Motion Graphic. When we first got this assignment I was terrified since I have never used after effects before. The tutorials we got were helpful but I was still confused how I was supposed to create something amazing. I knew I wanted to make a trailer for the show ‘’The Vampire Diaries’’ since it is my favourite TV show. The only hard thing was coming up with a concept. From watching the show, I know that the forest is a big part of it since that is usually where the vampires hunt. I decided then to go take some pictures from the forest by the ravine near my house. When I downloaded the pictures, I thought to myself that I probably should have taken a panoramic shot, but thankfully one of my friends just suggested I Photoshop some pictures together to make the illusion that they are all one picture. Afterwards, I had to edit the picture some more to make it seem darker and gloomy.
In After Effects – I wanted to start making a 5 second trailer, so I had my picture and added a camera angle to it would pan across it. To add some more darkness, I added a smoke element to the forest. I made the smoke rotate and move which was really difficult. Then I added a black background to fade in with The Vampire Diaries and finally a drop of blood falls from the p. Playing it back, it seemed as though it was enough, but once I got some other peoples opinion, I knew something was missing. With the help of my TA, I saw a trailer that had some sort of petals falling down. I then thought of adding rose petals in the background with the title. That night, I drew some rose petals in Photoshop and put them into my after effects file. I made them fall down slowly across the screen. I added some music and voila, I had my ‘’final’’ product.
By doing this assignment, I had learned SO much about after effects and I have especially gained LOTS of respect for all types of motion graphics out there! They make them look so easy to make, when it probably takes them weeks. I enjoy working on this program, but also stressful. As of now, I just downloaded the trial version, and maybe later on I will decide to buy the full version.
Carina Kresic 