motion graphics

1. motion graphics

2. motion graphics The Basics • Havebeginningsin the 1950’s when Hollywood asked graphic designers to animate movie titles for feature films. This developed into what is now called Motion Graphics • 1980’s television corporations began adding motion graphics for television network branding, station I.D.’s and bumpers: Examples: ABC round logo , NBC Peacock, CBS Eye designed by Paul Rand • Motion graphics often combine music with images • Utilized in: • Film titles • Television Station Identification and Bumpers • Commercials • Public Service Announcements (PSA’s} • Interactive media: web animations, Splash pages, Navigations, Banners, Adverts, DVD menus • Music videos • Environment: interior design, Video walls, retail *how many TVs do you see when shopping at Wal-Mart or Meijer? • Exteriors: Billboards (animated), Marquis( time square) • Portable Device Interfaces (touch screens)

3. motion graphics The Basics continued… Motion Graphics Techniques and Methods • Relies heavily on Design Principles for compositional continuity • Mixed media: images mixed with live action footage, text, music, scanned images • Kinestasis: Camera motion over still images • Collage: artistic technique where fragments of images, materials, and other flat objects are arranged into the same pictorial space to imply relationships. • Compositing: Creating the final 2D images out of a various sources materials or 3D elements • Layering: Positioning various elements over one another to reveal, hide or combine portions • Key-Frame Animation: locking in attribute values at various specific frames and allowing the computer to interpolate between the values to create motion or attribute changes across time. • Image Processing: special effects, color editing, stylization: Non destructive changes to original footage to create new visual style or visual alterations. • Rotoscoping: Drawing or painting over live footage

4. motion graphics The Basics continued… As a film maker or animator your goal is to create and organize images to communicate an idea. There are four basic approaches or genres you can take for organizing images so that they communicate clearly. • Narrative Genre: Creating and ordering images according to the Story line. Another term is “real-life” narrative. The images are ordered to follow the events of the story. (Example: Little Red Riding Hood) • Documentary Genre : Creating and ordering images according to Subject Matter • Design Genre : Creating and ordering images according to Design Principles: (Balance, Unity, Rhythm, etc) • Intuitive Genre : Creating and ordering images according to Intuition. This is a gut feeling. Hard to explain but it just feels right.

5. motion graphics Motion Graphics In Film Titles • Origin of film titles goes back to silent films where text was added using title cards • These were supposed to flow with the film but instead disturbed the pacing of the film • White letters over black provided information about films Title, Directors, Technicians, Dialogue, etc • Additional artistic ornamentation was sometimes given to tiles card • Type face could indicate the kind of film: distressed block letters for Horror, elegant script for romance. • When sound was added to films the titles started to evolve into more complete narratives and soon into its own art form • During the 1950’s Hollywood began asking graphic designers to create film titles for feature films • Saul Bass, an American Graphic design Pioneer became film industries leading film title innovator The title sequence of a film is like the frame around a painting; it should enhance and comment on what is inside, ‘alerting and sensitizing the viewer to the emotional tones, the story ideas, and the visual style which will be found in the work itself.”- Walter Murch

6. motion graphics Saul Bass (1920-1996) Go look at his portfolio. Its incredible! • Hails from New York City • Passion for art at a young age • Influenced in modernist design by GyorgyKepes • Moved to L.A. to start Saul Bass and Associates in 1946: created print for movie advertisements and poster designs • 1954 created first title for film Carmen Jones • Bass views the credits as “a logical extension of the film and as an opportunity to enhance the story” • The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959) was a rebirth of abstract animation • Director Martin Scorsese describes the function of Sauls title work this way: “ Bass fashioned title sequences into an art, creating in some cases, like Vertigo, a mini-film within a film. His motion graphic compositions function as a prologue to the movie- setting the tone, providing the mood and foreshadowing the action.”

7. motion graphics Saul Bass continued Film Title Credits: To name only a few • The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) • Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) • Anatomy of a Murder (1959) • Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock • It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) • Casino (1995) His last title work

8. Motion Graphic screening An overview of some influential motion graphics • Saul Bass film title selections • The Pink Panther (1963) titles by FrizFreeleng • Immediately became pop culture icon • Dr. No (1962) titles by Maurice Binder • Abstract designs • Erotic elements • Combined fashion and music perfectly matched James Bond’s character • Yellow Submarine: Lucy in the Sky With Diamondstrack: : George Dunning, 1968 • Developed by experimental artist • Rotoscope technique applied to old clips of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing • Colors were applied with little care for continuity from frame to frame • This film sets the stage for development of music videos

9. Motion Graphic screening Screenings Continued • Superman (1978) titles by Richard Alan Greenberg • Flew the titles across the screen • Early example of computer assisted effects gave the typography three dimensions • The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) titles by Pablo Ferro • Ferro introduced a variety of techniques to film industries: • Rapid Cut editing • Hand drawn animation • Extreme close ups • split- screen montage • Overlays • Hand drawn type • His style later became known in television as the MTV style

10. Motion Graphic screening Screenings Continued • Se7en (1995) title by Kyle Cooper • His title work set new standards in a conservative industry • Utilized trends in print design and incorporating the computer to combine conventional and digital processes • Studied under designer Paul Rand at Yale University School of Art • Se7en titles considered a landmark in Motion Graphic design history • Music by Nine Inch Nails: Trent Reznor • Great video about Kyle Cooperand film titles