Goal

The goal of the exer­cise is to develop a nuanced aware­ness of the con­nec­tion between motion and audio.

Objective

The objec­tive of the exer­cise is to cre­ate a syn­chro­nous visual, motional, tem­po­ral and audi­ble composition.

Background

• The First Avant Garde Ani­ma­tion: Watch Wal­ter Ruttmann’s Licht­spiel Opus 1 (1921) http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/the-first-avant-garde-animation-watch-walter-ruttmanns-lichtspiel-opus‑1–1921.html
• Wal­ter Ruttmann: Licht­spiel Opus I (1924) — Abstract Film https://​youtu​.be/​3​z​e​e​u​F​a​C​lkg
• After Effects Tuto­r­ial: Gra­di­ent FILM BURN Ani­ma­tion https://​youtu​.be/​_​v​u​s​X​f​v​9​xmQ
• Scat singing https://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​S​c​a​t​_​s​i​n​g​ing
• Scat­ting by Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzger­ald  https://​www​.youtube​.com/​w​a​t​c​h​?​v​=​k​0​1​7​5​v​P​M​U7o
• Layer prop­er­ties in the Time­line panel https://​helpx​.adobe​.com/​a​f​t​e​r​-​e​f​f​e​c​t​s​/​u​s​i​n​g​/​l​a​y​e​r​-​p​r​o​p​e​r​t​i​e​s​.​h​t​m​l​#​a​d​j​u​s​t​_​a​u​d​i​o​_​v​o​l​u​m​e​_​l​e​v​els
• Studie nr 8 (excerpt) by Oskar Fischinger https://​vimeo​.com/​3​5​7​3​5​682
• The Fischinger Trust http://​www​.oskarfischinger​.org

Exercise

Using an infi­nite range of col­ors, cre­ate a 15 sec­ond ani­mated visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion of a por­tion of an audio clip. The focus of the exer­cise should inte­grate color prop­er­ties to the time related aspects of motion and the visual results. Pay care­ful atten­tion to sequence, tim­ing, nuance of details and synchronization.

Part One

Review sev­eral audio tracks for options. Ulti­mately, select 15 secs audio, any choice, but the clip must be instru­men­tal or vocal­iz­ing (scat­ting in jazz) only. Lim­ited or no lyrics please. Ana­lyze audio and per­son­ify it with an emo­tional adjec­tive (angry, happy, etc). The clip may be the same from pre­vi­ous exer­cises, but may also be another one. 

Now cre­ate a com­po­si­tion that coor­di­nates the color, motion, prin­ci­ples and ele­ments (visual, audi­ble, motion). Divide a 1920 x 1080 px com­po­si­tion into three 640 x 1080 pixel recan­gles. The entire frame of a 1920 x 1080 px com­po­si­tion should be used. Mul­ti­ple lay­ers,  trans­paren­cies and layer effects are per­mis­si­ble, but should remain seam­less with the over­all com­po­si­tion. Explore the pri­mary func­tions and ele­ments of motion, but this time uti­lize color as a sup­ple­ment to the motion and audio. Cre­ate a sim­ple sto­ry­board rep­re­sent­ing the basic move­ments that illus­trate and notate a plan for future animation. 

Part Two

Cre­ate an ani­ma­tion using the above specs. Pay care­ful atten­tion to the syn­chro­niza­tion with audio wave­length graph in the Layer reveals of the Time­line panel.

Technical Specifications

Cre­ate the ani­ma­tions at the fol­low­ing settings:

• File Size/Export Set­tings: HDTV 1080, 29.97fps
• Ren­der Set­tings: Best and Out­put Mod­ule: H.264
• 44.1kHz, 16 bit, 2 chan­nel audio
• File name: xyz_art378_exer00_part00.mp4

• The fol­low­ing rubric posted on D2L will deter­mine exer­cise score: Exer­cise Grading

Techniques

Import audio, plan­ning, assem­bly, gra­di­ents, color, emo­tion, audio inter­pre­ta­tion, wave­form, exporting

Materials

Source clips, com­posit­ing or edit­ing software