Non-Linear: Organic Community
The prompt was to create a motion graphic about community. Whether it would be a vignette or series of vignettes, the narrative had to be non-linear. I interpreted non-linear to mean a story with freedom to deviate. I decided to simplify the plot to subtle collisions of creatures in the night. This was an opportunity to further familiarize myself with After Effects tools. The goal was to recreate organic occurrences with vector shapes. For me, this was a very non intuitive approach.
Although conveying an organic subject matter, the project quickly shifted to a technical approach. The concept was to follow a group of fireflies as they interact with other plant and wildlife. The opening scene is a slow pan, following the path of the fireflies from day to night. Their paths were created with straight lines and arcs that follow a strict grid.
The original Mushrooms were individually drawn in illustrator with unique winding stems. When I began experimenting with the CC Bend it effect, I learned that the stems needed to have straight origins for the effect to work.
Techniques used include:
Wave Warp
LoopOut(“pingpong”)expression
CC Bend it
Puppet Pin tool
Duik Bassel Plugin
The Puppet Pin tool combined with the plugin, was the most complex tool used in this project. This effect was applied to a field of grass blowing in the wind. Although the field consists of one blade (duplicated and altered), all of the key frames on the puppet pins had to be offset. I also had to rationally plan which blade would lead the way based off of how grass responds to wind.
