Using Apple Motion to create a Videocast program ident
In preparation for the launch of this new site’s video podcast channel on iTunes, I’ve created an animated logo for use in lower thirds and title sequences, the audio from which will also top and tail the audio podcasts.
Here’s a quick run down, with screen shots, showing the different stages of production and the final (iPod format) video which was created.
I first created a new Broadcast HD 720p project in Motion.
With a new Text layer selected, I opened the Character Pallet from the International Menu in the tool bar, to input the special characters used in the logo design. You may need to enable this in System Preferences > International > Input Menu tab > Show input menu in menu bar
I also spent some time choosing well proportioned fonts and tracking, for the individual icons in the logo, to line up with each other, using Motion’s heads-up display (F7).
After applying some behaviour fade transitions from the Motion library, I then saved the Motion Project and dropped into a new Soundtrack Pro project.
Using the sound effects library I chose a range of foley sounds which loosely matched the movement of the bouncing, fading text in the animation and exported the results as an AIFF.
This was then Imported into Motion, where various tweaks to the timing of the animation were made, to more closely match the audio. By opening the Audio Editor tab in the Motion play line (F6) you can better scrub and match up to audio peak events, which better help to pace the animation.
The whole thing was then ready to be exported into a playback / web format. I used the settings shown below, in Motion’s ‘Export for Compressor…’ menu.
In Compressor, all I then needed to set was the output destination on the hard drive where I wanted to the video file to save, but I also chose to go ahead and double checked that the video was 100% iTunes / iPod / Quicktime compatible, by selecting the settings shown below, in the Inspector Panel.
Choose from the various playback links below to see the finished results and please feel free to leave comments and constructive feedback.
