I am an italian motion designer, I started in the early 2000s.
It is a role that requires a lot of practice, specific skills in the art of animation and graphic design. This must also be supported by creative thinking, by a good knowledge of color and typography, by imagination and technical familiarity.
Motion design, or motion graphics, is a set of graphic design techniques transposed into the creation of video animations.
More than a world it is a universe. We are talking about techniques that range from the creation of particle systems to the use of kynetic typography (animated typography), from the simulation of 3d environments to the insertion of graphic elements inside of filming, from the animation of illustrations and drawings to the creation of virtual worlds.
A motion design video can get the attention by using an immediate, synthetic and universal language, helping to simplify and explain difficult concepts, working in synergy with a voice-over and captivating music.
The production process of motion design
The creative process of a motion designer in the creation of motion graphics videos brings together graphic design techniques and those coming from the cinematographic world. Each project has its own flow and its particularities, but in principle the most functional work-flow for the realization of a video, at least for what concerns my experience, is the following:
- Acquisition of materials, needs and expectations of the client
- Identification of the target to be achieved
- Creativity: phase that defines the idea, the color treatment, the desired mood
- Definition of a synthetic, clear and schematic text that is able to tell the content in a short time
- Storyboarding: graphic representation in the form of sequential images in chronological order that defines the content of the entire video
- Choice of the speaker and music: the choice of the narrator is fundamental because it gives a personality to the brand / product, while that of the music determines the rhythm of our story as well as giving it an emotional atmosphere
- Production: the collected materials are placed in the timeline following the rhythm imposed by the music and the narrating voice, according to the approved indications of the storyboard
- Video compression phase: the finished and approved video is coded in the manner and with the quality required by the project requirements. The encoding of a file to be put on a social network will be different from that required for streaming by a digital broadcaster or for a video-postcard to be attached to an email.