After effects lessons

Lesson 1 - Getting to know the Workflow.

We started with this task to teach us the basics of After effects. We learnt how to create compositions, arrange layers, add effects, importing and organising footage, rendering/outputting and some animation. When importing footage I could either Choose File > Import > File. Or I could drop the files into the project window from the finder windows. For this task I had 3 pieces of footage and 1 Photoshop file - this had to be imported as a composition instead of footage - I was given the option of footage or composition when importing. There was also an option to keep the layers editable or merge the layers into footage - for this I wanted the layers editable. I then created a composition. There are a few ways to create a composition, I dragged all our footage items and compositions into the Timeline panel and the New Composition From Selection box appeared. After effects then based the new composition dimensions on the footages we had selected. All of our footage is the same size, so we could accept the settings it had chosen. Now all of our footage was in the Timeline panel. Compositions can have lots of layers, these layers can include other compositions. I had to change the length of the composition to match the length of the dancers footage. I went into composition settings and changed the duration to 1:15. I then added a text layer to the bottom by placing it at the bottom of the timeline. I then selected the kaleidoscope layer and duplicated that and named them left and right. I then added the radial blur to the dancers layer. In the effects controls I changed the type to Zoom. I also had to make sure that the cross hair was in the centre of the composition. I then started using the transform tools. I used key framing to move both kaleidoscope layers. One moved to the left and back to the middle and the other went right and then back to the middle. I then went back to my text layer and changed the text.

Lesson 2

 I created a new composition using the button at the bottom of the project panel. I set the composition to 3 seconds. I added the Parthenon file to the timeline but it was too large. So I then went into the layer, then transform menu and selected fit to comp and it was scaled down to the size of the composition. I then added the destinations logo composition into the timeline. This composition is made up of illustrator files as layers. When the composition is opened, I can edit the individual layers. I added text that said TRAVEL EUROPE. I changed the text to the same colour as the text around the globe. I added a drop shadow to the destinations logo composition so that it doesn't affect the background. I also added other effects like Colour emboss to make the globe brighter. I then put an animation preset onto the Travel Europe text by opening the destinations logo comp. I added Bullet train. The text them appears letter by letter. I then added a Dissolve transition to the globe logo. I then made the destination logo comp. slightly transparent. This is done because it is what is done with logos in the corner of TVs. If it is too bright or clear it will stay on a TV screen after it is turned off or the visuals are changed.

 

Lesson 3

Our next lesson was on animating text. We imported an MOV. and an SWF. I selected NTSC DV from the preset menu in the Comp settings and changed the duration to 10 seconds. I dragged both footage items into the timeline panel. The compass layer had to be above the background mov. I added text that said 'Road trip'. I changed the font size to 90 and the font to something that looked bold. I then set the text to fit to comp width. I added an animation from the presets - evaporate. This preset made my text disappear but we wanted it to appear instead. To change this, we used the key frame assistant and time-reverse key frames. It switched the order of our 2 key frames. 3 seconds into the comp. I key framed the text's scale and at 5 seconds reduced the scale. We then used parenting. Using the parenting pop up menu for the compass layer, I chose Road trip layer. It now scales at the same rate as the text layer. We then imported a Photoshop file that was text. I changed the text by double clicking the file in when it is in the timeline to make the layers editable. I had the text appear in the comp at 5 seconds. I used the Fade Up Characters animation preset to that the text fades in. We next used and customized a preset path. We used the pips path at 6.05 and wrote the text - Directed by. We could then adjust the pipes path so that the text moved around the Road Trip text. We then did the same and added another bit of text that said our names. We then added a new composition to our timeline that was a car. We then used the path tools to make the car drive across the screen in a similar path to the text.

Lesson 4

This lesson was on Motion Graphics. In this we had to animate a man slipping on a banana skin. We started off making the composition and adding a background. We then used the puppet tool to make the man moveable. We used the puppet pin to put points on his arms, legs, torso and head. We then us. We then selected the Puppet Overlap tool. This was to make sure certain parts of the body overlapped correctly. We then used the triangle mesh to highlight the left side of his body and the left leg. We then selected the Puppet Starch tool to stiffen certain parts of the character. Here we selected the lower part of the torso so that it didn't move much. We could then animated his arms and legs to make him walk using key frames. From this we could repeat his actions using a simple copy and paste so that he continues to walk until he reaches the banana. We then animated the slip in the same way, using key frames and animated by eye. We also animated the banana so that it moved with his foot and flew off afterwards.


Lesson 5

We started by making a comp that was 10 seconds long. We drew a rectangle and made it big enough to cover the whole composition. We changed the fill options and used a gradient. We chose radial gradient and made it light blue and dark blue. We expanded the gradient so that it filled more of the comp. We then locked the background so that we couldn't select it by accident. We then drew a polygon and changed the outer radius and points so that is became a flower-type shape. We then twisted the shape in the Add menu from Contents. We then repeated the shape by using the repeater. We made about 12 of these shapes and lined them up on the comp. We then rotated the shapes using the transform tools. We changed the rotation using key framing. From the Mode pop up menu select Overlay and change the opacity to 25%. We then repeated the process with stars. We then added a DJ .mov and an mp3. The mp3 should be placed as the bottom layer, we then lock the audio layer. we had to double the length of the DJ .mov. We then added a cartoon effect from the stylise effects. We altered the threshold, edge enhancement and black levels to adjust the cartoon look. We then made our own shape for the bottom of the comp. It started as a rectangle and then we chose Wiggle Paths from the Add pop up menu, we selected the speed to 5 wiggles/second. We then added text that said DJ Quad Master and selected the 3D rotate from the 3D text folder.

Lesson 6

This lesson was making an animated multimedia presentation. We used parenting like we did before. We parented leaves, FG and Full skyline to parent with BG (the background). Then I key framed the background so that is was showing the left side of the image at the start of the comp. Then at the end set the key frame to show the right side of the image. This meant that during the comp the image pans along. Then using positioning key frames, I added a Bee to the beginning of the comp. I then applied motion blur to the bee so that it looked like it was flying instead of floating across the screen. I changed the anchor point for the car layer and put the point on the back wheel. I then changed the positioning and rotation values so that the car was going along to road and then at the end of the comp, stopped and then when up on it's back wheels and drove off. I then added a face to the car. This was done using masking. We opened a new composition to do this. We then added a shape layer and drew around the man's face, making a P. We then changed the Track Matte

to Alpha Matte Shape Layer 1. I then put the head into the composition and placed him in the car and parented him with the car. The last thing we did was make the traffic behind the car move. This was done using position key framing as well.



Incorporating 3D titles

For this we started by importing the files we needed - only one. We then dragged the file to the new comp button at the bottom of the project panel. Then we changed the Workspace to Motion tracking. We then selected 'Track Camera'. After effects will start analysing the clip for the 3D motion tracking. It will then solve the camera. When it is done the clip is then covered in 3D X markers which represent all available tracking points. In the effects controls we selected Create Camera. This will make a 3D tracked camera in the comp timeline. To finish off we need a 3D layer. I then added some text near the floor of the footage. Then the layer needs to be 3D, this can be done by checking the 3D box on the left of the timeline. Then we RAM preview by pressing 0 to see the effect.

Photoshop - retouching lesson

 We were given a photo of a girl with a graffiti wall behind her. It was tilted and a pinky colour. We opened it in Camera Raw to adjust the colour. We adjusted the white balance so that the colour tone changes. We then moved the basic colour levels to make the colours more natural. We then put the photo into Photoshop. We then cropped the image so that there was less of a white frame. We then used the straighten tool, with this we make a straight line across the top edge of the photo. Photoshop then straightens the image. We can then crop all of the white frame out. We then used the Colour Replacement tool to change the colour of the girl's hat from pink to blue. We then used the Clone Stamp tool to clone parts of the brick and cover up any messy parts of the wall. To get rid of the dark corner we used the Spot Healing Brush. We then got rid of the crack in the wall using the Content-Aware from the patch menu. We dragged the tool around the crack in the wall to select. Then drag the selected area to the right and it closes the wall.

Point tracking

For this last lesson we had a few small tasks to do. First was to use motion tracking to put a black box over someone's eyes. For this we used the motion tracking tab and selected track motion. We selected the eyes and played the tracking using the play button in the tracking tab. We then went through every frame and moved any tracking points that were wrong. We could then add a black rectangle and  selected it as the motion source and it then would stay in front of her eyes. We were given footage of a TV on a wall and a photo of trees. Then, we had to place the photo on the TV so that it was tracked with it. We used 4 point tracking and put 1 point in each of the corners of the TV. We then used the motion source menu to select the photo, played it in the tab and then it was done. We were then given a piece of footage of someone using a computer and we were asked to put something on the screen. I chose a street photo of Tokyo and used the 4 point tracking to place the photo, played it again and it worked well. Here is the finished clip -

Ident research

I researched some existing idents to see what professional idents look like and how they differ depending on their audience and company type.


The first ident I looked at was the Channel 4 one set in what looked like a busy street in Japan. I chose to look into this one because it's city theme is the type of ident I may make. The ident shows a 4 logo being made out of the neon street signs. The design of this ident is very urban and both dark and bright, the contrast works very well. I'd say the intentions of this ident is to draw attention to itself. I imagine that it's something that you see on TV and you watch the entire ident simply because it's interesting watching the 4 logo coming to shape. Obviously another purpose of the ident is to represent Channel 4. I think that they make most of these idents with the locations being their primary part of the design. All their idents have interesting locations and I think that's an important theme that makes them memorable. This ident was likely created using motion tracking and the floating signs are 3d elements which use the x, y and z axis's'. The position and rotation of these signs would be created using key frames.

 I next looked at this E4 'esting' ident. This is a short animation with a short song with no music. The design is very simple. A simple background, simply coloured and simply animated. I think this ident's intent is to sum up their channel in idents. Most of their idents are completely nonsense and random. The channel pretty much only shows comedies so they want some of their idents to be funny. This one has a humorous song that is clear and easy to remember. The purpose of this song is to make it memorable and make it the sort of song that is stuck in your head for hours, and personally I think it works. This could have been made in an specific animation programme or it could be after effects. If it had been made on After effects the characters would be layered separately and the positions of the characters may have been done using key framing. They would have added a camera layer to this ident so that it could sharply zoom into the E4 logo.

I thought I would have a look at some idents for production companies because that is what my ident is for - my 'productions'. This Paramount is a very memorable ident because it has been seen so many times by each person. So many films are made through Paramount. This ident has lasted a long time but has been tweaked over time to make it a better quality. I think the original intent behind this design was to make something smart but sort of epic. The use of the mountain conveys the epic feeling and the stars are simple but smart. The Paramount text font is quite ornate and old fashioned but still easy to read. The purpose of creating this ident is to make it obvious that the production following is a Paramount film, they want to be know for what they've produced. In the recent remakes of this ident they are likely to have used something like or after effects. The layers would have been moved using key framing on position and rotation. The text and star elements were likely 3D; using x, y and z axis's.

MGM's ident is one of the most memorable idents when it comes to film companies. Everyone remembers the lion roaring in the middle of the logo.  The design for this ident is very simple because it is a very old ident from 1928. There have been 5 versions of this ident each with a different lion. The only changes are to colouring. They've kept it simple all of this time because it is now their identity and if they changed it, people may not remember them as much as they used to. I think the use of the lion is another use of something 'large scale' that is intended to be epic. Films aren't always, but they can be seen as epic and a lion really gives that feeling. The purpose of this ident is to give MGM an identity and over the years it has certainly worked. This was made a very long time ago so most versions would not have been made using software like after effects. In the most recent version it may have been made on something like after effects. They would have used key framing to make the logo fade in using the opacity level. 

Test shots/sound tests

We did a couple of test shots for multiple reasons.

1) we wanted to see what effects we could do with our footage
2) we wanted to see how the actress looking in the outdoor environment in her costume
3) we wanted to find out what the sound recording on the camera was like outside

From these test shoots we were able to find that we could make the sky purple if it was already blue. Unfortunately we are now unable to use this effect because half of our shoot was filmed on a grey day and the effect would make out pop ups and door purple too. We are going to use out final footage to test other effects we may be able to use instead.

The test footage also proved that the actress' costume stood out well in the country park. She also looked very convincing with her confused/curious act.
Last of all the sound was suprisingly good considering we were outside, near a river on a windy day. We decided to use the sound recording from the camra for our live audio in our dialogue scene that is inside. When we made our last film, we used this camera for sound and it was very clear so we intend to use it again.

Budget

The budget of our single camera production was very low. But now we realise that we didn't really spend any money on this production. Originally Leisha was going to travel down to Burnham for the first filming session but was unable to get here. This would have cost at least £10. When it comes to props and costumes we already had it all. We had some off-cuts from a sign company in Latchingdon that we used to make our pop-ups and signs. A friend was trying to get rid of her bedroom door, so we gladly took it off her hands. And things like eating during filming was done by simply cooking any leftover food found in my freezer. The costume that the actress wore was her own clothes. And they key hole was made from cardboard from a box that a wadrobe had been delivered in.

Editing planning

When it comes to editing planning we don't have much. We are using our shot list to cut together the rought cut. But for effects etc. We are going by how it looks and deciding on the effects by testing them out on our footage. We knew that we wanted the real world to look dull and the other world to look unrealisticly bright. We had orinigally planned to make the sky purple using after effects. But with our test shot, the sky was blue which made it easier to change. On our most recent shots the sky is grey/white so if we change the sky to purple it is likely that the pop ups and door will turn purple too. We intend to continue experimenting with the effects on Final cut to find something that looks unnatural but still professional looking.

Behind the scenes

Here are some behind the scenes photos:

Our 'pop up technician' revealing how the door stands and operating the Cheshire Cat

Setting up the Key Hole

The finished pop ups: 

Recording Wonderland character's voices.

Tasha - Cheshire Cat (Above) Billy - White Rabbit (Below)

This is a photo showing the recording of the Jabberwocky reading. Microphone, 4-track, guitar pedals and the book with the poem in. 

 

Production diary

Production diary

06/11/13 -
Today we started pre-production, mainly focusing on the script and shot list because they are the most important bits that we will need during filming. We are happy with our idea and hoping it all goes well.

15/11/13 -
I was given a bedroom door by a friend of mine who was trying to get rid of it. We will have to carry it into the middle of a field, but it'll be worth it. I am very happy that we got a real door because it saves so much time that would have been spent building a door.

19/11/13 -
Finished making the pop ups this evening, they are quite big, but are a lot sturdier than expected. These do not yet have their puppet strings attached because our first filming session does not need them.

21/11/13 -
Just finished the shot list and script. We are now ready to film

23/11/13 -
Today was the first day of filming. We got a fair amount done, although if we'd have been a little bit more focused we may have done more. We filmed mostly inside and did our live audio shots. We took advantage of the fact that there was no one else in the house, because my house is a little creaky, people walking around in other rooms would have ruined our sound.
02/12/13 -
This evening we cut out and painted the key hole which is now ready to use. We also strung the pop ups and made hook so that they stay on the ground. They are now ready to be used like puppets.

03/12/13 -
Before filming started I gave the door a quick layer of white paint because there were a few scuffed marks and a blue slat of paint. It wasn't perfectly white, but it did look better. We then started day 2 and hopefully the last day of filming. We spent all day filming in the cold and all got ill. We had to carry the door down to a park and put it in the middle of a field. After finishing the door scene we took that home and then went back out to continue filming. We think we finished it all and that it is all done. Unfortunately the sky was grey/white but on our first filming day it was bright blue. We aren't sure if this is going to cause problems yet.

05/12/13 -
Started editing together a rough cut today. Half of the film has now been cut together in the right order. Still without all the sound that needs to be added.

08/12/13 -
I gathered the voice actors to record the characters voices today. We did one character at a time so that we could keep the effects the same for each of their lines. We recorded the White Rabbit first, then the Cheshire Cat and then the Mad Hatter. It didn't take very long to get it all done. We exported the lines as separate files so that it was easier in the editing process.

09/12/13 -
Today I had my Dad record himself reading the Jabberwocky poem. I got to hear his recording later on in the day and it sounded just how I wanted and I'm looking forward to hearing it along side the chase scene and final scene of the film.

10/12/13 -
Me and my Dad composed 3 pieces of music for the film; tense, curious and title theme. We recorded multiple tracks of different tunes that we made up going by how it sounded and mixed them together for different sections of the songs. The first 2 were quite easy to come up with but the last did take some time because we kept scrapping it and restarting.

12/12/13 -
Continued to edit today, but could only do 3 hours worth instead of 6 because of a Mac shortage. I finished the visual rough cut - still with no sound and then went back through my clips to find those that needed editing. Some clips had bright blue sky whereas others had white/grey sky. I sent those clips from Final Cut Pro to Motion and changed the sky to white. I duplicated the layer and used colour key on the top layer to remove the sky. I then changed the bottom layer to greyscale so that the sky was a clear off-white. This fixed the continuity problems. 1 clip was rather difficult to change and it did look a little odd, but it doesn't matter too much because it is a very quick clip and it is in the alternate world so it can look strange.

This is a before and after of that particular clip:

13/12/13 -
I continued editing and put the poem reading on the chase scene and started syncing it up with the lines. 14/12/13 - Did some quick re-shoots with the actress. We put up the signs on the trees and re-shot 2 shots; both using the signs. It took us 40 minutes to put the signs up and only about 2-3 minutes to film the shots. They went well and will be edited into the film as soon as possible.

19/12/13 -
Finished the editing today and exported the film as an MOV. File and we both took a copy home. We tested the file on the mac and it played fine. When we got them home they only played sound on our PCs even though we were playing them on Quicktime. We wanted to upload a version of it tonight so that we had a back up in case it didn't work properly tomorrow - deadline day. Using a not-very-good video convertor I was able to convert the video to an MPEG. Which wasn't great, but it was the only option that got the visuals back. I uploaded it to Youtube so that we at least had a version on our film to hand in. Unfortunately this version is of a terrible quality and even flashes black between most shots. Tomorrow morning we are going to try and get a high quality version to upload and we're hoping it won't take Youtube too long to do so.

20/12/13 -
Re-exported the film this morning and uploaded it to Youtube and it didn't take as long as expected. It meant that we were done on time and everything was fine. We kept the back up version unlisted on Youtube just in case we have any problems.