Motion Graphics and Compositing:

Case Study

Molly Cynfal-Wells

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Critical Discussion

Motion Graphics

Motion graphics are images and text used in a generally informative format. It’s an animation technique that utilizes graphics and illustration to create video sequences. Its a technique that’s been around for many years, developing and changing alongside film making as a whole. As technology has improved, Motion Graphics have enhanced to create smooth, bright animation that is pleasant to the eye and is easy to watch. Info-graphics for companies are a common way motion graphics are used, alongside music videos or title sequences for TV or movies.

The programs that are most often used to create motion graphics are Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects. Motion graphic sequences can be made using other programs, however these are the most well known.

A good example of motion graphics being used is the title sequence for the 1963 production of The Pink Panther. While using 2D animation for the panther, the credits and transitions are motion graphics. It gives the title sequence a fun, light hearted feel while also giving off the tone of the media via the colours it uses. Dark, quite muted tones help show The Pink Panther to be suave and mysterious. Visual gags and the 2D animated Panther partner up to create something interesting to watch while informative.

Motion GraphicsThe Pink Panther Title Sequence (1963)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84lu9lhdA3E&t=80s

Title Cards• An early version of Motion graphics back in the days of

silent cinema were title cards. They were a way of expressing information to the audience in place of audio.

• They were used to show the Title of the production alongside the credits of the people in the cast, important dialogue or sound effects from the film that the audience can’t hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7jG0Lgcfs4

These title cards were done using a dark screen with light writing, its easier on the eyes and easier to read. It is an iconic look for the era of silent cinema and some modern day TV has adopted a similar style of title card and it worked! It meshed well with the tone and style of the show.

Title Sequences• Title sequences are an often forgotten aspect when it comes to media, but are something

that give you as the audience your first impression of the show or movie. Some title sequences are simplistic, they don’t bother with intricate animation or videos and go for simply the title. Others create montage’s of events from episodes or characters.

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Over the Garden Wall for example is very minimalistic in its approach, using the aesthetic of the old title cards from the era of silent cinema, coupled with an original piece of violin music in the background. The overall gloomy, gothic tone gives for an accurate depiction of the rest of the show.

Rick and Morty has quite a contrasting opening sequence to my previous example. The music has an upbeat tempo and the overall sequence is action packed. The way they put the sequence together is they took clips from previous or future episodes and made a montage. It shows the chaos of the series, how insane this family’s life is. Its frivolous, yet is packed with a huge amount of detail.

Matte Paintings• Limitations, both physical and financial, gave birth to this

technique. Back in the early 1900’s film makers didn’t have the recourses to shoot in exotic locations or recreate fantasy lands. The result was Matte paintings.

• Norman Dawn developed the merging of photography and painting to enhance film environments.

• Norman would place photographs and paintings on sheets of glass. The glass was places in front of a fixed camera. Black tape was places on the camera in the places that the paintings or photographs were in line with.

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Once fixed and in place, the live action would begin, being recorded with the camera. The end effect was that they were able to create fantasy or foreign worlds without having to try and make it from scratch.

George Melies• One of the earliest uses of Matte

paintings were by one George Melies. He used matte paintings in many of his productions.

• A well known, and possibly one of the earliest uses was in his 1898 film Un Homme de Tetes [Four heads are better than one]. George painted black parts onto a glass pane, the matte blocked light from the camera, leaving that section of the frame blank. After the filming was done, he’d switch up the glass pane for one painted in an opposite fashion, and filmed again on the same film, filling in the blanks.

• Once the sequence was completed, it created something truly fantastical and ground breaking.

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George Melies’ Un Homme de Tetes’ 1898

Matte Paintings

As film making progressed, more intricate and daring matte paintings were developed. Instead of filming the live action in front of the matte painting and camera combo, studios like Lucas Film’s would film the live action separately and then use a projection system. The camera operator would film the matte painting with black spaces where the footage would go. The footage would then be projected so that its lined up with the painting. The film would be rewound and re-shot onto, placing the live action in place of the black spaces so that they’re both merged together.

Black spaces where nothing is painted is where the original footage will be projected through, creating the illusion.

Matte painting

Film footageMatte paintings were famously used in the iconic Lucas Films Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Travelling Matte

• Once Matte paintings were mastered, filmmakers started developing on the restrictions. Matte paintings required a still camera, a fixed point that movement would ruin.

• 1918 was the year that Frank Williams patented the technique known as ‘travelling matte’. Williams would place actors in front of matte black backgrounds, filming their live action performances. The film was then reversed, copied into a contrast negative. The negative image would then become silhouette’s of the actors.

• These silhouette’s were then used as black matte’s that moved, allowing free movement for the camera. It became an early version of the green/blue screen effects we use today.

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Visual Effects: Blue Screen

Blue screen was the next advancement in matte painting and became the gateway to our modern-day green-screen technology. It worked by removing the blue colour range from the footage in the foreground, separating it from the blue screen.

The background footage is filmed first, the blue-screened subject filmed separately. The subject is then placed into a hole in the background footage, merging the two pieces of footage together.The technique wasn’t perfect, far from it; the separation between blue-screen and subject was iffy and caused a lot of ‘fringing’.

It was developed throughout the RKO Radio Pictures throughout the 1930’s and was first used in the oscar winning production of Larry Butler’s 1940 film ‘The Thief of Bagdad’. It was revolutionary for its time and despite the slight issues with fringing it was still a huge breakthrough.

Visual Effects: Green Screen• Green screen came into popularity with the creation of the chroma key,

the use of mathematics to take colours and make them transparent. • Up until the late 90’s, blue was the most prominent colour because it was

the furthest away from skin tones, however green has now become the norm. Green is easier to use, it requires less light, is brighter in electronics, works well outside and is far less common in costume design.

• The movie Alice In Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton was mostly green screen because of the fantastic setting and cast of characters.

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90% of the set they were on was green screen because of how magical and fantastical the sets are, it would have been incredibly expensive to create in real life. Bits of CGI were added to characters to, as Tim wanted to ‘bridge the gap between live action and CGI’.

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Analysis

Motion Graphics Sequence: Environment Motion Graphics [Colour Code on Youtube]

• This video was made by Colour Code on youtube to help give learning about the environment and how to save it a fun look. This was most likely made for children or teens, a video to show in schools to help them understand political issues without boring them. Young people can turn off when they think they’re going to watch something they don’t care about or seems too serious.

• Its very simplistic, both in its style and its delivery. They used simple shapes and bright colours, a bouncy track to put over the top; however there’s no voice over. The only information put forward are the blunt pieces of text that tell you obvious tings we should be doing or already know. If there were any actual information I’d almost call it hand-fisted.

• ‘Environment is beauty’ ‘Don’t pollute air’. If this is made for children and adolescents, its incredibly condescending.

• The actual animation itself is relatively well made. The movement is fluid, they utilized slide transitions coupled with bright colours to create a pleasing video. Some of the animations I felt went on for a little bit too long. For example when I was building up the image of the windmill on the hills, it was a little too long and felt stiff. Combined with the lack of information, it made the whole thing feel quite slow.

Motion Graphics SequenceThe colours used in the different parts of the sequence are well done, they’re bight but they’re not jarring to look at. Every section is coloured to represent the section of the world its illustrating. This one is full of blues, greens and whites to represent nature, the sea, the sky.

Transitions between main sections of the video are swipes of large blocks of colour. It’s a stylistic way of changing whats happening on the screen and fits with the overall video.

The visuals are interesting, but its incredibly useless as an informative graphic video. The only reason it could be informative is if the viewer had no prior knowledge with how to help the environment at all.

Motion Graphics Sequence: HOTTEST Recorded Temperatures on Earth (THINGS & PLACES) By The Infographics show

This motion graphics film is much better than the one I previously used as an example. The animation is better, there’s more variety in what you see when watching the video. Its also much more informative.

The video is surrounding heat, it explains some of the most extreme temperatures that have been recorded over the world. It begins with the theoretical temperatures, like what it was like when the world was first created; yet they soon move onto the hottest places and events throughout history.

• The animations are filled with facts, useful and interesting information that is related to the subject matter.

• The colours are bright and pleasant,

Visual Effects: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them was an assemblage of special effects and various

computer generated curio's. One of the most notable would be the titular 'Beasts'. A

particularly popular beast from within the story is Frank. This is the first scene we meet Frank,

we get to see Newt Skirmander interacting with a larger CGI character and we are able to see

how firm the visual effects are within the world.

VFX has been improving and developing throughout the years since its invention, giving life to the fantasy worlds and creations film-makers and artists dream up. However, its not perfect. A

struggle in the VFX world is to make something seem real. The audience of course knows it isn't and readily accepts that it’s a work of fantasy, but film is a platform were supposed to be able to let go of that and pretend that its real for just a moment. The suspension of disbelief is very important in the world of fantasy cinema, if you take the audience out of the world

then it ruins the whole movie.This scene I feel was done a little poorly, the CGI was amazing, Frank himself looked stunning

and when I first saw him on screen I was taken aback.The design was beautifully done and the realism I felt was stunning. However as soon as Newt

touched Frank, you could see an instant disconnect. Even to those who don't know a lot about film and CGI it’s a clear divide between a live action character and a CGI one.

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A sweet piece of VFX that I noticed in the beginning of the sequence was Newt's 'Umbrella Spell'. A spell that produces a semi-transparent

umbrella that keeps the rain off while being subtle and probably un-obstructive. It’s a spell we haven't seen in other Harry Potter films and it’s a

nice subtle detail that I very much enjoy.

Here its clear to see the divide and I know that for some people it can really take them out of the movie. Personally it’s a detail I'm able to lightly gloss over while I'm enjoying the film, however I have to admit that it can be quite

distracting. Its clear Newt isn't actually touching Frank.

While this particular detail from these scene interrupts the experience some what, I believe it isn't a majour problem. The scene is well put together, the acting was well done and besides

the physical divide you'd be able to believe that Frank really is there during that scene.

Screen Ratios

Screen ratio, also known as aspect ratio, is the width and height of an object.

Resolution

Resolution is the number of pixels on a digital screen within the width and height. The larger amount of pixels to size ratio determines how high quality the image is.

Frame Rate

Frame rate relates to the amount of frames shown on the screen, usually measured in seconds. Frame Rate is measured in FPS (Frames per second).

Video Format

Video formats are the file formats that digital video are stored as. There are many different types and its almost always compressed to reduce file sizes. The different formats are AVI, MP4, FLV, WMV, MOV and then the product-specific files that come with programs.

Compression

Compression is when a digital file is reduced in various ways to make it easier to store and transfer.