Motion Graphics and After Effects!

For the past little while in our Digital Media class we have been using a really cool program called After Effects. I find that it is a lot like Photoshop but even more advanced because it allows you to work with video. When I first used After Effects, I was very surprised at all of the things this program allowed you to do, and I am very pleased that we get the chance to work with it.

Right when I read the assignment sheet for the motion graphics assignment, I immediately knew that I wanted to do some sort of stop-motion clip. I thought that the videos that we watched in our lecture were so cool and I was really eager to try something like that myself. The program that I’m going to do a clip for is 16 and Pregnant. The reason I chose this show was because I had an idea from the start that I wanted to write on a calendar and rip it apart while making it look like the calendar was changing month to month.

When I started drawing on the calendar, I was writing things such as “English presentation today” or “unit test today” which suggested that the girl who owned the calendar was in high school. Then I wanted all the things that were written on the calendar to lead up to one main focus. I got the idea that this would be a high school girl’s calendar and each month would say something like “6 months left!” and counting down until the final month. I would make it clear that this was a high school girl’s calendar by strategically dropping hints within the activities that happen throughout the month. I would hint that the girl was pregnant by saying things like “pick up crib from aunt sue” and “doctor’s appointment at 1pm”.

I want it to look as though the pages are being ripped off piece by piece while counting down to this girls due date. The final month will have nothing on the calendar but the words “due date” on one of the days, and I will have a heading that says “16 and Pregnant – Monday’s at 5pm”. I realize that I only have 5 seconds to get all this information across so I may only do a 3 or 4 month countdown to the date. That’s my plan for the assignment and hopefully it works as well as it does in my head!