Inspiration
This may be the hardest assignment yet, and perhaps all semester. The video assignment naturally includes audio and illustration so the time required for a successful assignment is huge. I picked the “Kinetic Typography” assignment from the DS106 assignment bank. I was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes example on the landing page for the assignment. I’ve also been inspired all semester by animations and it seems half of my critiques this semester have been on animated shorts. My choice in subject matter directly relates to my theme ‘the importance of creative arts in education,’ and my scholarship with the works of Ken Robinson. I just downloaded his latest book Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education as a mp3 that I can listen to while I work. Needless to say his well-spoken narrative voice is ringing in my head.Thumbnail Concept |
Creative Process
I first created a very rough sketch, also known as a ‘thumbnail’ to get my mind moving in the right direction. This sketch only took 3-5 minutes and the purpose of it is for intrinsic value. I usually don’t share things like this with clients but other designers and artists, maybe. The point is to solve the problem by drawing it out and finding intrinsic value before jumping into more complex and time consuming art.Next, I used Adobe Illustrator to create a large illustration of the entire animation and elements (on separate layers) as I saw them in my head. Before doing this I watched all of the intro tutorial videos to learn how to use Adobe After Effects. Much like the audio assignment, I am completely new to the software and knowledge required to create successfully. I have created simple animations for games UI in Adobe Flash before but never AE. And I have never created an illustrated animation like this so there was definitely some learning curve. Once I finished the animation, I really felt like I could easily navigate, create, and manipulate video elements in AE. Overall, the assignment was really rewarding. I would have liked to do more animations, but it takes time to make buildings pop out of a planet and for jet planes to race text past an opening book with an illuminated light bulb igniting the wick to a catastrophic explosion!
Illustration Inspired Animation |
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