Week 5

This week i came up with an idea for my 90 second video. the video will be a music video. i will use my friends album as he has authorised this. my friends band is Thomas Rumbold and the Catwalkers : http://www.myspace.com/thomasrumbold

The album is called Grace Notes. I decided to use small clips of each song on the album, as the video has a limit of 90 seconds, which is too short for a whole song. so the video will therefore be aimed at promoting the music by showing small sections of each song.

I started learning some interesting techniques which i wanted to be able to use in the video. i havent got a solid idea of the video content yet, at the moment i am just playing with effects.

the first effect i learnt was how to display the timecode in the video. i thought this would give a nice effect if used sparingly. i used this tutorial to help me: http://www.3dfiggins.com/tuts/tc/timecode.html

i started by creating a text layer with text that moves along the screen using keyframes on the position variable.

The timecode setting is in the video effects menu effects>video>timecode, however i found in my version of after effects (cs5) that the path was effects>text>timecode. this effect is used on a solid layer, which is placed underneath the text layer. the tutorial says to invert the layer channel but there is no need to do this, its just for effect. with the timecode effect you can change the text colour, size and position, and also the format of timecode. i used the general HH:MM:SS:FF format.

another technique to have the timecode on top of the video layer without the solid blocking it out, is to use the blending options for the solid layer. i set the option to difference and this showed the text layer even though it was below the solid.

next i experimented with a few effects on the timecode layer.

first i used a blur channel effect, and then blurred the red channel (as the text is red). i varied the blur along the timeline using keyframes.

next i used a bulge effect, and dragged the radius of the bulge along the timecode as the time went on, setting keyframes at the beginning and end points. the bulge effect the travels along the timecode display.

the last effect i used was twirl. this spins the layer around a specified point. the radius of effect can be increased as well as the pivot point. i set the pivot point so that the text was off screen at first and then twirled round to the corner.

The second technique i practised was using the text tracking variable. tracking makes the text squash into the x axis, and if it goes past the x axis the text is flipped horizontally i.e it is back to front.

i used the control inside text>animate>tracking to add keyframes along a path which i created in the transform position variable. the text travels along the path and also changes tracking value to create a flipping effect.

to add extra effect i used a Gaussian blur filter effect on the layer. i then used the liquify effect to make the text continually warp into strange shapes along the path, and then back to readable text. the liquify tool works as a paintbrush, where the text is warped by dragging the brush over the text in the desired direction.

Week 4

This week we learnt how to create a sequence of jpegs, edit them and then import the sequence back to after effects as footage.

the motion tracking video was used as a start point. to export jpegs the render function is used. then custom is selected under the lossless heading and the time frame you want is chosen. the format must be set to jpeg. now when render is pressed the jpeg sequence is created.

all the jpegs were opened in photoshop for editing. i added a filter to create a cartoon look. to quickly add the filter to each image the Ctrl + F shortcut was used.

i then used an action to save each file as a jpeg quickly. to use an action in photoshop first it must be created. the action panel is next to the history panel. make a new action and then click record. everything that is done from that point will be recorded and added to the action queue. i selected flatten image, and then save as jpeg, and then the location. then press stop to complete the action.

to use the action for saving file>automate>batch is used. this can use the action on all open files.

when the files were saved they just needed to be imported back to after effects. file>import>multiple files and then select all the jpegs, and import as footage. now the sequence is combined to create a movie in after effects.

Week 3

In week 3 we looked at motion tracking. this is a technique used to superimpose an image ontop of some footage and then make the image follow the movement of a point in the footage.

we used video cameras to film a person walking towards the camera with their hand held out. we then used a green screen as a backdrop to film a lighter flame. the green screen was used to allow keying of the background (which removes the background colour).

the idea of the end product was to have the person in the footage carrying a flame in their hand.

the first step was to import the footage into after effects. file>import>multiple files.

the walking scene was added to a new composition and then a motion tracker set up. this is achieved by clicking track motion in the motiong tracking panel. a track point appears, which can be moved to the necessary position. the hand was chosen. the point should have a contrast in colour or brightness to the surroundings, therefore a point on the wrist where the colour was dark was used.

when analyse is pressed the program creates a motion path for the footage. the target is then set to the other image layer. this assigns the layer to the path.

the second layer was then added to the composition and keying used to remove the background. using the colour picker the background colour was selected and then the tolerance changed to remove as much as possible. a second method of background removal was chosen over keying however. we decided to use a mask to cover the area which we did not want to see.

a mask is created by using the pen tool to draw around the desired area. when the area is closed by clicking on the start point of the path, the mask is active. the points can be manoeuvred to change the mask coverage.

now when the composition is played the flame follows the footage and sticks to the hand.

the motion tracking works quite well, however there are a few points where the flame jumps from the hand as the hand has not got many standout areas of colour or light/darkness. a good idea would be to have a small dark object in my hand to contrast with the light skin colour.