Digital animation

Creating my Title Sequence & How To Video

In addition to filming, editing and publishing a how-to video of my choice, I was also tasked with creating an introductory title sequence to the video

Scroll to Get BTS

View The How To Video Case Study Here

Creating a Draft: The Storyboard

Click to Enlarge

“How-to” Create an Idea?

When prompted to come up with an idea for a tutorial video, I decided to take embrace the upcoming Fall/Halloween season. I’ve always enjoyed crafts, and had recently noticed a trend in my explore page on Instagram- it was filled with DIY Halloween crafts. Taking inspiration from others, I decided to create a video on how to DIY a pumpkin using a sock. I wanted to highlight the cost effectiveness and the creativity and endless design possibilities that could result from this craft.

Creating The Title Sequence

Since my tutorial video was aimed towards Fall & Halloween, I wanted to be consistent so I decided to create a Halloween themed title sequence to lead into the video. It didn’t take long for me to decide on the overall look of the animation; I knew I wanted classic Halloween assets (such as pumpkins, spiders, webs, witches, etc.), a stable Halloween color palette and some spooky music to bring everything together.

Coming Up With a Plan

When being introduced to the idea of using 3D objects in our piece, I knew that I wanted to incorporate some, but being limited to a usually “low quality” version of free 3D objects, I knew that making a cohesive and aesthetically sound animation was out of the question. Due to this, I decided to use both 3D and 2D assets in my design and simply silhouette everything to make it come together well.

The 3D objects added realism and depth in some parts of the animation and the 2D objects allowed me to have more creativity with the piece. Using colorful silhouettes as the main aspect the animation allowed the various dimensional assets to work together as one.

One Big Challenge…

Despite Adobe After Effects being one of the most powerful design/editing tools I’ve yet used in my career, it is frustrating to admit that it does not handle stylizing 3D objects very well. Without being able to put color overlays directly on top of my 3D objects, I thought I’d have to come up with a new idea for my title sequence, or at the very least a whole new aesthetic.

Thankfully though, there were some workarounds. With the help of adjustment layers, creating solids, parenting and even composition dumping, I was able to color each piece perfectly fine as needed by the end. (I did save the final coloring step for last)

Inside of After Effects

The first scene of the title sequence where the 3D spider web .mov file is coming out of the 3D spider .obj file

A capture of the work space where all the keyframes are currently collapsed

My layers / compositions panel in the application

What I Learned Creating This Title Sequence

Before creating this piece, I had very little knowledge of Adobe After Effects; the application I would be using to build my idea in. When I first opened the program, I felt as though my project would be impossible to complete and that I’d have to scrap and change my entire idea. However, I discovered workarounds for the challenges I faced. Sticking with my first (and only) idea for this title sequence taught me how to improvise, adapt, and be more importantly, how to be more creative. From placing a 3D layer into a new composition to trick the software into treating it as a 2D object, to creating a realistically flying insect sequence by combining two separate jpg files, I pushed my creative limits with this project and I couldn’t be more proud.

Creating my Title Sequence & How To Video

Scroll to Get BTS

Creating a Draft: The Storyboard

“How-to” Create an Idea?

Creating The Title Sequence

Coming Up With a Plan

One Big Challenge…

Inside of After Effects

What I Learned Creating This Title Sequence

Check Out Some More Case Studies

Creating an Energy Drink Refresher Brand

Creating a Movie Trivia Book

Creating an Animated Infographic

Ritual Cafe Rebrand

Creating a How-To Tutorial Video

Introductory Title Sequence

Whac-a-Mole Diorama

Giving My Hometown a Logo-Look Makeover

What Webflow’s Steep Learning Curve Taught Me as a Designer

Recyclobot: The Creation Process