Week One of the Organizational Structures course was an introduction to Motion Design. The Live Session video was prerecorded because of the Thanksgiving holiday. This week’s instructional materials introduced motion graphics foundations like the principles of animation and offered insights from several industry leaders.
Motion Design Insights
Brandon Parvini of Ghost Town Media remarks “When everyone else is getting trained by the exact same teachers, everyone’s work starts looking the same” because designers are learning techniques from the same online tutorials (Cox & Parvini, 2014). To differentiate from competitors, inspiration should be found outside of the motion design field. Explore music, architecture, nature, anything that stretches the mind in new directions. Research should be fun. Alberto Scirocco (2014) supports this methodology by advising designers to explore different aspects of their creativity and bring those lessons back to their designs.
Alberto Scirocco and the Motion Graphics of leftchannel
Scirocco states that “Good design connects a message with a person” (Scirocco, 2014). Motion Designers use variety of techniques that require trial & error, exploring how things move and elements interact. It’s important to know typography, color theory, animation principles, and more. Specialization is good, but you should at least know the terminology of other disciplines. Scirocco notes that leftchannel designers rotate through roles on different projects. Having a balance between technical skill and creativity is important. “The more experience you have, the more complexity to you as an individual, the more interesting your work is going to be” (Scirocco, 2014). Furthermore, Jeremy Cox (2014) recommends looking outside the art world to things like data visualization in the tech world.
Diegetic and Non-diegetic Sound
Sound is often the last thing considered when creating motion designs and films. But as Star Wars creator George Lucas once noted, “Sound is half the experience.” A skillfully crafted soundscape immerses the audience in the experience. When talking about sound design, Josh Hanson (2014) describes the difference between Diegetic Sound and Non-diegetic sound.
- Diegetic: Sounds that on-screen character(s) would hear such as dialogue and sounds occurring within the film.
- Non-diegetic: Sounds that on-screen characters won’t hear such as the soundtrack music or narration.
- Internal Diegetic: character thoughts
References:
Cox, J. & Parvini, B. (2014, June 20). Motion design insights with Jeremy Cox and Brandon Parvini: NAB 2014. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Video-Motion-Graphics-tutorials/Motion-Design-Insights-NAB-2014/168701/178897-4.html
Hanson, J. (2014, December 17). Diegetic and Non-diegetic Sound. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_4hOY-9nKA
Scirocco, A. (2014, February 21). The Creative Spark: Alberto Scirocco and the Motion Graphics of leftchannel. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Video-Motion-Graphics-tutorials/Creative-Spark-Alberto-Scirocco-Motion-Graphics-leftchannel/153774-2.html
Joshua Siegel's Mastery Journal 