PRE-PRODUCTION

I started to think about what was my art style and what was something I wanted to explore in after effects that was simple. I chose to go for a flat graphic approach as it was simple, cute and elegant.

Abode Peoplemaker_Audio Visual Script

PRODUCTION

VISUALS

I started with drawing out all my graphics I needed for the project. I studied all the windows that pop up when I worked on photoshop – from the New files to right clicks to the pop ups that ask you to save your file. I tried to make it as similar as possible to the actual thing while adding and tweaking some details to make it comedic. I just repeated this for the adjustment panel, the toolbar panel and the windows.

Left: Actual // Right: Tweaked

I then put it in after effects and played with the composition to make it as similar to photoshop as possible.

Left: Actual // Right: Tweaked

Then I just repeated this process for all the different parts of the video – from the warning sign, loading bars and pop ups that appear.

Then I used simple animation to create the video – simple things like adjusting scale, position, opacity and simple masking to create the animation. I felt there was no need to make exceedingly ambitious animation as this was a simple flat graphic animation – so I kept it as simple as I could with plain colors, no shadows and simple layers.

Perhaps one of the trickiest part of this assignment was the glasses segment of the short as I had to work with a few layers at a time and I occasionally got lost with the parenting, null and masking settings. But taking things a step at a time allowed me to organize myself and my thought process.

SOUND

When I edited the sounds I thought about diegetic and non-diegetic sounds as well as tried to edit them layer by layer. With after-effects being a fussy and complicated software I knew I had to be clear on what I was intending to do.

Layer 1 –
Physical Sounds: Mouse Clicks, Mouse sliding on mouse pad, keyboard.

Layer 2 –
Computer Sounds: Error beeps and Pings

Layer 3 –
Music or Soundtrack

With prioritizing my sound I had a simple workflow and I knew where each and every sound is without too much layers and sounds coming from unknown tracks.

RECORDING SOUND

I used my phone to record the audio files from the mouse clicks to the mouse slide in my room. There had to be some distortion applied to it to make it sound distant, but overall I was quite satisfied with how cleanly it worked and blended with the soundtrack.

To see the final outcome click here.