Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics

Great Thank you!!

Despite a few annoying flaws, Krasner has produced an authoritative reference work for those who wish to expand their creative skills into the world of motion design, or those who need a refresher on their college level motion design or animation courses. It's definitely worth a read, but a few shortcuts (most likely demanded by the publisher) prevent a 5 Star rating. ---------- HISTORY The book is broken into two sets of chapters (roughly)... the early chapters cover the historical milestones of motion graphics. There are many examples of famous movie title sequences (ranging from 60s Bond movies, to Gattaca in the 1990s, and Eva in 2012). Plenty of motion graphics projects that have been done for stations like Tech TV, Nickelodeon, and others, are covered as well. You'll learn about the differences between IDs, openers, bumpers, packages, and other useful concepts. You'll find concrete examples of each, explained in enough detail to give you context but not so much as to put you to sleep (a real danger when reading about a dynamic medium within the confines of a static one). As someone who has only one year of art school experience (none of it in animation or motion design) I found this part of the book worthwhile and informative. It gives some appreciation for the creativity involved (when tools were more limited), and for just how far back this field goes. ----------------------- THEORY & PRACTICE The second group of chapters (making up more than 50% of the book), deals with the design theory of motion graphics. You'll learn about things like positive and negative space, directionality of movement, composition, and the small details that make an animation "feel" realistic to us (or "fake" if they're not handled properly). There are many other design topics, but too many to name here. These are all important areas for me (as someone diving deeper into motion graphics) because I want to understand why certain design decisions have been made in the examples I see. When is it better to use a slightly thinner line moving slightly faster, than a thicker line moving slower? When brown and not orange, sketchy textures and not solid color? It's important to know these things not just for the purposes of aesthetics but emotion as well. These are the types of topics the authors talks about in some detail. I feel like I've attended a solid 100-200 level class, without the big tuition fee (that's assuming I "do my homework" and finish the exercises, which are also challenging and detailed, unlike most tech books). ;-) ------------ SOFTWARE This book is not related to any one piece of software and does not show "1-2-3 steps" for any software, but it does show examples of After Effects Timelines, paths, and the like, where it is needed to understand a concept. In fact I'd say 70% of the visual examples shown in the book and on the DVD are 2D, AE-style examples. In this respect I would like to have seen more attention paid to projects made in Cinema 4D, the industry standard in motion graphics for 3D projects. ------ MEDIA The disc content is good in terms of quality examples chosen, but not HD quality unfortunately, it appears to be standard DVD format. Instead, the publisher should have stored organized collections of HD clips in the disc (perhaps even made a "720p Kiosk", so we can open 1280x720, square pixel videos on our computers). This would make the playback smoother at the location we actually learn and apply the techniques (the computer), and make it MUCH easier to see the details in these projects, and scrub them back and forth. I realize DVD format is best for watching on a TV, but for learning at a computer it's less helpful and much smaller in relative terms.] ---------------- SCREENSHOTS The other problem I have with the book is that several of the screenshots are extremely outdated, going back so far as the days before Mac OS X! These same screenshots are often the same ones that are too small to decipher without squinting / getting closer to the book (I have 20/20 vision FWIW). I don't know why a book that is copyright 2013 would use screenshots that are literally more than a decade old (!)... but to me it's a shame because most of the screenshots are more up to date, and in total the book was carefully laid out with good use of color and text. It's generally easy on the eyes and the paper / ink quality is high. So it feels like these shots at the end of the book were just slapped back in there at the last minute (from a prior version) to meet a deadline. The publisher should've known better. It ends up being a distraction because it's obvious you're looking at dated material (the AE timeline, and options for achieving certain goals, have changed a lot since 2000, visually and otherwise). Sort of like taking a test drive in a great car, you like everything, then at the last second you pop open the cup holder and its made of flimsy plastic. Buzz kill. Finish what you started here, Focal. --------------- BOTTOM LINE If you have already worked your way through collegiate level animation and/or motion graphics courses, and have created real-world projects for television stations, kiosk makers or others, there will probably be a lot of material you are already familiar with here. However some of the examples shown may still be useful to you. Whether they are $30+ useful, is up to the individual. For those with little design background in animation or motion, this book is a must, despite its flaws. I will go so far as to say, if the Author and Focal Press take the time with the 4th Edition to: add some new examples in the front and back of the book covering 3D motion projects and Cinema 4D tips; replace all the outdated screenshots with new ones and new examples to learn from, and create an option on the disc to view straight 720p Quicktime movies that we can play on our computers and scrub around / learn from that, I will buy this book a second time. It's got the potential to be that good. ----------------- THE EXTRA MILE If the author goes so far as to take one prominent example from each medium (movie, television, web) and not only talk about the history in the beginning, but show us later how those projects came together (show us some of the storyboard, some of the software screenshots, etc), that would be tremendous. Example: I would love to see how the opening sequence of Fight Club was done because it involves 2D and 3D work, and a lot of creative visioning, and iteration, I imagine. I would also love to see how the opening sequence for Band of Brothers was done for HBO, a mix of still images and slowed down video, treated to look like old images. Do that and I'll buy two copies next time and give one to a friend. ;-)

Great book, but things change as time flies. Some examples are irrelevant and outdated.

Wonderful for class with lots of information