This is focused on a project I completed in my Motion Graphics Software class.
Purpose / Target Audience
The purpose of the project came from the assignment, really. It was my final project and I was to show what I could do with Adobe After Effects. I felt that my skills were strong in word effects and animation, so I wanted to show what I could do with that.
The professor also showed some examples with poems earlier in that semester, and I thought that would be a good fit for a final project for me. I knew of a poem I liked that was written by Taylor Swift, and that's what I chose.
The target audience for the project are fans of Taylor Swift, but I made this more for the fans of her "reputation" era/album release period. I specifically made a callback to the end of her "reputation Stadium Tour" shows at the end, shown with the third GIF above. This is for fans that have been there with her for years.
The project as a whole was inspired by visuals presented during Taylor's "reputation Stadium Tour," not only in-person but as well as what was shown on the Netflix movie version (which has since been removed from the streaming service).
The poem was originally shared in a deluxe edition of the album "reputation" sold at Target, a mockup magazine with lyric pages made up of various photoshoot images and effects. The poem was later shared during her tour (and the tour movie) as a video interlude before the song "Getaway Car".
The purple-pink X specifically inspired the splatter effects during one specific section of the project.
When making the project, I was tasked with using a lot of text effects by my professor. I remember him saying to keep constant motion with the project. I also made sure to use effects that fit with words in the poem, like the text bouncing right and left for "and sidestepping", as well as "haunts" fading in like a ghost.
Hardware Used
• MacBook Pro (13", M1, 2020)
• PC (Windows 11, Intel Core i5-10600K, AMD Radeon RX 6600, 16GB RAM)
• Razer Siren Mini USB Microphone
Software Used
• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Audition
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Media Encoder
• Sound Recorder (Windows)
Assets Used
The text I typed out is the actual text I typed out. The contents of the text are not mine, of course, as that credit goes to Taylor Swift. The splatter effects used are from Photoshop brushes. I made a transparent image with the splatter and imported it into the project.
The voiceover is also my own.
The fonts used in the project are Old English, Bondi 72 Smallcaps, and Chalkduster.
Challenges
The main challenge of this was combining everything that I had learned throughout the semester and putting it all into this project. There was a lot learned in the class, but I feel like I was able to do my best with what I knew. I had also been told to use more and more text effects. I tried more, but was even told that when I submitted it. I'm happy with what I made, though.
I also knew this would go over the suggested time in the assignment page, but because this was something I liked (something Taylor Swift-related, in this case), I had a lot of drive to push through and complete the project.
