Stop motion is an animation technique that creates the illusion of movement through a sequence of individually captured frames. The process involves carefully moving physical objects between photographs, which, when played back at a specific speed, appear to move seamlessly.

In this exercise, we will explore the fundamental principles of motion by creating our own animated sequence using a series of still images, applying the core concepts of stop motion to develop a deeper understanding of how movement is created in animation.

The Bouncing DVD Logo was a screensaver created by the DVD company to reduce CRT damage. After its appearance a cold open in the show The Office, it has become a popular loop worldwide.

In this exercise, we will replicate effect using AE. Using a shape, text or a combination of both, we will creation position, rotation, scale keyframes, to make our selected shape hit the frame, and the color to change as it hits the frame. This is to understand one of the key functions of After Effects– Keyframing. 

You will be given an AEP composition with some shapes, created by students from Intro to Graphic Design, taught by Barbara Cutlak.

Download your compositions from here: LINK

For this exercise, think about how you want to animate these shapes in relation to each other, and what makes the most sense with the composition, try ot give the composition a kind of a backstory that will help you guide the animation. Use easing in, try out different types of keyframes, use the graph editor! 

You will be given an AI file with some typographic forms, created by students from Intro to Graphic Design, taught by Shrishti Chatterjee.

Download your compositions from here: LINK

For this exercise, we will be using path animations, and masks to create a logo reveal. Think of different ways in which you can reveal the logo provided to you– does it start from the center, does it start from one end of the logo, do two separate paths meet to form the logo? 

In today's world where everything is fighting for our attention, so are the companies that surround us. Motion is a tactical tool. It often appears in campaigns and product launches; however, without a system to support it, the impact fades quickly.

In this assignment, you will create your own logo animation, and try to create atleast 3 more motion pieces that replicates the motion system depicted in the logo. These can be anything from social media animations, to motion posters, micro animations for websites, anything! You can choose to animate an already existing logo and make fictional posts for them, or create your own logo! Think about a motion system that you can create with a logo! 

Music Videos and title sequences are a quintessential part of short-form motion content. The combination of motion graphics and sound is a fun way of visual communication, to incite emotion and feeling. 

In this assignment, you will pick a song and create your own short-form musiv video. The key is to understand how to animate to a piece of audio, and create visuals to support it. Animation and Motion design are usually collaborative processes, you are encouraged (not required) to collaborate with your peers! Collaboration often leads to very unique visual outputs!

Until now, we have been working with individual elements, but in this assignment, you would be required to create a world of elements around your video. Think about what motifs you would like to use, would it be more vector based, more texture based or something different? What is the color palette you would be using? Pre-Production is key! 

Up until now we have been working on projects that involve only one composition where the animation happens. For your final project, you will need to have at least 5 shots that are put together. The content can be anything, you don’t need to generate content for this, it’s okay if you have already created something in your other classes, and you use that for your final project. It can be a collection of 3 GIFs, a title sequence, a motion kit for a brand, a product animation, an advertisement, anything you want it to be! The only requirement for this project is that your medium of choice is After Effects.