My first stab at animation

[MikePizzoff]

Whipped these up this morning.

Let me know what you guys think. Especially those of you that actually get paid to do this sort of stuff! I feel like I've just been wasting my talent for editing and I'm trying to get in "the business" somehow... I've yet to forget that one out, though.

http://www.vimeo.com/12955130

http://www.vimeo.com/12954583

The second one was pretty damn easy. The first one was significantly harder, however.

[clanglee]

Very nice!!

[CooperWasRight]

I take it you were using the photo projection technique? Andrew Kramer is kind of a god in my book lately.

[MikePizzoff]

Thanks, Clang!

Cooper - What's this photo projection technique you speak of? And, yeah, if it weren't for me learning from Andrew Kramer for 8 hours straight yesterday, I'd still be clueless about AE.

Although the things I made are fairly standard pieces, it was my first time sitting down with AE and I'm pretty proud of myself.

[SymphonicX]

Great stuff Mike, you're a man close to my own heart :)


http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=736730143#!/video/video.php?v=10150200065430144&subj=736730143

This is my latest one - let me know if it works and I'll post more! :)

[CooperWasRight]

sorry i meant camera projection...its basically 3 dimensionalizing/wireframing 2d footage/photo's and using a virtual cam to zoom or pan in.

[MikePizzoff]

Great stuff Mike, you're a man close to my own heart :)


http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=736730143#!/video/video.php?v=10150200065430144&subj=736730143

This is my latest one - let me know if it works and I'll post more! :)

"This video either has been removed from Facebook or is not visible due to privacy settings." Argh.


sorry i meant camera projection...its basically 3 dimensionalizing/wireframing 2d footage/photo's and using a virtual cam to zoom or pan in.

Nah, I didn't do the wireframing. I just took two separate photos, the ground and the wall, and tilted the ground to give it some depth. Then I animated the camera.

[SymphonicX]

Got a few things up on youtube - hope you like them :)

An Animated Tribute to Bruce Lee

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RSdPoow5wkI&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RSdPoow5wkI&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Angry Elf Media Title

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ewo3gLXjPEc&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ewo3gLXjPEc&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


Bronson - Title (made for my showreel as I did a promo for it, which has sound and stuff but this doesn't)
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4O-t4Bqd0tI&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4O-t4Bqd0tI&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

[MikePizzoff]

Very awesome stuff! I especially like the Bruce Lee tribute. I want to learn how to do stuff like that; like how you follow the water pouring down into different things and whatnot - very cool effect.

[SymphonicX]

Very awesome stuff! I especially like the Bruce Lee tribute. I want to learn how to do stuff like that; like how you follow the water pouring down into different things and whatnot - very cool effect.

do a search for "animated tribute to bruce lee after effects" or something into google- there's a tut there...I saw his final version of it and did my own without the tutorial cos it's 70mins long and in 3 parts. Part 2 has how to do the water effect though, which is useful - but yeah when you watch his one you'll see it's fairly different...

Best trick you'll learn for these kinda vector graphic animations is the one you employed in the graffiti project - animating a Stroke effect over graphics or text...

What I did to create the Bruce Lee one was build the animation on a massive 8000x8000 canvass and take that into another composition and animate a camera around it - saves a lot of bullshit - think the tutorial guy does that too...

[MikePizzoff]

Awesome, thanks man. Yeah, creating a giant canvas and having the camera animated around it is a great idea. I'm definitely going to have to mess around with something like that sometime soon! Thanks again

[Yojimbo]

Awesome, brother. If I had your skills, I wouldn't be a funeral director.

[CooperWasRight]

People would be surprised to know it just takes the right software and patience... Not to take away from anything anyone has done but AE* and the right tutorials can come up with some impressive results. I would say the real thing is drive which is admirable. It is easy to start but to finish and really develop this stuff is what separates to pros and the dabblers.



*Adobe After Effects

[MikePizzoff]

Cooper, you're right. It takes a lot of self-control, patience, and willingness to do it. Also, this isn't to say that one doesn't develop their own skill from a tutorial.

[CooperWasRight]

Absolutely... Completing a tutorial project is the seed... Do enough of em and you will certainly develop a real impressive set of skills.

[SymphonicX]

Absolutely... Completing a tutorial project is the seed... Do enough of em and you will certainly develop a real impressive set of skills.

Totally.

my confession here today, to the board but hopefully not my employer - is that I have literally NO frickin' idea what I'm doing.

I've not studied from anything, neither film making nor graphic design, no courses, books, nothing.

I've done it all through eye, and ear. I've been making telly for quite a while now so have built up an eye for what looks and feels right, and what doesn't. And that's all you need really - is the ability to look at something and say "no, that's not right" and then re-work it til it's done.

Only amatuers "settle" - never settle. it's always gotta be the best you could do at the time.

And things like After Effects can help you really develop a sense of colour, and what's appropriate - I've used photoshop non-professionally for over a decade, and it was only until I started training in After Effects did I realise small but very useful tips on how to manage colour properly in a composition - never ever use the top right hand corner of the colour picker....!! (Ie: stark, bright red) - little things like that change a piece of work from amatuer to professional in no time at all.

The key is always subtlety. Same with editing - if they've noticed that I've made a cut, then it's a bad edit, if a colour or graphic is too prominent, it's badly done. It's all about balance.

It's like what they say with script writing - write your whole movie then delete the first 20 pages - less is more.

that's my graphic design/filmmaking/editing class 101 (subtitled: Fish out of Water) - lets just hope the boss doesn't see this hahaha

[MikePizzoff]

Symphonic, I had no idea you were in the business. Quite a few of you guys on here. Anyway, your story gives me hope! I can't afford to go to a prestigious film school or university; I'm just getting my associates in communications at a community college (which is taking forever) - everything I've learned filming/editing/composing/etc wise has all been self-taught and I've always worried that it will hold me back.

[SymphonicX]

depends on what the industry is like in Phillie - but over here it can be very much "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and those kinda people love work-hungry, young, and relatively cheap individuals who do a great job - I got work experience in a company and went from there, begged for a job etc etc