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STA Blog

Winter Break GOV Project

January 19, 2022 By Rachel Sacks

Winter Break GOV Project

I hope y’all had a lovely winter break! Over winter break, I created animated graphics for two government classes – 360F (Global Governance) and 371U (Politics and Film.)

 

GOV 360F – Global Governance

The concept behind this one was to create a globe which then transitioned into a moving building. In a sense, we were going for a news-intro style introductory video. The first draft looked like this (disregard the 30 second length):

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Globe-Animation_Draft1.mp4

While the basic idea was there, the glow was too strong, and it was lacking the text needed to transition the video into the powerpoint. In the second version, I resolved most of these issues:

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Globe-Animation_glow_fixedtest.mp4

We ultimately decided that the glow was a bit too much, so I cut it out in the final version. Additionally, the concepts of the globe felt a bit too abstract compared to very realistic photo of the building. To counteract this, Maddy and I came up with a plan to add features to connect the two concepts better:

— Add images behind the globe that move around and give some color to that part

— Color in the globe greyscale so that it fits in more with the building’s design

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Globe-Animation_noglow.mp4

Ultimately, we decided not to include the glow at all, as it detracts a bit from the focus of the animation. With this decision made, the video was complete!

 

GOV 371U – Politics and Film

Gov 371U was a bit faster of a process than for 360F, as the assets had already been pre-made. What I mainly did was compile the glowing and non-glowing versions of the film image over each other in after effects, which creates an old glowing sign look.

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GOV371U_Test1.mp4

For the first draft, we felt that the glowing signs were a bit too far apart, and that there was not enough of a pause between when the red and yellow lights come on. I was able to fix this in draft 2:

http://sta.laits.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GOV_371U_Intro_Draft2-1.mp4

Besides adding length between when the red and yellow lights turn on, I also added length to the beginning part, before any of the lights turn on. A trick I used when making this was applying a “fade-in” effect to some of the lights, while not doing it for others. This helped create a balance where the lights turn on more properly in some parts, and more like an “accidental-shut-off-shut-on” in other parts.

After doing this, the assignment was complete! Now, I am moving on to working on some of the powerpoints for these courses.

Filed Under: Fall 2021 - Spring 2022

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