Background

I feel a little foolish about this, because this assignment is not actually due for another week and I mistakenly completed it early instead of the one that is due today. AND I still have changes to make, in order to incorporate other tools with which we have been working in our After Effects module. I don’t know what to say, other than that it was an especially difficult week, full of unforeseen personal life challenges. THAT SAID…

We were tasked with the following in Erik’s After Effects class:

“Create a Promo, Advertisement, or Kickstarter style video for something new. It can be made up or real. Like a new service, product, band or game. The video needs to be 15 seconds or more with at least:
– A Logo
– A Title or Name
– A Call to Action at the end (this is some sort of text that tells the viewer what to do i.e. “call now”, “visit”, “post” “subscribe” etc)
– The use of green screen, masking, blending mode or track matte (pick two of these, not all three whatever works best for your video) You are free to use more if you feel like it. :)Use as many shots as you need to create your video. You don’t need audio, but it may help.
I’m looking for the skills from all the lessons that were taught in class to be applied to this project. Be creative, have fun, and let me know if you have any questions.”

Actions

This project was especially interesting to me, as someone who has done a fair amount of advertising work on the audio side of things. This was my first real attempt at editing and animating video footage in an advertising format. I enjoyed the process of lining up visual elements with audio cues from the footage I was using, just as I have done the opposite when scoring music to match visual cues:

I recently started working on typography and packaging for a soap product called “Omni” for Jill’s class, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take that project to the next level with an accompanying video promo. As far as branding and storytelling, I wanted to tap into that “holistic beauty/wellness” style that I have noticed in places like the hair/skincare sections of Sephora stores, Aveda, Aesop, Benefit cosmetics, etc. I incorporated colorful geometry (mostly triangles), along with curated stock video and imagery and simple typography to convey the playful, clean, sweet, fresh, and natural feeling of the product. While I have a few more changes to make before submitting this project next week, I’m pretty happy with the direction it’s going.

Results

I’m pleased with where I landed with this project, and I look forward to continuing to dial it in, perhaps with masking and green screen elements, before submission next week. There is an attention to detail and polish, a unity of audio and visual elements, as well as a consistency of branding, feeling, color choices, and storytelling that makes it successful. See results below: