Class hours: 10:05 – 2:45
Mr. Bohmann | wbohmann@ewsd.org
10:05 Today’s Notes & Attendance
Week EIGHT
Welcome to Week 8 – make those folders
10:10 Monday Mail – Check Google Classroom and PowerSchool
10:15 Lower Thirds – A Motion Graphic Designer’s Job
Lower Thirds are also referred to as L3s. Essentially a lower third is a non-intrusive motion graphic that displays necessary information such as name, place, fact or process. You may consider some details like:
- Typography
- Animation
- Shape
- Color
Always consider how the L3 blends with the content it is displayed with. Design does matter!
Helvetica, Lato and most Sans Serif fonts look best. Take time to find the right fonts.
Last Wednesday we made one together. Let’s do another one.
A Quick word on Mattes – what are they?
A matte in After Effects is a layer that’s used to control the visibility of another layer beneath it. Mattes can be still images, videos, graphics, text, or shapes. They’re used to create transparency, which allows the layer beneath to show through. Alpha Matte, Luna Matte and Track Matte.
Did you know that some people make these for a living? Have a look at many of the lower thirds you can buy. Motion graphic templates are big business. Good thing we know how to make our own.
Read about a job as a motion graphic designer right here in Burlington.
Lower Thirds Project:
- Create at least three lower thirds in addition to the one we make in class. That will qualify for a B.
- Make 4 original lower thirds along with the ones we made in class and you qualify for A status.
- Being creative will help your grade. Take your time.
- You can download free video content from Pexels or Unsplash
- Each lower thirds will be animated. I encourage you to explore some effects too (using masks, effects, animators, custom adjustments will help you improve your grade) – apply what you learn!
- Place all of your lower thirds in one Project.
- Make individual compositions for each of your lower thirds
- Combine in one final composition
- Export as .mp4 for our viewing pleasure
- Filename: CustomLowerThirds_Lastname.mp4 and drop in the Assignment Dropbox in Google Classroom
- Save all your .aep files too!
This project will be Due on Monday, October 21st
Google Lower Thirds for inspiration
The goal of this project is to create your own lower thirds, apply transformations and effects in After Effects, connect the concept of compositions as they are applied in After Effects.
10:50 Break
11:00 English with Mx. Yopp
11:50 – 12:25 Image Manipulation with After Effects
Let’s add a sunset to an image that really needs one. You’ll find this image in CAWD2 public folder/ After Effects Resources / PhotoSpecialEffects folder. The image is called Lake. Place a copy on your desktop.
AE is great for working with images. Exporting images is really easy too. We’ll practice that together.
Blending modes for layers control how each layer blends with or interacts with layers beneath it. Blending modes for layers in After Effects (formerly referred to as layer modes and sometimes called transfer modes) are identical to blending modes in Adobe Photoshop.
Blending Modes in digital image editing are used to determine how two layers blend together. The default blend mode with most image programs is to ignore the lower layer and add whatever is present on the top layer.
Pixels on layers have numerical values. Playing with how you blend layers can have a big impact on your final render. It is good to experiment. Learn by doing and practice, practice, practice.
12:25 – 12:55 Lunch
12:55 Independent Reading
1:20 Break
1:30 Design Challenge
1:55 Production Time and Guided Support
Current Assignments:
- Past Due Assignments – many of you owe Street Photography & Animated Personal Logo
- Lower Thirds
- Sweatshirt Design – finish paper design to get approved to start digital design
- Vermont Foliage project – keep taking those pictures!
2:38 Dailies
Dailies can be placed in the CAWD2 Dailies Folder on the CAWD2 Public Folders drive