PBS Lower Thirds
This project began as a class project at ASU for the GIT 314 class
The goal of this project was to create lower thirds for an established brand, such as a sports network, news outlet, or television network.
I decided to create lower thirds for PBS-- Public Broadcasting Service.
Who is PBS?
PBS is a nonproft television broadcasting program. their goal is to provide the united states and its territories with educational and thought provoking content.
Project Requirements
1. Create 3 tiers of lower thirds: the first has one tab of information, the second two, and the third three
2. Effects: Use 5 or more effects throughout the animation
3. Blending Modes: Use Frequent Blending modes throughout the project
4. Principals of Animation: Demonstrate 6 or more of the 12 principles of animation
5. Visual Continuity: The three teirs should all follow similar motion dispite their differences, demonstrating that they are part of a set or collection
6. Templates: create an editable template for each teir
although not listed I also followed the PBS branding standards
The Process
The first two parts of the project were to create a Creative Brief and Storyboards
The creative breif was a short overview of the project, the PBS brand, the project timeline, audience, and what is expected to be delivered. I wanted to make it follow PBS colors so that the project had branding throughout, and it was clear which brand the final deliverable was made for
above is the creative brief
The original creative brief contained a placeholder for the storyboards, which were added at the time they were due for the assignment.
Storyboarding
The storyboard is when I needed to create the fundamental Idea of what the final project would look like
To begin I knew I wanted to use circles like bubbles, as a lot of PBS is centered around nature and science, and bubbles are often associated with both.
as circles don't naturally look like bubbles, in the animtaion to enter the frame I made their path non-linear to make them appear to float.
I decieded to make the 'bubbles' a common element in the three different teirs- their animation, colors, and content would remain consitent in each of the delivered assets.
after the 'bubbles' the different tiers would appear:
The First Teir was just going to be one line. This line could be used for a persons name, or the name of a plant, object, or thing. It is short and to the point, telling the audence what that thing is.
The Second Teir is two lines, the first the same, and the second a larger line which could contain descriptions, deffinitions, or other relevant information.
The Third Teir would be three lines, the first two remaining the same. the third line serves as a place for less cruscial information, such as a fun fact about what the viewer is seeing on screen.
Each teir has similar elements. As I was using bubbles for the begining of the project, I decided to keep with soft edges throughout, opting for the information to be held in rounded rectangles rather than squared ones, to help keep design elements continuous throughout the animation.
after the information was gone, the PBS logo would dissapear and the 'bubbles' would pop
This was the basic idea presented in the storyboards
Storyboards for the Lower Thirds-- one for each teir
After Effects
I began by organizing my After Effects file.
Each graphic was imported into a graphics folder, with retained layers
I created quite a few compositions so that I could use nested comps to achive the look I was going for, here is how that looked:
Each of the Tiers had 3 Compositions, one for the rectagles, one for the bubbles, and one for the final compostition of each.
main comp was used to create the final animation showing all three tiers.
Animation
Although the storyboards give a basic outline of the flow of the project, I needed to animate each piece, and consider how I wanted it to look when it came on screen, and how I would achieve it.
Floating Bubbles: To create a flaoting look for the bubbles I first created a at least 3 postition keyframes for each in the bubbles compostion. I then used animation graphs to smooth out the motion and make it non-linear, as going straight from point to point looked robotic and unnatural.
To make the bubbbles leave the screen, I used the shatter effect to make them look like they were popping, then used opacity to make them dissapear as they pop.
Bubble Effects: Although not mentioned in the storyboard, I used effects for an animation within each of the bubbles. After the bubbles appear on screen, an effect appears inside them (slowly using the opacity). These are shapes that use different After Effects effects. I played around with sliders to get slow movement, as I didnt want each animation to be too fast and distract from the main information. I then put blending modes on each of the shapes to make them have different colors that were just different enough from the bubble they were contained in to be seen, but not too noticable. I then masked these effects onto each of the bubbles so they were contained within the circle.
Rectagles: For the rectangles I wanted a smooth movement. I used position keyframes to make them slide out from the bubble shapes. I used masks to make sure the rectangle only appeared on the right side of the bubbles. I wanted this movement to be smooth, so I gave each of them a fast in and a slow out.
The first tier rectangle just followed this movement, then slid out of screen following a similar motion
For the second teir, the first tier rectangle slowly slid up-- with a fast in and slow out-- creating room for the second teir rectangle to slide in with the same motion. they would then both slide out of screen.
for the third teir rectangle, I wanted to to lower from the second tier. I used masks to make it only come out from there, and shortened the composition so it didn't appear to early and stand out. Using a fast in and slow out, I made it lower form the second teir. After, it would go back up in a similar fashion, then dissapear again.
Text: For the text in each of the rectangles I didnt want to do anything too fast or crazy, so I had it fade in using opacity, then fade out.
Final Product
