Leading up to our title sequence project, I wanted to create something that was different from anything I’d worked on before. I love crime shows and documentaries and decided I would head somewhere in that direction mood board.
Later when it came to executing my idea, I found it hard to find the assets that I needed and made several failed drafts. Out of despair I tried a new concept with galaxy and space images I had. With professor Spencer’s help I began working on a galaxy theme incorporating a panorama approach.
Space Odyssey – Documentary Tour Around the Cosmos
Photoshop
I started off with diffrent space scenes and began separating the layers in photoshop. It was a bit challenging to find images that were both high quality and copyright free. Through watching after effects tutorials I came by a website that I was able to sign up for and get most my assets from.
Along with others that didn’t make the cut.
After Effects
Moving onto after effects. I started off by making stars using particles and messing with the birth rate as shown in this video. I loved this effect, especially since it didn’t require any plugins.
Then I focused on animating the scenes through each layer having its own movement throughout the composition.
Next I experimented with fonts, I knew I wanted a more futuristic look. I ended up changing my initial font (shown on the left) as a friend let me know it was the exact font used in star wars and I didn’t want that. I found a sleeker font (shown on the right) which still fit the aesthetic I was going for.
I settled for bright yellow as my font color from the get-go. I think it shows up nicely above the darker galaxies, but not so well over lighter parts so I tried avoiding that.
I also began to sync the text with the music I chose. Sirens were included in parts of the audio which didn’t go with my theme however I wasn’t able to find anything else that I liked better.
My next step was to think of transitions between the compestions I made. I knew I wanted to use asteroids as a transition but couldn’t find a vector that matched my theme. After a couple of days looking, I got lucky and was able to find a high quality 3D asteroid. This meant that I could enlarge it and use it as a transition without it pixelating!
Tony (TA) was extremely helpful and gave me diffrent ideas I could try along with how I could execute them. I had layered diffrent tunnel video’s as a transition between my intro and the first blue scene but it looked horribly cringy. We went frame by frame to find what was putting it off and I later deleted the diffrent tunnel transitions and focused on just one.
I was also able to color correct the diffrent space scenes in after effects which helped bring in my color pallet, blue and purple. This step I think really tied everything together.
Some Comparisons:
Premiere Pro
After I was done syncing the music with the credits and finalizing my transitions, I exported my animation and moved it to adobe premiere pro to add final sound effects.
I added some “asteroid passing” sound effects and tried to cover up the sirens but honestly there was no covering them up so I let them be. I also added fade in/ out at this point and exported my animation!
When thinking of names for my sequence a friend suggested I use “Odyssey” which I loved. It rhymed with cosmic, so I named it Cosmic Odyssey. I’ve come to find out there’s a comic book by that name that I didn’t know about lol.
Assets:
Panorama of distant planet system
Space background illustration with planet
moon on a desert landscape in a starry night
Jupiter, saturn and the milky way, 3d illustration
Sci-Fi Space Science Logo Intro – I only used the “Tunel Out render” video asset
Audio