READING & WRITING:
Ideas are not the problem. Ideas continue to bubble up, bubble up, bubble up. The problem, as Blazer put it is, “how much discipline they exercised in limiting their choices.” This is when it would be helpful to take the time to map out the beats in the storyline using 15-30 cards, hitting each beat. Dum da dum da dum. Organize your beats to fit in the linear 3-act story structure: Beginning, Middle, End: or Problem, Attempt to solve, Resolution.
Anything is possible and anything goes.
Liz Blazer
Blazer emphasizes there is room for non-linear storytelling as well. However, this more poetic way of storytelling may actually require more planning and attention to detail. Another idea is to build around inspiration, but this comes with the stark warning that inspiration is not enough on its own, ouch, this hits a little too close to home. Blazer offers several ways to do this, e.g., book ending, the beaded necklace, the countdown, the puzzle, and high concept. Without a background in creative writing, the nonlinear beaded necklace story approach seem to be a little more attainable, especially in After Effects were music, sound, and movement can work so seamlessly together. I had an empty journal lying around, so I have began jotting notes into it. Ideas for .gifs, goals for movement, animation sketches, etc. I used to do this process in my phone notes or my ipad, so it will be interesting to see how or if, putting pencil to paper may help my process.
Chapter three is like listening to my 17 year old son critique my work, it’s to slow, it’s boring. “mom, I would have already swiped up..” Cleary good advice: reveal it early and get to interesting stuff!! I actually related to some of the challenges considered in the Experimental Form,, if there is one thing that has been consistent on this journey is to , “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”. My work is so far from where I want it, but it was encouraging to read the process may be time-consuming (yes) and even frustrating (YES). Of all the forms, Cut it out and play was most appealing, and I can see this helping with our future stop motion animation assignment.
I can’t tell you how many classes I have taken from working artist (thank you Domestika) and they all emphasize the importance of storyboarding. I have walked through more storyboarding processes than I care to count. Blazer is no different in her emphasis on the need for clarity in communication with your audience, which is the same need in ID. Yet, I am still guilty of all the things, too much info, ambiguous focal point, too centered, not enough variation, lack of rhythm, etcetera, etcetera. I wish I could my finger on what is lacking? Is it a design sense? Maybe it’s difficult because of my tendency to get overly excited about the idea and skip the attention to detail and processes needed that are noted in earlier chapters.
RESEARCH TO INFORM:
This video is so inspiring. I find the mixed media so appealing! In fact, I tried to take several elements into my design. The pace is engaging and there is so much going on visually. However, they stay true to the story and maintain focus on the important bits of information.
Love the music and the words on this one. I chose it because I want to get better at moving the eye around AE, e.g, when the screen zooms in between saturated and desaturate. This plays a bit like a movie intro and I think it is an amazing way to teach something, while being engaging!
This also used music and reading. However, I picked it because the timing was impeccable. I find timing in AE so difficult! It’s hard to know how much time to leave something on the screen. I am still find I am a little to fast, or a little too slow with my text. Annd it’s funny! Cleary a theme of mine.
CREATE:
This felt like a three week project in one week! Whoosh! I was so inspired by the research and wanted to add some of the hand-drawn elements, however, I forgot how to do a track matte (?) and ended up scraping some of the stuff that I had drawn in Procreate. I also had some issues with stuttering that I had never encountered before (it may still be showing up, yikes!) more questions for Monday’s class! LOL ;) The hardest part of this project was creating and finding all the assets, I don’t even want to comment on how many layers this took. I also wasted plenty of time on the egg walk cycle, but I’m irritated that I can’t get walk cycles down, so I will keep banging my head against the wall until I do. For better or worse, when I get something in my head I just have to complete it, the Alice quote started me down the rabbit hole (literally) and I just couldn’t let it go. Chapter 5 is so deep, sometimes children’s books do it best, don’t you think? I adore After Effects, I never stop wanting to get better. It is such an amazing program, big fan. Huge.
by nikolai 
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