After Effects with Sara (Workshop 3)

Context & Research
For this workshop we was tasked with creating something that could be moved using new techniques in After Effects. I initially wanted to create a character. However when I thought about this, I imagined creating something very simplistic that could follow a narrative style. I had the vision of a clock and thought of the idea of an Alice in Wonderland theme (The Rabbits Clock). I did think about the rabbit however I thought it would be fun to create the mind of the rabbit and how his focus is on the clock and the time. The rabbit carries the clock because he is always late, I always find this funny because he is always late yet the clock is always with him and is so large. This is something that I could work with and purposely create a very large clock or multiple clocks to show the point the time is always infront of him.

I decided to look at the way the clock looks in the video in order for me to get an idea for how I could illustrate mine. This clock uses numbers. However I thought because the rabbit doesn't pay attention to the clock or the time it would be a bit more interesting to add a twist and not have numbers and instead thin lines to symbolise the numbers should be there. This would also add a slight illusion which is the films main narrative (illusions and tales).

The Workshop
In my third workshop with Sara we was asked to bring something that could be animated. This could be a character or an object. I choose to do a clock as I felt this is more of a realistic type of object I would animate rather than a character. We started off by saving our work normally and not as a JPEG.
We then loaded the document up by going to File > Important and selected our document. Sara gave us an important tip of making sure the file ALWAYS imports as: Composition - Retain Layer Sizes.

We then made a composition. I named mine "Clock" and checked the height and width was 1920 x 1080. I also made sure that the composition was 25 frames per second and then changed the duration to 10 seconds.

The next focus was making sure all our layers have imported and so far everything is right in order for me to move to the next step. I did get lost at one point as I had zoomed in so much to my composition I couldn't find the seconds rather than frames. I zoomed out and then stretched my layers as I had trimmed them down by accident. This is something I need to look out for.

We then needed to work with our Anker points. Using the rectangle tool with small triangles inside, I decided to set my anker points to the circle where the clock hands meet.

I then moved on to work with the Parent and Child category. In After Effects different layers can be set to follow another like the way a child will follow its parent. I decided to have all the time points of the clock to follow the actual clock itself and the two clock handles to follow the dot in the middle. Below shows me setting these layers.

I then began to start to get movement occurring in my animation. I dropped down transform on the layer I wanted to move and clicked rotation. It then allowed me to move a bit and adjust the rotation by going over the number and pulling it up to make the clock hand move.

Below shows my final outcome:
My thoughts for this was to have the clock hand spinning around. However as I went on I seen a link of my animation to Alice in Wonderland. I decided to work with a similar colour scheme and a lot of clocks as this relates with the rabbit with the clock and also some of the locations that Alice goes too.
I decided to pair this with creepy tick tock music to set the mood. I wanted to create an idea of making the video quite creepy and unexpected as to what happens next.

Mad Clock - Alice in Wonderland Themed from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

After the Workshop

Edit 1

In the workshop, I played around with the basic idea of a clock. After my workshop, I went back and starting taking pieces of my clock to try out different ideas to see what I could achieve. I wanted to see the different impressions the position and rotation tool gave me that might help me improve my final outcome. Here I worked with rotation and moved the clock handles very slightly in order to make it move fluently.

CLOCK WITH MOVING HANDLES from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

I then decided that I didn't want this to be so simple. I set myself a challenge on how I could push this further and make this something fun. I then had the idea from looking at the clock that It reminds me of the Rabbit and the scene setting from Alice in Wonderland. I then choose to put smaller clocks in different sizes surrounding the GIANT clock. Below shows this outcome. I did this so that every time a solid coloured background appeared, so did a new clock.

Edit 2

CLOCKS WITH OTHER CLOCKS from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

My next step forward was too look at the clocks rotating. I got this idea from when mechanical rotating that I have seen in a few documentaries. I thought this also started to link with other characters in Alice in Wonderland not just rabbit because of how everything normal starts to move and is surreal. For example the eyes of the cat start to twirl and appear different colours. Below shows the next step with the clocks rotating after appearing.

Edit 3

ROTATING CLOCKS from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

The above videos are of my different idea that I worked with after the workshop to see if their was any way I could improve and work on my final outcome. I am really glad I researched and looked into a narrative before this workshop as it gave my animation some depth and allowed me to play with an idea and put my own take on it.

Further Work

Simplistic Animation

I decided to come away from the clock for another trial of this concept and looked at illustrating something more simple. I decided to illustrate a boat, I knew a lot of the illustrator tools at this point due to my workshop with Stephen and I have developed a lot of knowledge from my workshops with Sara and from teaching myself. I went away and completed the following piece below:
Milk Sea Animation from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

I played with the animation presets that I came across when teaching myself some new techniques and will be able to get to know them more in my next workshop.  I really like this piece, although it is simple, I have been able to mix illustrator and after effects which I feel really happy by as this was a challenge in some areas. I find it hard sometimes when a lot of elements are going on like the clock piece as their are a lot of elements that are on different layers and have different times on the position and rotation tools. This just shows something simple can be made and can also look effective.

Animation 2 

I have really been enjoying the work I have been able to produce after this workshop and from trial and error I have been able to work on much more complicated work. Another piece I have created after this workshop is the following:

This piece has been a blend from workshop 1 and 3. At the start the quick burst of imagery has been inspired by my first workshop. I really liked this as it contrasted well against the music and I also liked how at the end I was able to use what I learnt today to have the butterflies spreading out and rotating as they go like they do in normal life. I found this hard at first as in this animation it features a lot of layers and elements and each one needed to be worked on to make sure every bee disappeared.

Animation 3

The final piece I completed was something with a lot of elements to really push and challenge myself. I often shy away from anything that has a lot of elements or anything that may feel complicated as I think I can't do it however after a lot of work and time spent on trying this workshop out several times, I feel really confident that I can do it and I will. I choose to create a Christmas animation including Illustrations characters, backgrounds and other elements. Below shows my final piece:

CHRISTMAS ANIMATION from Amy Winson on Vimeo.

After completing this, looking back I am shocked that I have even been able to do this. Looking back at my work and how I started really basic to only being able to work with image bursts and now I have been able to put together a fully functioning animation that plays well and works well. Initially I tried doing this as a stop motion as I was too scared to try with what I have learnt and this took a long time. It also didn't look good as it looked really awkward and didn't work. I then decided to go back and make it again but with all the elements I have learnt, the outcome has been really successful and has give me a lot of confidence moving forward in my workshops.

Conclusion

After todays workshop, I felt really inspired and engage to learn more and test myself. I did struggle sometimes through the workshop but I kept trying until I was happy with my work. I really loved this workshop and I felt that I learnt a lot of techniques that has helped me make more advanced work. After the workshop I came away and worked on some more animations that has allowed me to become more confident and familiar with Adobe After Effects. Each one of the animations I created after the workshop are completely different from one another yet they are all unique in their own way and has allowed me to develop my skills and feel more confident in creating something commercial in the future.