Reflective blog
After Effects is an adobe animation/special effects editing program. When you make new projects you will need to pick a preset or create a custom preset which determines the size of the canvas as well as the play speed, you also get to decide on a colour for the background of the canvas. We had to create a canvas with the HDTV 1080 25 preset and then had to put in several PlayStation logos which we will animate, I also made the background orange.
When we put in the logos we had to resize them with control + to enlarge it and control - to shrink it. we then changed the colour of the options by using the generate fill effect from the menu to change the colour, I went with orange. Then we added the effects which allowed us to make the logos appear out of no where with the opacity option by marking where we wanted it to appear and setting the opacity beforehand to 0.
We then had to add effects to a batman logo so I used the opacity effect from before and made it go from invisible to visible. Then I changed the rotation setting so that the logo rotated several times before it finished. Finally I changed the scale settings so that it starts off small and as the animation progresses the logo goes from small to large. I enjoyed both tasks as they were easy to understand which helped me learn how to use After Effects which I enjoyed using.
Using After Effects we also animated a motorcycle company logo. With this we made it so that in the background there was some snow falling, to do that we searched the effects bar for something called "snowfall" which we then put over the image of the motorcycle, I then edited it so that the snowflakes were more obvious and visible. We then used an effect called "light sweep" and applied that to the logo, this put a line of light on the logo that we could then make move from the left of the logo to the right, I edited mine so that the line was thicker and brighter so that it stood out more. We then made the motorbike background fade into white, leaving the logo as the only thing that is visible. I enjoyed this task as I got to learn more about how to use After Effects which I enjoy.
Adobe Audition is another Adobe editing program which specialises in editing audio, for this assignment we had to make a Soundscape with some audio we were given. A soundscape is a combination of sounds that are used to tell a story, we were given background audio for and city environment and a restaurant/cafe environment as well as audio of footsteps, a door opening and a song. We also used effects when editing the audio, I put a full reverb effect on the footsteps sound to make it sound like it was walking on a hard, reflective surface, we also used the fade option to make some of the audio fade out as it ends. When I put everything together I made the footsteps and the outside environment play together and fade into the door sound which lead to the restaurant/cafe audio and the bock ground music, both of which then fade off after a little time. I found this task a bit more difficult than the others as I understand more about After Effects than I do Audition but I still enjoyed that task and know more ab out how to use Audtion.
We had to make a mindmap with different ideas of what would be on a website, I wrote about navigation menus and where they could be accessed from as well as what they could be used for/take you to. I also talked about images and how on websites images would be to do with logo and advertisements which could also be animated. I talked about backgrounds as well and how they are normally and image related to the website or just a colour that fits the colours of the website. We also did a risk assessment on where we will record the voice over which I found quite easy as we have done it before so I knew what I was doing.
We had to make a draft script for the voice over of our website and for that we used the website Celtx which is a free to use script writing website that helps make things such as screenplays, at first I found this task difficult as I wasn't sure what to write or what was going to be on the website but it became easier as I went as I had figured out what was going to be on the website and what I could say about all of the different pages. When I finished making the draft I exported it as a PDF and saved it into my OneDrive.
We have learnt how to use the zoom feature on a mac to help us with the screen recording of our website, we can do this by enabling it in the system preferences setting on the mac and then we use command, alt and + or - to either zoom in or zoom out. We also know how to screen record using the QuickTime Player application which allows us to record everything that is happening on the screen such as our website or a game we are playing. You record by pressing file and then screen recording whilst using QuickTime Player which brings up a small menu where you can change if it does or doesn't record sound or if it shows where you click, you then press the red button on that menu and it starts to record, you also use that menu to end the recording when you have finished.
We have also started to learn how to use the program GarageBand to create background music for our screen recoding. The program offers a large selection of copyright-free music that you can put together to make the right background music we need for the website, we can also add a video to it so that we can see when different parts of the audio would play during the video. I found this a bit difficult as i struggled to find sounds that I thought worked but when I found what I was looking for I found it a lot easier.
We have done another After Effects tutorial, for this one we learned how to use the Trim Path effect which lets you make it so that shapes get drawn around where they were placed, from one corner to another. We did this on a box that we then put the Avengers logo into, I also changed the opacity settings so they faded in and out at the start and end, I also added the Light Sweep effect on the logo and increased the opacity of the logo so that it looked like the logo goes towards the screen.
We also did a tutorial on Adobe Illustrator where we had to use the program to make a gear. To accomplish this we used that shape tool to draw a circle as well as some lines, we then used those lines to make a point at the top of the circle. After that we drew a square around the circle and linked it with the point on top of the circle so that the centres were in line and then used the rotate tool on the square a and point and because of the alignment of the shapes when we rotate it makes the new spikes on top of the circle. We then deleted all of the squares which created the gear shape. I enjoyed this tutorial as it was quite simple and I think it was a good start to learning the program.
We were also taught a bit about designing logos and how they should be related to the product, make sure you keep in mind what it will be used for, as an internet logo could be different to something you would put on a shirt. You also need to make sure the logo works with what the target audience is as a logo that would work with younger audiences might not be as effective with adults.