Today was the first day of classes. I was a little disappointed to begin with motion graphics but there are lots of interesting people in my class and Jess is a very fun lecturer. We began with learning the basics of After Effects, followed by some exploration of shape language and finally further exporation of After Effects.
I honestly spend a lot of time a little bored because I had taught myself After Effects last year, and while I am by no means an expert, I did use it for all of my classes on my CertHE course. The shape language section got us to think about certain feelings as shapes and movements.
Despite my lack of inspiration (hence the very ‘nothing’ doodles), this did end up prompting some thought on the shape self portrait. I looked at the concept of restrained chaos, something precariously balanced, free in a standardized way.
I ended up with an altered trapezoid shape; it can balance upside-down, but is not quite fully stable. It is then filled with some sort of fluid that moves around haphazardly and can spill out with any movement. Finally, I gave it some limbs to personify it a little.
Overall today was alright, albeit a bit slow. It will be nice to refresh my After Effects since last term and I think our final video will be a very cute visual.