Nikki Dunsire

This hands-on course will give students a foundational look at how to create motion graphics for the purposes of advertising, storytelling, and communication using After Effects, and Photoshop. The course focuses on interface exploration, file management and integration, non-destructive techniques, cross-platform workflows, rotoscoping, stabilizing and tracking footage, compositing, effects and animating.

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Upon successful completion, students should be able to navigate and utilize the tools presented in the software to manipulate and enhance digital images, footage, and animate graphical components. The primary objectives of this course will be the following:

• Navigate and utilize the tools presented in the software to manipulate and enhance digital images, footage, and animate graphical components.

• Practice effective file management and organization

• Development efficient and non-destructive cross-platform workflows

• Utilize the software to achieve design tasks

• Analyze digital imagery with a critical eye and be able to speak to the technical components that comprise an image

• Demonstrate the layering of light in space to create mood, emotion and theme

• Become familiar with the principles of texturing, lighting, resolution, depth of field and overlapping graphical components

• Gain basic concepts and understanding of tools related to compositing and animating graphics in After Effects

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Additional course outcomes:

• Critical thinking and creative problem solving

• Team building

• Time management

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Software used: After Effects, Photoshop

Credits: 2 | 1 Quarter - The course meets 3-5 times (like an extended workshop)

 

Student Examples:

 

First set of projects represented below:

• Option 01: Create a compelling 45 - 60 second advertisement for a product (actual or fictional), event or message of your choosing. This project should not be just footage. Rotoscoping, keying, tracking and stabilizing are all a part of this. This project must be comprised of motion assets and graphics…still images, animated shapes and masks, text layers, etc. Think Infographic meets product advertisement. 

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• Option 02: Same idea as above, but rather than working toward info graphics or advertising, create a narrative or message of your choice. Your goal is to tell a compelling story (remembering you only have about 30-90secs) that is extenuated by graphical content and interesting cuts…again Rotoscoping, keying, tracking and stabilizing of footage in addition to the graphical work are included.

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• Misc: There a couple in this mix with the following objective - Create a VERY short movie using the tracking and compositing tools discussed in class. The topic was up to the students, BUT it needed to include: Rotoscoping or keying Green/Blue screens, one tracked element, audio, and text and/or animated graphic.

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