Motion Graphics?

[Patrick Janka]

Hi, I have been doing video production for about 4 years now. I'm completely self-taught. I'm noticing more and more that modern productions rely heavily on whiz bang motion graphics. I have almost no experience with them. I have the Adobe CS5 Production Premium suite. I bought the Classroom in a Book for After Effects and Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, and gone through some online tutorials from Video Copilot. However, this stuff is incredibly time consuming and complex. If you work for a production company there's generally a dedicated motion graphics person/team. As a SPC, do you feel it's completely necessary to be able to design motion graphics well, or do you hire a freelancer or something? Is there a better, more formal method of learning this stuff I don't know about (classes at the local Uni?) I don't think I have the creativity to be able to just whip together crazy graphics from absolute scratch. What do you guys do/think?

[Warren Kawamoto]

Rather than trying to learn everything from scratch, search "AE templates" and you can usually find something that works for whatever project you're working on. Simply drop in your own elements and render.

[Paul Wood]

Although I use Motion 5, I do use templates available on the inter web, and adapt them, or make my own - i find it very useful for keeping costs down on simple web ads for clients - you can make a series of simple templates and add stills or video to make an attractive product.

I would say its a useful way of adding a revenue stream - but that's just me!

[Chuck Spaulding]

Whether you need or ultimately want to take this step depends on what you hope to accomplish with your business. Using graphics can certainly create a better look for your productions but its not the only way, using a slider or jib to add camera motion might be just as impactful without such a financial and time consuming investment. Learning and using AE and Motion can be very time consuming.

Using templates can be very productive but it can also be difficult if you don't know the basics of using those applications. VideoCopilot is great but I don't think they have much in the way of basic or beginner classes, Lynda.com has some fairly good beginner courses and there's Kelby Training.

It really comes down to the target audience of who your producing for, you can certainly start of with simple motion graphics, animated lower thirds and more three dimensional transitions and then more sophisticated with tracking and object placement etc over time.

I don't get terribly complicated with graphics, generally I don'y work with customers who require it or are willing to pay for it.

Av8Chuck Demo 2012 on Vimeo

[Walter Brokx]

In business you should always hire when you can't do it yourself and your client wants it and is willing to pay for it. (Unless the client wants something that's ridiculous or contraproductive: in that case advice him/her not to do it...)

As long as you can't do it: find someone who can.
But if you want to learn at least the basics: go learn and after a while you can do more and more yourself.
AE takes time to learn.
Like said before there are also templates you can use.

I make mostly corporate videos and for the things I can't do, I work with specialists.
Luckily I can make a lot of motion graphics myself.
For animations I often work with illustrator, because it takes me too long to draw nicely...

[Steven Digges]

Great Demo Reel Chuck! Loved the kayak in the picture frame the girl was carrying. Nice touch.

Steve

[Tim Polster]

I agree, nice demo Chuck.

After Effects is a monster program. I really like it but find it often does not have a place in certain budget situations. Over time I have made special 3D titles and logo images for reoccuring events and clients but for most "normal" jobs I do not have the time to do After Effects work to be within budget.

I am always learning how to make things quicker so I can use FX more often becuase they do look great. Element 3D has been a great find for a lot of the stuff I usually do.

[Bruce Dempsey]

Corel Motion Studio 3d (ulead cool 3d) costs about 80 bucks and will have a relatively short learning curve.
Produce the motion graphic and export as a tga or avi as video overlay
Import it to the title track in my case edius and it's a take

[David Barnett]

There's a website www.udemy.com where you buy the course. The good thing over Lynda is it's not a monthly subscription, so you don't have time limits to finish. I also found After Effects Apprentice by Chris & Trish Meyer a great all around book to scratch the surface of it all and learn the basics.

[Ervin Farkas]

There's also http://www.digitaljuice.com/default.asp; I use a lot of their static images and motion graphics for backgrounds, titles, lower thirds, swipes. Now they have a new set of matte effects - if you like the style, they are really easy to use.

[James Manford]

Thank you Ervin for that DigitalJuice link, they have some interesting things i'm considering buying now :)