Ideation

This class seems to be a challenge after a challenge. This time around, the challenge was to create a 2D title sequence. I was very intrigued and excited to embark on this journey. As a beginner at this animation, it is fair to say that I was a bit scared and excited at the same time. After a long session of brainstorming, I wanted to do something related to a spy series. I was always intrigued by how classic and ever-green the title sequences are. That is how the inspiration struck me, and I was off to make my title sequence.

Implementation

This is where the real test began for me. Even though I had the vision, I wasn’t able to put it on After Effects. This was not because the software wasn’t working; it was due to the fact, I needed the right kind of assets to make my vision a reality. This means that I needed the assets to be vectored to move them around and create the animation sequences I had envisioned. However, that was not the case. My assets, for the most part, we’re good, but it was a hustle to find them. I wanted the main character Agent Stricker, to be the same guy. So I made sure to get the same guy for every scene, and that was not easy. Nevertheless, I was able to pull that off.

After Effects

After learning how to create movement/animation for non-vector objects, I started with my project. I wanted the first two shots to be perfect. So I strategically chose a laptop with “A Netflix Orginal Series” to start the sequence off. I also personalized it by adding a caller ID on the phone, “Agent Stricker,” the name of the series. I wanted the Agent to move from left to right while imitating walking and revealing a text animation for the second shot. It turned out well, and the text was revealed as the Agent was moving. For the rest of the scene, I made sure that they played along with the irony. For example, I used a newspaper when the written by shot was in the frame. Overall, I used the puppet pin to make the characters move and create animation. Somewhere along the way, I had a scene transition where the Agent took a picture, and the next shot will be a polaroid picture of the thief. I wanted to create a flash transition to insinuate that a picture is being taken. However, the effect didn’t pan out perfectly, so that is when I moved to Premiere Pro.

Premiere Pro

Here I made the flash effect transition, and it is also where I edited the theme sound and other sound effects: the flash, glitch, and computer typing effects were all edited and inserted here.

The whole process was very eye-opening, and I am looking forward to working more on animations. It showed me that After Effects is very versatile, which allows one to tell their stories creatively. For project 3, I have so many ideas, and now I feel very confident about it. Overall, I liked how my title sequence turned out, and I’m proud of it, considering it is my first time.