CONCEPT
The concept that I have chosen is a Japanese lyric video where having listened to Japanese music for a long time I wanted to create a lyric video that can encapsulate the mood and aesthetics of one of my favourite songs. As I had a big list of songs that I might use I focused on the type of mood which I wanted to create for this project, where I wanted either a very active and upbeat concept or a more slow beat and sad mood. While listening to my list of songs I came across one of my favourite songs "Doushite" by Emi Noda, which is a sad song but with a very special emotional mood. I immediately imagined the scenes in my head, and I wanted to recreate them and see where I could take this concept. Following the mood of the song, I wanted to create a sad but happy mood, and use very minimal colours and movement to match the aesthetics of the song.
REFLECTION
With this project, I was feeling fairly ok, as I had some previous knowledge and experience with After Effects in past classes. However, I was still not very skilled technically and was worried that I would not be able to recreate the ideas that I had in my head. The main direction for this concept was minimalism, in which I aimed to create the maximum aesthetic and mood with as minimal elements on the screen as possible. This would require attention to detail creating restrained movements with position as well as scale, and working with blur to create emotional aesthetics. I didn't want any big transitions that stood out but allowed the scenes to flow naturally.
The main challenge that I faced in this project was that it was difficult to think of ideas or forms that I might use in my frames as I wanted minimal elements to create aesthetic moods. I had trouble thinking of techniques that weren't over the top or too minimal, and what would look good in the scene. I also didn't want too many repetitive effects as it would become boring. I had to do trial and error, testing out different techniques and doing external research on other works to overcome this issue.
The techniques that I used in this project include Distortion (blurring out words and elements), colour (contrast of black and white colours, brightness), depth (use of scale, depth of field), layering, transitions (blur, dissolve, zoom). Scale (letters and elements are made to be bigger so they create a sense of scale), position (the position of typeface letters are made to move constantly so they are not static and create a sense of movement for the frames). I used mainly techniques that could create depth and visual interest in the scenes of the lyric videos, allowing for better visual engagement for viewers.
In future projects, I would like to learn more techniques in After Effects so that I could create more skilled designs as now I can only use more basic techniques with limited knowledge and resources. Furthermore, if I had more time and skills I would have also loved to add visual elements to the backgrounds that I would illustrate which would elevate the video’s aesthetics and engagement.
Style Frames
Research
Existing imagery
In starting with this projects I looked in to existing Japanese Lyric videos and how they utilise text, where I found out they were mostly very upbeat musics that were quite fast paced. But I was able to see the techniques they used and how they matched their text to the pace and mood of the music.
Typographic style research
For the typographic style I wanted very simple typeface that conveys the lyric in a simple and straightforward way. Although though research I found that a lot of the Japanese texts that I liked were in a linear form I wanted my type to be in a normal straight line as I did not have the skills to create imagery to fill the page like the videos in my research.
MoodBoard
For the mood board I looked for images that fit the aesthetics that i wanted to create in my video, where I wanted very limited colour palette, black and white, and a dash of water colour effect in there as a pointer. An important element was emotion, where these images all display their sense of emotional mood to the viewer which is what I wanted to create for my video.
Colour Platte
In my video I only have 4 colours, black, white, grey and blue. And they are not varied in tone or shades. I did not want to use a lot of colours for this concept as it would only hinder with the music and the engagement, where it would not match the aesthetic of the song.
Design Process
At the beginning of the design process, I wrote down the potential things that i wanted to do for the project which was either a title sequence or a lyric video. I had done a title sequence before in a previous assignment for another motion design class, which was quite a fun experience. And for a lyric video I knew exactly the types of songs and aesthetics i wanted, which were Japanese songs. In the end I chose to do a lyric video because I had already done and title sequence before and a lyric video would be very fun to create as I was working with music that I loved. Initially I did not have a specific song in mind but I did know the kind of aesthetics I wanted. I created a mood board according to that initial idea and decision but did not use it for my final works.
Through further research into the songs I liked, the length of their chorus, their mood, and if they inspired an image in my head I chose my final song for my video: Doushite, by Emi Noda.
Final Song Choice
Doushite By Emi Noda
I chose this song because it was one of my favourite songs, and I loved its mood which inspired images within my head that I wanted to recreate.
Storyboarding
With the storyboarding I planned out my frames and what elements would be in them, and where the screen would transition from black to white. Though through the creation process and feedback from peers I created quite a few different frames that were different from this initial storyboard which mainly includes the final frame which I had troubles creating and planning for.
Initial Rendered Draft Video
I created a draft render so that I could receive feedback from my peers, where I made various changes and fixes from this original video.
After Effects Key Moments
Moment 1
One of the main moments for me in the design process was the discovery of the 'glow' effect, which added a glowing effect to my text which greatly elevated the mood as well as the Japanese lyric video aesthetic.
Moment 2
Another key moment was the discovery of the 'CC Particle world', where I accidentally stumbled upon while exploring the different effects which after effects had. Where after testing around with the settings, I was able to create a snowing effect which I would use throughout my video to create depth in the background.
Moment 3
Another key moment was my discovery of the ideas for my final frames where I was dissatisfied with the results for the previous final frames but had no idea what I could change or do. But though feedback and discussion, the comment I received was that it would have been better if the video ended on a white and brighter screen, rather than dark. This inspired me to do a looping effect, where I reuse the water colour effect I used in the beginning so that it can loop back to the beginning.
Moment 4
A problem that I faced during the design was that i found that one of the text was very blurry which I didn't know why it was that way. But I discovered that, the problem firstly was that the text and the camera was in different pre-compositions. The text in its composition was in quite small font and size, so therefore when it was zoomed in using the camera it became blurry as it was further zoomed in from the small text. So I fixed this issue by going into the pre-comp and making the text bigger so that it didn't pixelate when zoomed.
Extra After Effect Screenshots
Final Video
Appendix
KIT Bootcamp_Celebrity Quote
The celebrity quote that i chose was by Magnus Carlsen, where the quote was quite inspiring, and just the right length to create a video with.
Mood Board
For this activity I wanted something very minimalistic and simple, but was fast paced to create visual interest. The requirements for this activity didn't allowed us to use colours but I was actually happy about this because I wouldn't have planned to use any colours in the first place for this design.
This activity allowed me to use different typographic techniques on simple backgrounds, which became my base for my final works. Although this was not the style I planned for in the beginning, it definitely did help to inspire my final work, where I knew that I could achieve minimalistic motion graphics.
Celebrity Quote
Tutorials
【AE制作烟雾动画小技巧🔥】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1DQ4y1t7D6/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
【【AE教程】波纹气泡】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV19J4m1W7sq/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
【【AE教程】基础操作-简单效果集】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14u4y1X7oN/?p=2&share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
【【AE教程】基础操作-简单效果集】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14u4y1X7oN/?p=34&share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
【【AE教程】基础操作-简单效果集】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14u4y1X7oN/?p=49&share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
【【AE教程】基础操作-简单效果集】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14u4y1X7oN/?p=51&share_source=copy_web&vd_source=9a1b4911b3b1ea491978e707538d9b0b
Reference
Noda. E. (2022, February 8). 高瀬統也 / どうして feat. 野田愛実（Official Music Video) [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct-60mD5yjE