Placethings Demonstration Animation
This project is a promotional video/animation highlighting Placethings' features, appealing to an audience of content creators to inform them Placethings' qualities and the unique passion about place and storytelling that the Placethings app creators possess.
I have decided to forego a deliberate call to action (BUY NOW!), choosing instead to focus on the advantages and features of Placethings as they contrast with other applications currently in the market, particularly because the app is currently unavailable for download or purchase.
The animation was produced in After Effects, a software package I'd had little experience with before this project.
Even though I was incredibly inexperienced with After Effects, I knew that this high-stakes final project for my master's degree would force me to much greater familiarity. Even though it was a really risky move, I'm glad I did it - I feel quite comfortable with After Effects now.
This project is a promotional video/animation highlighting Placethings' features, appealing to an audience of content creators to inform them Placethings' qualities and the unique passion about place and storytelling that the Placethings app creators possess.
I have decided to forego a deliberate call to action (BUY NOW!), choosing instead to focus on the advantages and features of Placethings as they contrast with other applications currently in the market, particularly because the app is currently unavailable for download or purchase.
The animation was produced in After Effects, a software package I'd had little experience with before this project.
Even though I was incredibly inexperienced with After Effects, I knew that this high-stakes final project for my master's degree would force me to much greater familiarity. Even though it was a really risky move, I'm glad I did it - I feel quite comfortable with After Effects now.
I wrote, then recorded the script for the animation. There were about 30 recordings, each at a different speed and with differing intonations.
I wanted a more relaxed audio scheme, more "vacation-y" then slick and overproduced, so I used "Contradictions", and mixed it in with cuts from several recordings of the script in Soundbooth.
A patterned background would conflict with the sometimes-clean, sometimes-"real" feel I wanted, so I placed a dark ramp behind everything for depth.
Originally the animation was text-based only, using fonts that matched the character of the words to illustrate their meaning.
I decided to get a little more ambitious, using imagery to illustrate the concepts as I realized the words would move too fast for the eye to read if I used text alone.
That's when it got fun.
I wanted a more relaxed audio scheme, more "vacation-y" then slick and overproduced, so I used "Contradictions", and mixed it in with cuts from several recordings of the script in Soundbooth.
A patterned background would conflict with the sometimes-clean, sometimes-"real" feel I wanted, so I placed a dark ramp behind everything for depth.
Originally the animation was text-based only, using fonts that matched the character of the words to illustrate their meaning.
I decided to get a little more ambitious, using imagery to illustrate the concepts as I realized the words would move too fast for the eye to read if I used text alone.
That's when it got fun.
SCREEN CAPTURES
This was the first non-text image. I wanted to bring in the weathered "vacation" feel here, to contrast with the starker black-and-white of the text I's used.
The image is richer, warmer, more inviting, more "real" than the black and white text, and appeals to a more sensual side of the viewer.
The image is richer, warmer, more inviting, more "real" than the black and white text, and appeals to a more sensual side of the viewer.
While I use Foursquare and other location-based apps, badges these apps give you, while rewarding in a Pavlovian sense, are silly. They have their place, but in the end they don't mean anything.
To poke fun at the badges, I used the CC Hair effect to create the gold shiny texture, and Wave Warp to make it undulate, "showing off" it's flashy status.
To poke fun at the badges, I used the CC Hair effect to create the gold shiny texture, and Wave Warp to make it undulate, "showing off" it's flashy status.
I included a variety of images, some black-and-white, some color, all of different subjects, to indicate the vast amount of content we assume the average person in the Placethings demographic likely has on their phone.
This was my "fun with a new technique" section, where I penned the name of this amazing Cuban restaurant in the Florida keys with the animated stroke effect.
This is the first appearance of the iPhone - this section demonstrates the process that the app goes through from shooting the picture...
...to the app sharing, mapping, and locating your media, tying it to the place.
Here I wanted random-ish, haphazard placement of images of differing size, overlapping text, video, audio, icons, etc. to illustrate the on-the-fly nature of Placethings, and the bounty of media one can upload through it.
This "slideshow" section is a closing device, concluding the Placethings demonstration, tying together the story of the piece. Here the images support the animated text, rather than taking center stage.
This video was created to use online, as a sales pitch explaining the features of Placethings. When web videos end often the last frame remains on the screen. I wanted to include the Placethings logo here, as well as ways for people to contact the developers for more information.
Even after the video concludes it displays important information.
Even after the video concludes it displays important information.
Thanks for taking the time to look over my project, and feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss this, or another project!
