs of models to creat the illusion of a moving image.
Animation is hand-drawn, computer generated and model.
It started as an optical illusion of a moving image from a reel of still images.
Computer animation - 'My philosophy is not to mimic the real world too much and try to adapt the rules developed'. 146
When creating my animation, these are things i have to remember:
Keyframes - points where major changes occur
Tweening - drawing to fill in all the frames inbetween the keyframes
Interpolation - how changes occur through keyframes and how objects travel from one position to another.
Velocity - Rate of change
Motion Path - the path the objects travel
I have used pose-to-pose animation as i have sketched out ideas and storyboarded my entire opening but will only start creating after everyone has approved.
Laws of physics
I will try to mimick the way real life objects move and look to make mine appear more believable.
Rules of animation
When the laws of physics are exaggerated and made noticable it can make an animation look much more effective.
I will exaggerate the my characters facial expression as these are what are important in my scenes.
I will use staging and anticipation to direct the viewers attention o a particular part of the screen.
Reactions are important as it tells the audience something has happened.I will use this alot as it shows the dramatic changes between the rich and poor environments.
I will use an upbeat fun rhythm to make my animation move fast but smoothly.
Angie Taylor - Chapter 3 - Composition
Composition can help convey messages,meanings and feelings to the viewer. This is why layout can be vital. It can help portray certain things without being so obvious, through the way and where you place them. If taken into consideration and thought about carefully, it could make your work look more aestethically pleasing. All elements such as shape, space, lines, colour etc should be thought about when choosing composition. Choose each element purposefully and carefully so they audience can understand the right message.
When placing all my elements i shall use grids to help me, as i am only learning about composition. When i start to feel more confident, i will go by instict. For now i will use grids, screen division, rule of thirds etc to ensure i use the space wisely and to experiment with the different outcomes.
The principle of composition will influence my choice of layout.
Limitations will be my biggest task as i am one who likes to be over creative and adventurous and this is sometimes by negative point as i get too carried away.
'Simplicity is your best friend'
Angie Taylor
