Motion Graphic Sound Synchs:

3D and Effects

Using the same set of tools and techniques from the Sound Synchs Assignments, make 2 motion graphics shorts based on ONE audio file of your choosing. Choose a sound file EXACTLY 20-30 seconds long. Choose a sound file that has good visual potential and can be interpreted abstractly with animated shapes and patterns.

Some good places to look for sound files:

Internet Archive: archival sounds, recordings, etc.

BBC Sound Effects Library: extensive library of archived samples

YouTube: Using a videodownloader.

FreeSound:

Adobe Audition: sound libraries

Ambient Mixer - environmental sounds and mixing

Motion Graphics Animation 4:

3D Layers, Lights, Cameras

  • Animate your shapes and motion incorporating After Effects 3D layers

Motion Graphics Animation 5:

After Effects Effects

  • Animate your shapes and motion incorporating After Effects Effects to enhance your shapes, light, texture, color, warping, or patterning.

Process:

  • Set up 2 compositions in After Effects (1920 x 1080) and import your chosen sound file.
  • Using only primitive shapes in After Effects, visually interpret the sound files with various shapes and patterns.
  • Set keyframes and experiment with Animation Principles until your shapes take on the characteristics of the audio.
  • Try hard to refine the movement and add the illusion of gravity, weight, elasticity, hardness, softness, bounce, etc..

Experiment with:

  • the shapes and how many times they repeat
  • how repetition is translated, rotated, scaled, etc
  • how your shapes changes, color, texture, opacity, etc.
  • how fast or slow shapes move
  • how shapes anticipate, bounce, squash, stretch, follow through, etc.
  • Do not make your shapes into characters that have limbs, are weapons, or are vehicles.
  • Animations should be made of abstract shapes and patterns, not symbols, images, or representational forms.

Tools and Techniques:

We'll use the the same tools and techniques as the last assignment (primitive shapes, repeater, principles of animation, transitions, etc) but also incorporate:

  • 3D layers
  • Light Layers
  • Environment Layers
  • Camera Layers
  • After Effects Effects

Parameters

  • NO VIDEO
  • Sound files should be cinematic, musical, and filled with sound (NOT LYRICS)
  • No Animation Presets
  • Shapes should be made as After Effects Parametric Shapes (NO REPRESENTATIONAL OBJECTS)
  • No Text, titles, etc.
  • No character animations or shapes resembling characters (hands, limbs, eyes, heads, bodies, weapons, wheels, etc.)
  • You must incorporate some form of repetition and patterning

Format:

Your final shorts will be in the following format:
  • format: H264 (.mp4)
  • size: 1920x1080
  • frame rate: 24 or 30
  • video encoded as: H.264
    length: 20-30 seconds

What to Turn in:

Turn in the following files for grading.

Please note that you are turning in your AEP file as well as your movie files.

Put all of the following files in a single folder

  • firstname_lastname_soundSynch4.mp4
  • firstname_lastname_soundSynch5.mp4
  • your sound files should be included
  • firstname_lastname_soundSynch.aep

Criteria For Grading and Evaluation:

     

    Focus

    Follows the concept for the project based on examples, readings and discussion

    5 point deduction for using an items listed under Parameters
     

    Design

    Construction of shapes - color harmony and balance, intricacy and complexity, scale and variation

    Patterns and repetition - musicality of shapes (how they create structured patterns)

    Variation - shapes are easy to identify and are different from each other
     

    Craft

    Animation and movement - naturalness and smoothness (continuous flow, not stopping, linking together movements)

    Refinement of movement - application of animation principles, simulation of gravity and weight

    Structure of movement - deliberate movements, movements are distinctly different from each other
     

    Effort

    Ambition with idea - ambition with what you set out to do

    Ambition with effort - level of finish and completion

    Ambition with time- time devoted inside and outside of class

     

    Creativity

    Creative interpretation of audio

    Original and unique shapes, colors, and movement

    20 pts
    Total