Edgar Flavio Tanjung / 0378967
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Exercise 3, 4, & 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
EXERCISE
Exercise 3 - Kinetic Typography
For this exercise, it was done as a group project where everyone
chose and worked on sections of a song and created a lyric video
using kinetic typography. To start, we first discussed on potential
songs we could use, and our group decided on the song
Prom Queen. The song was divided into 7 sections of 4 lines which was divided
evenly among all the teammates.
.png) |
| Fig 1.1 Lyrics Division / Week 3 |
To keep a somewhat consistent theme in our video, we decided to use two fonts, Impact which is used in uppercase for keywords, and Libre Baskerville which is used in lowercase for filler words. We also decided on a color palette following the colors in the song cover and music video.
 |
| Fig 1.2 Project Theme / Week 3 |
Afterwards, we used Canva to layout our design and for it to act as a storyboard on how the text will be animated.
With the storyboard as reference, I continued working in After Effects following the original format I worked on in Canva. I mainly used the typewriter effect and change positions of the lyrics to reveal it, and adjusted the speed ramps for a more dynamic animation.
 |
| Fig 1.4 Process / Week 3 |
In general, I used motion blur for all the elements and parent them to a null object so that I can center whatever I want to highlight easily. I also tried to make sure every scene could transition to each other using the color of the background of the next scene. This is done through scaling, effects, and gradients.
For certain scenes, I used more unique effects to reach the look I wanted. Some of these effects include shatter, bulge, and also some masking for an eating-like animation.
 |
| Fig 1.5 Shatter & Bulge Effect / Week 3 |
 |
| Fig 1.6 Masking / Week 3 |
For some scenes, I also changed the scale to emulate a squash and stretch effect, be it for entering/exiting the frame, or to interact with other elements in the animation.
 |
| Fig 1.7 Squash & Stretch / Week 3 |
One more thing I did was to slide the lyrics through a path, as I want the lyrics to wrap around a picture.
 |
| Fig 1.8 Animation on Path / Week 3 |
There are of course more details to the animation, but most of it are just variations of the method I've already explained. In the end, after exporting my own part, it is submitted to the group leader so that all the clips can be combined into the complete lyric video.
Final Results
Exercise 4 - Donut Chart
For this exercise, everyone were given different charts to animate and I got to work on the donut chart. The chart itself is based on the chart about stress statistics.
|
| Fig 1.11 Reference Chart / Week 4 |
Because I wasn't very fond of the design, I decided to tweak the design following my preference. This process was immediately done in After Effects because the design is simple enough to recreate.
 |
| Fig 1.12 Chart Redesign / Week 4 |
Afterwards, using the stroke path animation, I animated the entrance and exit animation of the chart, with a bit of offset so that colors that are smaller could be shown for longer. The final percentage follows the percentage in the chart so that it is accurate to the information.
 |
| Fig 1.13 Process / Week 4 |
Because I find the animation to be a bit boring, I precomposed the chart animation and added a rotation and position animation to the whole chart for both the entrance and exit so that it has a more dynamic motion.
 |
| Fig 1.14 Process / Week 4 |
I then added the title, numbers, and texts using the typewriter effect, as well as a line, using the stroke path animation to reveal these elements. The keyframes of these elements are also slightly offset so it looks more like a 'reveal'. I put it inside the chart animation composition so that it moves alongside the position of the chart.
 |
| Fig 1.15 Process / Week 4 |
Final Results
Exercise 5 - Vector Animation
For this exercise, everyone were also given different files to animate. To be honest, I don't really like the one I got since it's quite simple and there's not much I can really animate.
|
| Fig 1.17 Base Picture / Week 5 |
I first started by turning the canvas size into 1920x1080 as the original file has different dimensions, and adjusted the size of each components accordingly. I also separated every component into each own layers so I can animate them separately.
 |
| Fig 1.18 Illustrator Set Up / Week 5 |
Next, I started animating in After Effects, starting with the entrance and exit animations of each components. To do this, I adjusted the scale from 0% to 100%, with an additional 105% a few frames before 100% one to create a 'pop' effect. Because I used ease in and out, the percentage will go higher with the curves, and that's why the scale increase is set to be 5% only. All the timings are also offset so it looks more interesting. I also made sure to put the anchor points of all ground elements to the bottom so it looks like it grew.
 |
| Fig 1.19 Scale Animation / Week 5 |
For the sun, I added a position change and changed its movement path so that its curved, kind of like a how suns in cartoon would set. I also added a position change for the clouds, making sure each clouds move at different lengths for a sense of depth. As for the windmill, I simply made it rotate following the direction of the clouds.
 |
| Fig 1.20 Position Animation / Week 5 |
I felt like the trees were quite static, so I used the slant effect so that it moves along with the wind. I of course offset each of the movements too so that it looks more natural. I also added a loop out expression so that it continues moving on its own. I also used the same effect on the trees and mountain's shadows, making sure that it goes the opposite direction of the sun.
 |
| Fig 1.21 Slant Effect / Week 5 |
I found that the shadows look weird if they pop up like the rest of the elements. Because of that, I decided to use a mask to reveal them instead. So, I precomposed each shadows and masked said composition, changing the mask shape to reveal and hide the shadows. I also added a feather to the mask so the reveal is more gradual.
 |
| Fig 1.22 Shadow Masking / Week 5 |
Finally, to make the whole animation a bit more interesting, I precomposed everything and added a scale and position animation, helping it to look less static.
 |
| Fig 1.23 Finalization / Week 5 |
Final Results
FEEDBACK
Week 3
-
Week 4 The text animations are already good.
Week 5 Consider adding a background picture for the chart animation.
REFLECTION
Overall, I enjoyed working of these exercises. After Effects is one of my favorite Adobe programs, second only to Photoshop, and practicing my motion design skills is always a fun thing to do. However, I'm still unsure why my laptop takes so long to renders the frames, even though it's just simple animations. I'm guessing it's the typewriter effect I used that really slows down the render time, and I it really extends my work time as I keep rechecking the timings of my animations.