Final Project Realisation & Presentation

A blog presenting my final project, 'The Year', & how it was made.

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The Year - Final Animation

Thanks to everyone that helped & supported me through this project, I couldn’t asked for more :)

[mi6015amytaylorsteward]

After Effects Simple Line Text Reveal Intro Animation Tutorial

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I used this tutorial to help me with some text that needed a mask in my animation. I found it quite informative & helpful. This allowed me to create text that seemingly comes from nowhere.

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Production Of Animation: Glasses Scene

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Production Of Animation: High Street Parallax

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High Street Parallax

This parallax is a segment in my final project animation & will have characters composited into the scene to show them walking along the high street.

High Street Parallax

This is the parallax shot I will be compositing the characters into. With a couple of tweaks, via exporting different layers to composite on top, I can create an illusion that the characters really are in the scene. This is super helpful as it tricks the eye into seeing depth into an animation.

I used the after effects tutorial I researched earlier on in this blog & I can say it has worked really well. It was relatively simple in steps & quite quick once I tested (with my basic shape parallax test) the method, which allowed me to get the hang of it. I am satisfied with the result.

[mi6015amytaylorsteward]

Making Of/ Scene Breakdown: Foodbank Scene

In the foodbank scene we see someone placing bags into a donation box. To create this scene I textured the assets in Photoshop & put them in layers so that I can layer the front panel of the box in front of the bags. I composited the assets in After Effects & added lighting with a cool tone, like some other scenes in my animation, to create an atmosphere.

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Scene Breakdown/Making Of: Warehouse

In this scene, this scene breakdown is of a warehouse & a worker. I used several custom brushes in Photoshop to create a texture in the environment & layered several shading layers that I used blend modes like multiply & soft light. I then added my worker into the scene & shaded him accordingly to match the environment.

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Production Of Animation: Solidarity Animation Segment

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Production Of Animation: Poppies

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Making Of Backgrounds: Decisions on Blending Modes (Heart/ Memorial Wall)

When creating backgrounds I wanted to explore multiple designs on how an environment should look. For this instance, the Covid-19 memorial heart wall is an aspect in my animation & I wanted the hearts to look like it’s a part of the wall & not just laying on top. To solve that problem I played with blending modes to create a piece that looks somewhat realistic. I considered a couple of blend modes before settling on a darker but more vibrant design - to not make the hearts seem too luminous.

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The Year: Stills

Here is some stills from my animation. I wanted to show off the design work throughout the whole animation. 

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Other Assets (2/2)

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Other Assets (1/2)

Here are some of the assets that I used separate layers for to animate in after effects. I found it best to create these assets in this way as I can layer them on top & underneath other assets & composite them on top of my backgrounds.

[mi6015amytaylorsteward]

Backgrounds/Establishing Shots

These are various stills in my animation which tell the story of 2020 (& some of 2021). I wanted the backgrounds to be very visual as I wanted to have texture & beautiful backgrounds despite the lack of movement going on in the animation. These backgrounds & stills transport you to see 2020/1 through the screen & get a sense of the highs & lows of the year without being told.

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Front View Characters (2/2)

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Front View Characters (1/2)

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Parallax Assets

These assets will be used for my parallax high street shot to show movement & depth of the environment. I have textured them in Photoshop to be cohesive with my other textures in my animation.