Montion Graphics & Compositing/Project 1

21/04/2025 - 25/05/2024 (Week 01 – Week 05)

Shao Han / 0369187

Montion Graphics & Compositing / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University

Project 1:Individual Task - Technical and Motion Graphics Sensibilities

CONCENT

• INTRODUCTION
• LECTURE
• PROJECT 1
• SUBMISSION
• REFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

LECTURES

WEEK 2

Introduction to Motion Graphics

Core Concepts

Motion Graphics: A form of animation, a dynamic image design with text as the main element.

It combines graphic design, animation, sound and rhythm to convey information, enhance narrative or create atmosphere.

Functions of Motion Graphics

Visual communication:

Used to convey information, brand concept or emotion.

Storytelling tool:

Often combined with music, narration and text to enhance narrative depth.

Content Type:

Advertisements, movie titles, information videos, product introductions, popular science instructions, etc.

Differences between Motion Graphics and Full Animation

Motion graphics focuses more on text layout and graphic movement.

Compared with traditional animation, it usually does not emphasize character performance or story-driven narrative.

Movement Illustrations may be a visual expression that combines realistic plan and movement, emphasizing the energetic introduction of pictures and content on a timeline. It ordinarily does not involve character stories, but is utilized to communicate data, show concepts, or upgrade visual involvement. It is commonly seen in scenes such as promotions, opening credits, and clarification recordings. Its center is "graphics + movement + data". Basically put, it could be a plan that moves, utilized to tell a brief and capable visual story.

WEEK 3

Essential Components and Standards of Composition  

Solidarity: Do all components see like they have a place together? Solidarity brings agreement.  

Assortment: Include intrigued and visual affect through differentiating components.  

Adjust: Does the picture "feel right" and is the weight of the cleared out and right adjusted? Symmetry = steadiness, asymmetry = development.  

Development: Make visual stream through the course of action of objects, the pose of characters, etc., to direct the audience's eyes to move.  

Cadence: Comparative to the beat in music, the seeing beat is shaped through reiteration and dividing in works of craftsmanship.  

Focus/Emphasis: The audience's eyes will actually remain on the foremost imperative "visual center".  

Differentiate: Solid differentiate between light and dim or shape contrasts will improve visual pressure and key recognizable proof.   

Summary  Fabulous blend isn't  as it were a specialized grafting, but too a appearance of artistic composition.  Utilizing these plan standards, you'll  more viably direct the audience's consideration and convey emotions or stories.  In Movement Design, these standards are frequently utilized to make video substance with solid visual cadence and clear data.

WEEK 4

Kinetic Typography Breakdown

• Definition and Historical Background

Kinetic Typography is "dynamic typography", which enhances visual expression through the dynamic performance of text and precise synchronization with audio (narration/dialogue)

The origin can be traced back to the 1950s: such as Hitchcock's films "North by Northwest" (1959) and "Psycho" (1960), which scholars believe are important early practices.

• Uses and Advantages

Enhance emotional expression and tone, such as volume, rhythm, tension, etc., through the movement of text.

Efficiently capture the audience's attention, used for advertising titles, explanation videos, lyrics videos, information graphics, etc.

Technology is easy to produce: After Effects, Flash, Apple Motion can be used to generate highly expressive content even with a limited budget.

• Generation prepare and strategies (based on video exhibit) Fabric planning

Content substance is extricated into freely controllable layers (word by word).
Purport sound into the composition and set it as a "Direct Layer" to help synchronization.
Present a finished foundation (such as consistent surface) to upgrade the visual surface and sense of space amid 3D camera animation.

3D Camera Animation:

Use One-node camera control for convenience; with Null object parent control, it is easy to add translation, rotation, scaling and other action segments.

Create multiple Null objects for camera movement, one control object for each action segment, which is easy to manage and adjust the rhythm.

Keyword layer-by-layer animation:

For example, footprint elements: separate multiple stages/parts (such as forefoot, midfoot, heel) in independent pre-composition, set masks and keyframes for each element, and animate superposition using mask masking.

Add a gradient wipe effect to enhance the appearance/disappearance of text or graphics.

Keyframe curve adjustment:

Use Easy Ease or Bezier curves to smooth out the action and create natural acceleration and deceleration effects.

Make detailed adjustments to the rhythm to echo the audio beat, such as acceleration, pause, and sluggishness.

Texture background performance:

Use CC Reptile effect for seamless tiling to ensure that the texture extends with the camera movement.

Combine color inversion and Blend Mode to filter out only a few details, forming a "gravel" texture without interfering with the main body.

• Key points of core skills

Synchronize audio: Text animation must match the rhythm of dialogue or music.

Layer control: The material is broken down to the finest particles (such as text, graphics, camera movement, background) and controlled separately.

Pre-combination and reuse: Use frequently used animations (such as footsteps) as pre-composition and repeat the layout.

Rhythm and sense of space: The camera trajectory and Bezier adjustment of keyframes make the picture rhythm not stiff.

Picture details: Texture details are controlled at low transparency to avoid destroying the overall visual unity.

WEEK 5

4 Great Motion Graphics Techniques in After Effects

1.Dynamic Strokes and Line Animation

Use stroke animation to create line effects, suitable for logo display and graphic emphasis.

2.Kinetic Typography

Make text more vivid and interesting through jumping, delaying or word-by-word animation.

3.Graphic Deformation and Transition

Smooth transition between graphics, often used for scene switching.

4.Motion Tracking and Dynamic Lens

Achieve image tracking and camera movement to make animation more realistic and natural.

PROJECT 1

Practical

ADVANCE LAYERS, KEYFRAMING, BASIC ANIMATION

Our practice task is to collage the materials given by the teacher and make a poster first. We must create a 5 to 16 second animation using the provided elements.

I used the material provided by Mr. Fauzi to complete a poster in Photoshop.

Fig2.1 Poster,Week 3 (07/05/2025)

In the process of converting the poster into an animation, I realized that if the objects moved, it might make the picture messy, so I appropriately deleted some materials when making the animation.

Use of three-dimensional effects.

Fig2.2 Video Production ,Week 3 (10/05/2025)

FINAL SUBBMISSION

• YOUTUBE LINK

PROJECT 1-Part 1

DESCRIPTION:
Students are given variety of tasks from basics to advance that develop their motion graphics sensibilities by increasing their technical proficiency and knowledge.

REQUIREMENTS:
Each student will explore and increase their technical proficiency and knowledge levels in the appropriate software individually but also with assistance of peers and facilitator.

Fig3.1 Requirements,Week 2 (27/04/2025)

SYMMETRY

For the concept of symmetry, I first started thinking about what symmetrical things there are. There are many circular and square things, but I wanted the shape to be more special, so I thought of stars and flowers, and I formed them by deforming the circle.

Fig3.2 Motion Graphics,Week 2 (27/04/2025)

FOCUS

For the focus, I need to present a diffuse or convergent visual effect. After thinking about it, I decided to use square deformation.

Fig3.3 Motion Graphics,Week 3 (28/04/2025)

SCALE

For the looping dynamic graphics, I first thought of the scene of sitting in a car and looking out the window, repeating backwards and forwards, with buildings and trees constantly looping, so I decided to use a square to simulate this effect.

Fig3.4 Motion Graphics,Week 3 (30/04/2025)

RHYTHM

I felt a little overwhelmed at first and didn't know how to express the rhythm. But when I was making the animation of the ball bouncing, I suddenly found that the bounce of the ball after landing had a sense of rhythm. Taking this as inspiration, I started to make the last animation.

Fig3.5 Motion Graphics,Week 3 (02/05/2025)

PROJECT 1-Part 2

Duration: ​16 sec

Fig3.6 Requirements,Week 3 (02/05/2025)

As requested, I combined the four graphic dynamics provided by Mr. Fauzi with the four I created myself, adding appropriate overlap, interlacing, and fade-in effects between each one to make the whole look more natural.

Fig3.7 Process,Week 5 (06/05/2025)

SUBMISSION
PART 1

• YOUTUBE LINK

PART 2

• YOUTUBE LINK

REFLECTION

Experiences

In this project, I explored the fundamentals of motion graphics by combining technical skills with creative expression. These exercises encouraged me to experiment with keyframing, easing, timing, and rhythm, which are core techniques for motion graphics. I first analyzed how simple graphics and transitions can effectively convey emotion and clear information by referring to professional examples provided by the teacher. Then, I made my own short animation experiments in Adobe After Effects to practice what I observed.

Observations

One key observation I made was that simple and rhythmic animations tend to be more impactful. In contrast, complex but purposeless animations are distracting. I also found that even slight timing errors or inconsistent rhythms can weaken the smoothness of animations. The synchronization of visual rhythm and sound effects is crucial to the audience experience. Watching my peers' work made me realize that different styles and expressions can still follow the same motion design principles.

Findings

Animation is a narrative. Even the simplest graphic animation should have a clear intention, and each movement should serve a visual or emotional expression. Workflow is important. Standardizing layer naming and organizing pre-compositing in After Effects can greatly improve efficiency and convenience of post-production adjustments. Observation promotes progress. Studying professional cases allows me to have a deeper understanding of time control, easing methods, and overall rhythm, and quickly transform them into practical skills. Practice builds intuition. Through repeated attempts and adjustments, I gradually developed the ability to perceive rhythm and picture balance.