QIULIHUA/0365036
Design Research Dissertation / Bachelor of Design (Honours)in Creative Media
MOTION GRAPHIC AND COMPOSITING
INTRODUCTION
EXERCISE
PROJECT 4 - ABSTRACT MOTION & E-PORTFOLIO
DESCRIPTION:
1. Students will synthesis the knowledge gained in task 1, 2 and 3 for application in task 4. Students are to create an theme based abstract motion graphic video that consist a good audio visual say it in 3D/2D, mix media or any experimental visual output that has strong theme.
2. Students describe and reflect on their competencies within the design studio context, supported by evidence.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Students are to use information for any proposed channel (*existing or fictional)
• create mood-board that reflects their concept/idea
• storyboard
• animatics
• explore appropriate audio to uplift the motion tempo
2. *The Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities Portfolio (TGCP) is a document that collates all assessments produced in a module and reflects a student’s acquisition of the Module Learning Outcomes and Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities. Each student develops an ePortfolio, a web-based portfolio in the form of a personal academic blog. The ePortfolio is developed progressively for all modules taken throughout Semesters 1 to 6 and culminates with a final Portfolio in printed form produced in the final semester. The ePortfolio must encapsulate the acquisition of Programme Learning Outcomes and Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities to showcase the distinctiveness and identity of the student as a graduate of the programme.
The third project was to create a channel identity. We could choose to continue from the previous project or start from scratch. Since I had created a mobile-related piece in the second project, I decided to make this project about mobile social media. During the brainstorming phase, I spent a lot of time deciding on the content. As before, once the content was finalized, I started looking for references and creating a mood board for the project.
I decided to use a flat/vector style for this project. References I found on Pinterest further aided my scene creation. After finalizing the style, I began drawing storyboards. I decided to use 'the world being viewed' as the theme for my storyboards.
I drew the storyboard based on my own ideas.
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| Fig 1.0 storyboard1 |
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Fig 1.1 storyboard2 |
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| Fig 1.2 refrence |
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| Fig 1.3 people |
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| Fig 1.4 Winter scene |
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| Fig 1.5 Nighttime forest scene |
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| Fig 1.6 Autumn lakeside scene |
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| Fig 1.8 Mobile Page process |
After completing these designs, I imported the characters, scenery, and mobile screen into After Effects for animation production.
I've already separated the character components in Adobe Illustration, dividing the character into independent layers for the head, torso, left foot, and right foot, etc., and imported them into After Effects. For better differentiation later, I've organized each component into a "Character Composition".
Next, I need to rig the character with controllers. First, I created a new empty object (as the left and right foot controllers), then selected the "Left Foot" layer, held down Alt and clicked the "Parent" property to associate it with the "Left Foot Controller"; the same applies to the right foot.
Secondly, I think the most difficult part is creating the foot animation. While ensuring smooth animation, I also need to prevent the character's movements from feeling stiff or unnatural. During the animation process, I need to adjust the foot position according to the character's walking posture and also pay attention to the animation of the torso and head.
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| Fig 1.9 process |
After completing the character's walking and jumping animations, I started creating the mobile phone animation. Because the display effect of the phone is different at different times, I composited three phone animations.
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| Fig 2.0 Mobile Phone 1 |
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| Fig 2.1 Mobile Phone 2 |
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| Fig 2.2 Mobile Phone 3 |
Then I started creating the scene. In After Effects, I arranged the layers according to the logic of "background → midground → foreground" and adjusted their positions and scaled the objects. I organized the layers by naming, grouping and pre-compositing to prevent the layers from getting messy. I also added keyframe animations for different elements (such as swimming fish, splashing water, and people rowing boats) with position, rotation, scaling and opacity, and used "ease" and "parent linkage" to optimize the smoothness and relevance of the motion.
Based on the teacher's feedback, I made final revisions to my project, striving to make the transition between the two scenes seamless and the characters appear slowly.
Final Outcome：
FEEDBACK
week 14：
Overall Feedback: The teacher felt the transition effects in my project could be improved.
Specific Feedback: The transition of the character at 00:04 is good. You might want to maintain the same transition for every scene; currently, you have the fade-in and fade-out transitions, which you can improve. 2. You need to match the photo scene precisely to the pre-computed sequence. For example, at 00:40, there's a slight mismatch. The same transition applies to others. Overall, it's a good animation; just a minor amendment to make it more interesting.
REFLECTION
Through this project, I learned the importance of the design process. A complete motion graphics project doesn't start with animation itself, but rather with concept formation, reference gathering, and story development. These steps determine the direction of the work's expression. Splitting characters and scenes into layers in Illustrator is a crucial step in animation production, directly impacting the efficiency and precision of post-production operations in After Effects. The depth and dynamic effects of animation rely on a good layer structure and keyframe adjustments; these are important technical details that determine animation quality. Furthermore, I experienced the constant trade-offs between visual expression and technical implementation during production, such as the naturalness of character movements, the organization of scene hierarchy, and transition processing. The feedback from my teacher was also invaluable, reminding me to pay attention to the details of transition design in my work, rather than focusing solely on a single shot.
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