Tutorials

With the growth of the internet it has become extremly easy to share information with one another, as such a huge number of people have started to post tutorials on the internet to share their knowledge and to help others. A quick look at any sort of video sharing site will reveal that there are copius amounts of tutorials explaining how Motion graphics as a whole works, then ones to show how individual softwares operate, how various sections within the software work, how sound works, literally everything, any problem that you have there is very probably a tutorial to explain it in simple, user friendly, terms. The site below has a long list of tutorials to show you how to do various cool things within various software.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/25/the-ultimate-motion-graphics-tutorials-round-up/

Motion Graphics companies

Naturally, with motion graphics being such a huge and ever-growing market a number, an ever-increasing number of motion graphics companies have arrisen across the globe. It has become big business and with the evolution of the entertainment industry, there is higher and higher demand for interesting and attractive adverts, T.V. Idents, logo's etc... Just a few of the companies are listed below with some information regarding the type of work they produce and for whom.

Scorch London

http://www.scorchlondon.com/

Scorch London are a video production company that produces a number of very different adverts and infographics, some of which use real life footage combined with animated information, images, shapes etc... Others use fully blown animation to get the point across. They do a number of work for large clients, including Lego, BBC, Subway, Ministry of sound, Sainsbury's etc ...

Qudos Animation

http://www.qudos-animations.co.uk/

Qudos Animation are another motion graphics company who produce both 2D and 3D animations for a range of different companies. They're expertise lie within adverts and infographics and they have done various work for a number of companies such as The Gaurdian and eBay, not to mention a music video for Deadmau5.

MK12

http://mk12.com/MKXII/

MK12 are an award winning  motion graphics company from the USA, they have produced a number of very good, hiqh quality pieces for a number of companies. They have been a succesful company for over 12 years producing both live action and animated pieces. Their experties range from in game cinematics, game promotions, adverts etc... Their work includes graphics from Quantom of Solace, music videos for Jack White and Alicia Keys and promotions for Green Day Rock Band.

Mike Afford Media

http://www.mikeafford.com/

Mike Afford Media are another motion graphics company set up by Mike Afford, the man responsible for the majority of BBC motion graphics, this included the graphics used for the weather as well as the graphics on display during the General election broadcasts. Now Mike afford media continue to produce TV idents and have recently finished their work for Waitrose producing a series of short videos. The company is now based in Ireland.

   

Deconstruction of motion graphics #8

The video above is an example of motion graphics used for advertising purposes. The target audience is, as is always the case with any piece of advertising, potential customers. It's main aim is to encourage interest in the product, whilst it doesn't give any detail as to what the product is capable of, it gives a good idea of aesthetics and should encourage curiosity, to the point that customers will look further into it. This is a major strength of the piece, another, I feel, is the use of interesting camera angles to grab and then maintain the audience's attention. The use of various angles simultaneously at the beginning is a nice feature, and the pan around giving them a chance to show off the product is aesthetically pleasing. The addition of the laptop opening rather than remaining static also makes it a little more interesting and clearly shows what the product is. I feel that the creator of this piece is a really talented modeller and this model, which was made in Maya, is really well produced, textured and rendered, something that the artist should be very proud of. Whilst the animation may be brief, there is a clear consistent colour scheme throughout which adds to the aesthetics and I feel that whilst it could have been longer, this is a very strong, professional piece.

Deconstruction of motion graphics #7

This is an example of some informative motion graphics, similar to some pieces that I have deconstructed previously, this piece is to accompany the vocals which are the main focus. I think that this is a great example of how ever very simple shapes and dull colours can be used to great effect to create visually pleasing, interesting work. The target of this piece is clearly for companies looking to create some sort of image for themselves, so it's fairly important that the visual aspect is a decent quality. At the same time, it's important that the visuals aren't doing anything too lavish to detract from the vocal and I think that's something that they have achieved. The one thing that I might pick out as an issue is the circle doesn't do anything for a while at the beginning, and although it's important to get that balance between visuals and sound, I think maybe a little something extra could have been added. I also feel just a little touch of colour would have really drawn the viewers attention to certain things, however I think it's a really well produced piece that targets it's audience and does what's intended of it very well. There's good consistency throughout and when the camera pans out to reveal the circle has now become a globe was a very smart and nice little touch. As was the quirky music in the background that added a little more depth to the piece.

Deconstruction of motion graphics #6

The above video is an example of motion graphics and really good typography. It takes a scene from the film Pulp Fiction and applies good animation skill to make a really interesting and professional looking piece. The first thing that stands out when looking at it is the extremely solid use of timing, synchronising the vocal with the appearance and movements of the words. The next thing is the brilliant use of fonts and text sizes to represent different characters, different ways of saying things etc... for example the words spoken by Samuel L Jackson, who is clearly the dominant character in the clip, are bold, large, they appear quickly and move with real punch. Whereas when the other character in the piece begins to talk, his words are small, they appear shaky and move with a frailty. There is also brilliant use of colour and theme throughout the piece, not only does the colour of the background and the text complement one another, but they change, along with the font, at key points in the speech, most noticeably after the gun shot. The background becomes red, and splattered and whilst the text representing Samuel L Jackson remains the same, the text representing the other character, who has just been shot and is now bleeding, has become more fluid, like blood splatters. This example has a whole host of strong ideas that I can use in my motion graphics pieces, the use of colour, interesting camera pans and most importantly choices of fonts I can apply to this and future pieces.

Deconstruction of motion graphics #5

Hurricane media HTC

For this deconstruction I am looking at the motion graphics used in the advert for the HTC smartphone. However it's hard to ignore the impressive motion graphics employed on the website itself! The main idea of this piece, like every other advert ever produced, is to promote a product, in this example that product is a phone with a range of different features. Naturally HTC would be keen to show off all the different features of the phone and so hired a motion graphics company named Hurricane Media to produce the advert. Hurricane Media specialise in producing videos for large companies, these include adverts for T.V. videos for the internet and even videos for staff, as such they have developed a name for themselves and have produced a number of pieces for large companies including Peugeot and ASDA. The video itself is, unsurprisingly, very well made, the use of the lines to form various shapes representing items that coincide with the applications that the phone is currently using, is a very effective one. It is an extremely subtle, yet aesthetically pleasing visual element that, when matched with the music, create an inclusive and eye catching advert. The various elements that make up the music all shift and change dependant on what is on the screen at the time, for example when the phone appears the music is altered from fairly ambiant background noise, to much more vivid, louder and complex sounds. Although there is so much going along, with the great use of the lines as well as music, it never takes away from what is and should be the main focus of this advert, the phone itself. Naturally the target audience for this piece is potential customers and it achieves it's aims of reaching them brilliantly by showing off all of the phones features, even the various colours that the phone is available in. I really like this piece, it is well made, well thought out and very professional, I struggle to see any areas in which it could be drastically improved. 

Deconstruction of motion graphics #4

Where things come from

This example of motion graphics was produced by a student to conclude their bachelor project, it is an advert for a fictional T.V. show regarding how things work. As such, it has no real target audience however it does have certain criteria to fulfil, it must be eye catching, something they achieve through their use bright colours and stylised animation. It must also fit in with the educational theme of the show, for it would be little use to produce an overly exciting advert featuring explosions or guns being fired when the show is on where things come from. It does this extremely well, the clear and intellectual voice over provides an obvious tone for the animation, which in turn by being concise and measured makes the piece look very professional and mature. Whilst there isn't a constant them in the colour of the piece, the style remains consistent throughout and is an extremely strong element, the combination of 3D and 2D is an idea that I may very well use for my own piece in my own way. The only downside that I can see for this advert is that it is perhaps a little too long to be aired on T.V. as it would take up a large chunk of the advertising time, however this could easily be remedied by editing the piece into a much smaller snippet, whilst this may take away some of the context it will still provide viewers with a chance to see this brilliant example of motion graphics.