Assignments

Class assignments will appear here after they have been given in class. 

Assignment 1 - Animating a Solid

Create at least 3 solids (or 3 instances of a single solid) that have masks applied to them. Animate the position, rotation, scale, and opacity of these objects in any way you choose. -- Due before the 2nd class

Assignment 2 -  Paintings in Motion

Create an animation of no more than 30 seconds in length using still images. Use position, opacity, and mask keyframes to give the illusion of motion to your images. Use masks and blending modes to create convincing illusions.

Assignment 3 - Into the 3rd Dimension

Create an animation with animated text and layers distributed in z-space. The animated text should be appropriate to the tone of your visuals. Don't combine silly text and bouncy animations with a somber or serious image. The text can be integrated into the animation or function as a title beforehand. The visuals should consist of multiple layers separated in z-space that the viewpoint moves forward through. These can be made from many images or a single image that you have duplicated and masked parts out of. 

Assignment 4 - Master of Puppets

 For this assignment you should create an image of a character in Photoshop that has a transparent background. The character's limbs must not overlap with their body or you will not be able to animate them. The image should be saved as a PNG with transparency. When imported to After Effects you should just have the character and no background. Use the Puppet Tools to animate this character moving around. The animation should be no shorter than 20 seconds. 

Assignment 5 - Strange Weather Today

Use the file linked for this assignment to create a video of a weatherman standing in front of an unusual weather situation. You're going to apply a chroma(color) key effect to the video layer so that only the weatherman is visible. Behind him(the layers under his layer) you're going to animate the unusual, impossible weather that he is reporting on. 

Assignment 6 - Your Own TV Station

For your midterm you will be creating your own TV news station. I recommend viewing local news to get a good feel for the kind of visuals you will be expected to produce. The required elements for a complete project are

1. An animated opening using the station name and channel number (roughly 3 to 5 seconds long)
2. An anchor sitting at a news desk who will introduce the news and announce the top story
3. A graphic that will appear when story is announced (relevant image with graphic container)
4. A news reporter who the anchor will quickly introduce 
5. You must use a green screen or other means of compositing (rotobrush for example) to place either the anchor or the reporter in front of an interesting background at some point
6. The reporter and anchor should be in side-by-side boxes so both are visible 
7. Create a graphic background that these picture-in-picture boxes will be in front of
8. Cut to just the reporter and use the channel identifier to make a lower third with their name
9. Have the report give the details of the story. 
10. If they are on-location you may want them to interview people there (every new person needs to have the lower third name them)
11. Use cut-aways to stock footage or photographs relevant to the story to keep visual interest
12. When the story ends have the reporter pass back to the anchor "in the studio" who will close

 Assignment 7 - Very Particular Title

For this assignment I want you to use the tutorials I demoed in class to create your own titles. There will be a total of two. One will involve animated characters appearing onscreen and a moving particle system that appears to animate with the titles. The second will use animated fractal noise to create ribbons of light streaks. Remember: the key to getting the fractal effect to work the way we want is to stretch out the fractal plane in one direction by a lot. Then set the contrast exceptionally high and adjust the brightness so that all the gray areas are gone and you just have a few bright lines. Use the hue effect and click the colorize box to give the light streaks some color. A glow effect will amplify the look.

Assignment 8 - The Big Finale

 I want to see you demonstrate an understanding of all the concepts and techniques we've learned this semester. This means your video requires:

1. Keyframing your effects & animations
2. Masking layers
3. Blending Modes for your layers
4. Chroma Key or the Rotobrush to create transparent backgrounds around your characters
5. Particle Effects
6. A thrilling Title to open the video
7. Use Z-Space to move objects, characters, or a simulated camera into and out of your video. 

The emphasis for this assignment is not on the story or the length. I want to see that you understand and can implement the tools After Effects gives you to create convincing illusions. 

The first portion of this assignment is to write a plot synopsis of a sci-fi or fantasy story.

Please email me your plot synopsis and get to work writing your script (it doesn't have to be a supremely detailed script this time) so you can bring it in for class on the 23rd.
Plan to film after class on the 23rd so we can get to editing by the 30th.
There's only about 3 weeks to work on this project so don't spend too much time on the filming. Get what you need and make sure it's usable for the effects you want to accomplish. Standard compositional guidelines should still be followed. A badly composed shot will make editing more difficult so keep your framing in mind when filming.


Things to Keep In Mind
You are an illusionist. Don't concern yourself with the physical limitations of your set or your abilities. An example: You can film someone inside a room, have the camera shake, add an explosion sound, then cut to a reverse shot of a crumbling building that you filmed somewhere else entirely. Don't be constrained by the physical world.
Another important aspect of being an illusionist is to distract your audience enough they don't see the seams. The more detailed and intricate your effects the less chance you give the audience to pick them apart. Be flashy and make use of misdirection to pull their attention away from things that don't look great and most won't even notice it was there.