FINDING THE LIGHT WITH AFTER EFFECTS!
Gnomon is considered by many to be one of the leading educational facilities for animation, game design and visual effects production. Their curriculum and faculty provide students with excellent support and training for today's entertainment and gaming industries.
They have excellent classes both online (The Gnomon Workshop) and in a traditional classroom setting. I had the opportunity to attend one of their classes in building cinematic compositions.
Animation and motion graphics can be incredibly beneficial at telling an impactful story not to mention enhancing a client's brand. While Gnomon's class "Introduction to Composition" was tremendously beneficial? There were additional styles and techniques on lighting and behavioral expressions that needed further exploration outside of the classroom setting. My objective for this study was to develop stronger technical skills and a better understanding of how to enhance my understanding of lighting and organic transitions.
The Film Noir approach to Hollywood lighting has always intrigued me.
The work of George Hurrell and Gregory Crewdson use lighting to showcase the subject and guide the audience through a journey. The meticulous style of each artist relies on heavy contrast lighting that make you ponder what lurks in the shadows. However, their approaches still embrace organic fall off and allow a subject's setting to naturally influence their lighting choices.
"Where the Wild Things Are?" has always been one of my favorites. The illustrations give great attention to texture, environmental development and illusion. These techniques are symbiotic with the characters in the book and the development of the story.
However, as a child I recall having a different vision when the story was shared with me. It was more theatrical, dark, moody and a little mischievous in its presentation.
The following examples are excerpts from a simple storybook project while at Gnomon. In the initial segment I wanted to animate the artist work how they originally conceived it but experiment with movement and camera intension. Then we started exploring the lighting capabilities of After Effects.
This was one of my first experiments of lighting within the After Effects application. While many clients are moving towards the development of true 3D assets? After Effects provides you with tools that can mimic a 3D setting with the benefit of adding lights. This platform also provides you with the ability to seamlessly utilize the entire Adobe Creative Suite.
Original (No Sound)
Version 2 (W/Sound & Lights)
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