Before After Effects; My Story of Motion Graphics

During my beginnings in video production, I've always had the urge to play around with special effects. The ideas that I would come up with in my mind for super-powered action scenes were endless. Watching special effect heavy movies didn't subside my urge any more. In college, I tried experimenting with some, but Windows Movie Maker wasn't made for special FX back then (or ever). Nonetheless, I was still determined to create something mind-blowing for my young audience. That's when I learned about the powerful special effects/motion graphics program, ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS.

At first, I thought that it would be easy just to get the program, learn how to use it and I would be flying and running at super speed in no time. But when I actually looked at the interface of the program for the first time, it was absolutely overwhelming; multiple windows, numerous buttons and a whole bunch of functions I was not familiar with. From then, I decided that it would be better to leave it to the pros to create the surreal effects that I've always dreamed of including in my videos. 

Years after, as I got more involved with making videos, I rediscovered the passion to play around with special FX/motion graphics. Though I was still avoiding After Effects, I felt that I had enough skills in my arsenal to pull off something realistic with what I had to work with. Finally, last year, after gathering some motion graphic elements from the Internet and applying my home-grown production knowledge, I made my first special FX/motion graphic video, Fast Forward. 

Though I felt like I did a good job with what I had, I knew in the back of my mind that if I really wanted to be serious about this, I would have to tackle the beast which was After Effects. After getting the program, I finally had the courage to open AE and start playing around with it. Thanks to sites such as Video CoPilot and Youtube, I was able to create a new intro sequence for my vlogs and create an idea for a new "Video Reborn" intro sequence. After watching multiple basic AE videos and taking in all the motion graphic knowledge, I once again made an idea into a reality. 

It's not long, but it's exactly what I wanted it to be. Of course, there is much more for me to learn, but I can say that I did that; I accomplished something that I never thought I would be able to all those years ago. The moral of this story is with determination and persistence, anyone can overcome a challenge that they may see as difficult. I had to learn this after the fact. 

-Video Vix[o]n