My Favorite Class Project of 2022-2023
Note: This post was originally written in spring 2023.
As my first year as an animation major comes to a close, I can’t help but feel proud of everything I already got to make. I figured freshman year would be almost entirely focused on knocking out my general education credits. However, I now have a decent chunk of portfolio content and would like to briefly reflect on my personal favorite.
Despite aspiring to specialize in 2D character animation, I think the project I enjoyed most this year was all about animating text. The project was called “kinetic typography.” We had to take an audio clip into Aftereffects and create subtitles that would appear and move to complement the dialogue.
My clip was taken from an animated short called “Morning Coffee,” which is about a man whose anxiety worsens with each sip of coffee but he can’t stop drinking. Despite Aftereffects apparently having a bad reputation among animation majors, the whole process was actually rather fun. Timing the words was probably the second worst part, but by the end, it was incredibly satisfying to get right. Then there were the extra visual effects, such as making the words shake as the speaker became more unhinged, adding a pulse to synchronize with the heartbeat as it intensified, and having a word shatter with the sound effect of a smashed mug. The whole thing may have been slightly tedious, but I still enjoyed all the little things that gave the animation just a bit more character.
The final product turned out great in my opinion. However, there are a few things I would tweak if I had time. First, I wish I added particle effects to give the impression that the audience was looking at a wall in a room and not just a screen with words. Second, there is a part of the animation where the camera looks down at the floor, then turns to the ceiling. The only thing to imply a ceiling, however, is the camera movement and a circle meant to look like a flush light fixture. I should have included some coloring or texture to create a contrast between the wall and ceiling. Third, I wonder if I should have added other effects like coffee droplets that fell on screen and faded or an overlay of veins to accompany the pulse. I scrapped both ideas since they seemed too stressful to figure out how to do in the time I had left.
I’m looking forward to taking what I’ve learned and completing new projects in the 2023-2024 academic year. If you are interested in majoring in animation at Huntington University, check out huntington.edu/Animation to learn how you can earn your degree.
