Motion Graphics!

This week in class we discussed motion graphics. It's funny how when you're watching something on TV you don't necessarily think about how time consuming it was to make that intro to your favourite film, or all the work that went into it. It's made to look as though it was effortless and natural, but when exploring motion graphics this week, it gave me a new appreciation for everyone who is involved. I’ve always known that it would be very difficult to do something involving motion graphics but I figured that the people who create these pieces are naturally talented, and that it somehow all falls together. I thought that until we watched the making of that music video. I was right about the people who created this piece to be naturally talented but it did not fall together as simply as I imagined. They took something like 2400 pictures I believe and had to know exactly what picture they wanted before they even took it. Then they had to put it all together while timing it with the music. It was truly amazing to watch how it all came together and my immediate thought was that I would never be able to do something like that.


Then we were shown some 5 second clips that students in the program had created that also had me a little worried about the upcoming motion graphics assignment. When working through the After Effects tutorial though, I saw that once you understood the program, it was fairly easy to make a clip of something, but it’s the little details that make all the difference. It’s interesting to see how a 5 second clip could take days to make.


Which brings me to one of my favourite motion graphics works that I have seen: the Juno “All I Want is You” music video. I love this piece of motion graphics because it caught my attention right away and kept it. There is something about hand drawn effects that greatly interest me, so when I saw this video I was immediately in awe. I can’t tell if everything was hand drawn, or if some of it was video clips that were made to look like they were hand drawn because the faces of the characters are so clear. I also love that it goes from real footage into this drawn world, then effortlessly back again. When watching this, it makes the viewer feel as though they are walking in this world with her and it’s a really cool thing to be able to see. This was probably the first hand-drawn style motion graphics piece that I had seen and since then I have loved watching pieces like this. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make my own hand drawn music video and amaze a young person like me!