Mixed Media Animation: Bring Your Creations to Life

Mixed Media Animation: Bring Your Creations to Life

“Friends, we have come to the end of our wonderful journey through the construction and animation of a diorama using stop motion, video recording, and a lot of materials that we had at our disposal. You learned about the projects we most admire in our studio, and you discovered the artists who inspire us to continue creating every day. We learned new ways to squeeze our brains for new ideas, using simple questions to spark our creativity and force our minds to create new universes. We captured all the ideas in a sketch that led us to develop a storyboard, with which we could plan the operation of our scene, and we compressed our best ideas into a small surreal diorama. We put it together and gave it life using different techniques, until creating a hypnotic infinite sequence looping from scratch in Adobe After Effects. Then, we applied an assortment of tricks until we ended up with a visually captivating, fresh, and very original animated product. We are going to do a brief review of all the stages that we went through on our way to the Final Project. Preparation Brainstorm, remember that there are no bad ideas. Keep a list of all the nonsense that comes to mind. Give yourself time. There is no rush, carry your list in your pocket, remember that ideas can arrive at any time. Then, put your ideas into a sketch, either using collage, drawing, digital retouching. Add color to it and define the palette that your scene will have. Remember to be very clear about the scales and sizes of your scene. Remember that from there, you can begin to imagine what materials you can use to represent all the elements of your diorama: your props (toys, objects, etc.) or built by you.

Storyboard and material tests Define in a storyboard the camera shot, all the movements and actions that your idea will have. Try to be as clear as possible so that all the details are planned and captured in your story. Find the materials that will make up your diorama, define and test the mechanisms, do a test assembly to prevent possible problems and details that may arise during the recording. Take photographs of your proofs so that you can make digital proofs of scale, composition, color, etc. Shooting plan Create a shooting plan that defines all the moments of your recording, types of animation, list of pieces that intervene in your composition, order of recording, and equipment required for each recording. Split the recording moments by technique: stop-motion and live-action. Check very well the configuration of your recording equipment according to the type of animation to be captured. Make the production of your recording in a comfortable place, with control of the light and with all the comfort you can have. armed Define your recording space, build your set before installing your diorama. Locate the lights and the camera tripod. Now yes, put together your diorama on the recording set. Remember to follow your shooting plan to a T, so that you only have the elements that will be recorded on set. Check very well that the camera shot and framing match what your sketch and storyboards dictate. In the same way, check that the lights register correctly according to the art sketch. Shooting Animate your sequences in stop-motion according to your shooting plan and storyboard using the mechanisms, positions, and sizes, then proceed with the live-action recording. Collect all the digital material recorded on your computer and proceed to make a selection of the best sequences, both stop motion, and live-action. Postproduction On your computer and with the help of After Effects, import all the recorded material, starting with the stop motion jpg sequences. Join all the sequences until you have a consistent timeline and composition, the same with your video line. With a developed master timeline, define the moments in which you will add the 2D animated details and export a sample JPG that will serve as a guide in Photoshop to animate. In Photoshop, create the motion lines and 2D atmosphere details for your diorama. Using the screenshot of your drama composition in After Effects as a guide, the result will be a PSD file that you will then import into After Effects. Add the 2D animated sequences you made in Photoshop to your After Effects timeline. Color adjustment On After Effects, level out all the colors, gamuts, and exposures of the masks that make up your diorama sequence so that they look like they were recorded in one shot. Use adjustment layers to have better control over each mask. Add an adjustment layer with a color gradient or photo filter in After Effects and some grain to give an overall uniformity to your scene. Render Proceed with the render of your animated diorama scene, defining the seconds of duration that you want it to have, the format, and destination: Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, etc. Remember that a good idea is worth a thousand tools. Never discard an idea for lack of knowledge tool development. In this course, we learned that for an idea to come to life, the best tool is the one we know how to use, and the best materials are what we have at our disposal. Be constantly experimenting with your projects, and above all, look for challenging and fun projects. If a project does not amuse you, it does not convert you. It has been a honor that you have chosen us to teach you all the secrets that we have learned in our experience building dioramas and animated scenes. We hope that you have learned, and above all, that you have had fun throughout this course. Remember to share your progress. Do you dare to create a diorama with Lego? Your mother's crockery collection, the scraps of wood that your grandfather has in his workshop, or your models in plasticine or polymer putty? The possibilities are endless, and we are very eager to know all the results of our students. We will do our best to be up to date with the answers to your questions. Bear in mind that at Agite we do not stop and, if we do not respond soon, chances are that we are in a hurry to deliver a project. Until the next course! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final project We reached the end of the course. We loved having you and share all our experience and knowledge. But before saying goodbye we will give you some tips to build your final project. Brainstorm ideas. Remember that no idea is bad. Put all your ideas into a sketch, and from now on start thinking what materials or what shapes will give life to your diorama. Own props, toys, play dough, any object or even something built by you. Remember to define in a "storyboard" the shot of the camera and all the movements and actions that your idea will have. Try to be very clear so that all tho...”

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Course summary for: Mixed Media Animation: Bring Your Creations to Life

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (22)
• 735 students
• 4 units
• 29 lessons (6h 46m)
• 9 downloads

• Category

  3D & Animation

• Software

  Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  2D Animation, Animation, Stop Motion