1. Motion Graphics and
Compositing:
Case Study
Ben Clayton
1

2. Motion Graphics Sequence
Motion graphics are animations in video format that consist of moving art/design illustration to
create a video in a sequence. When people make them they keep in count to make sure they
look smooth when they are animated as well as being eye-catching and informative to the
audience. They are often made using software going from more basic Photoshop and more
advanced illustrator. Businesses often use motion graphics to create interesting fact driven video
and it is now often used by youtubers on more of the serious channels to also give fact driven
content but normally in a very entertaining way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX4Cfu3Dd2E This video is an example from YouTube of a
voice over where a lady is going over a serious note about the Water Works and giving big key
facts that are shown within images of what the person editing would suit the imagination of what
she is talking about.

3. Visual Effects
Matte Paintings: matte paintings were a way of being able to trick audiences into
thinking actors were in a different location. It is the earliest use of illusion in film and
got rid of the issue directors faced with trying to tell a story with their characters in
fictional settings. The term “matte” means to block an image, generally in the
background. Film crews could also use this to save money by using matte paintings to
finish parts of film sets they could not afford such as if they could afford to build the
lower set such as the castle grounds but not the upper set. A static camera would be set
up to shoot both the matte painting and original scene simultaneously
A famous movie is BATMAN made
in 1989 where they used artistic
paintings of real and existing city’s
such as Manhattan to make the
City in the movie called Gotham.
This allowed them to get the
environment they were wanting to
use which was a very gloomy dark
night with emphasise on the
lighting within the sky and
buildings.

4. Visual Effects
Travelling Matte: This was a very early method used to create black and white imagery were
a black drop would be used against the actors to create high contrasts which would move
throughout the frame hence the name ‘travelling’ matte. As shown in picture 1 the man
and women in the centre of the frame are walking and by placing the background with the
moving vehicles makes them look like they are walking with the cars going past. This is an
example from 1927 and looks to our modern eyes as not very good but when this first was
made would’ve looked amazing but due to the advancements in technology and new
breakthroughs within the film industry we are now capable of creating much more effective
shots.
1

5. Visual Effects
Blue Screen and Mattes: The blue screen was developed in the 1930’s at RKO radio pictures.
The way the blue screen works is by removing a range of colours in the foreground footage which makes it combine
onto the background footage. Blue screen was used as it is the furthest colour away from skin tones. It was used in
the film ‘The old man and the sea’ a 1958 adaptation to create realistic atmosphere. actors did not have to be in the
same place to appear in the same shot. It also allowed motion to be used in composited shots. This is still used today
but better technology software means the process is even simpler than before.
v
Chroma Key: This was an extradinoary break through. It was a mathematical process that would take a variety of
colours of a video and turn them transparent. It is still used today for weather forecast broadcasting to create the map
to show the weather which is the minimal use of what chroma key can do as seen in films such as the
Avengers where they have used it to create a long scene of the
Superhero's fighting aliens in New York with buildings exploding
and spaceships everywhere which would be near to impossible to
create within the real world and even if it could it would cost
millions and actors do not have to be in the same place to appear
in the same shot. To create a scene with CGI you do still need some
real world things such as some props to fit within that scene and the
actors. Then you put a large drop screen behind them (green screen)
which can then be changed from green to either an image or video
during the post production to simulate what would want to be so
For Avengers would be New York burning with aliens flying around.
The old man and the sea

6. Visual Effects
CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) was first introduced in the 1960s and has grown with
the computer itself. It is 3D computer graphics used within almost all media nowadays. CGI
can help with the impossible which could be making an alien space ship fly over America
and blow it up which could now be designed by someone and made virtually. For movies
CGI can be the biggest money saver of them all as directors can save money on things like
special effects (explosions) which can be very expensive and also dangerous to do where as
now it can be done all on a computer using software such as 3ds MAX which can be used by
students to learn from and by professionals to create 3D models for movies that feature in
cinemas. CGI can sometimes replace the costume needed for some characters in films such
as the HOBBIT where ‘Smaug’ the dragon is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and they
made him act like he was a dragon and used a suit with sensors that can be picked up and
used in a computer within a 3D environment to create a realistic moving dragon as seen to
the right->.

7. Motion Graphics Sequence
From the famous James Bond movie ‘Casino Royale’ made in 2006
the opening sequence made by Daniel Kleinman a sequence designer
for the James Bond movies since the originals. The motion sequence
is made to fit the theme of the movie of casinos hence the name of
the movie ‘Casino Royale’. The design and art style has been made to
look like playing cards which adds to the whole casino theme. Close
to the beginning of the sequence is a ladies face to instantly create a
mystery for the viewer as for those James Bond fans they will
instantly relate it to the typical one of James lovers. The colours have
been used to collate the audiences typical viewing of them so they
understand what they represent without thinking it, such as the
section with Bond fighting a bad guy and this is clear this is what is
happening as Bond is shown throughout the beginning of the
sequence in his black and white suite with the enemy looking similar
but red which we link to blood and violence.
From the movie ‘Vertigo’ made in 1958 the opening sequence made
by Saul Bass and Alfred Hitchcock. The motion sequence begins by
showing the appearance of Kim Novak to help the audience see the
emotion and create a instant connection to the character. The
sequence moves on to displaying the film title ‘VERTIGO’ in a large
text which enlarges and goes of the screen to a swirling colourful
pattern. Saul Bass used the swirling pattern as it links to the title of
the movie as the meaning of Vertigo is “a sensation of whirling and
loss of balance…”. As soon as you see this swirling image it makes you
think of illusions which can also create “whirling and loss of balance”.

8. Motion Graphics
Titling sequences have been experimented with in lots of ways such as montage and
stop motion and live action.
Watchmen - Opening sequence (2009) live action. More often these days opening and
titling sequences do not last long or are blended in with the opening of the movie. With
the Watchmen they decided to go more old school and use a long opening scene
(5+mins) with live action footage showing the audience suttle things about the movie as
well as showing whom the actors are with it being an almost warm up/tease clip before
the film properly begins.
Alien (1979) Simple stop motion. This trailer gives a very sketchy vibe making it tense as
it is so slow with so little happening making it very minimalistic which isn’t often scene
for title sequences.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) montage. This title sequence shows montage
style where they have used a song with a good bass and beat to cut too so they can have
lots of cinematic shots cut really quickly together to create the montage. With both stop
motion and montage the clips are more often quicker with them both being within
2minutes and the live action being double and this can be why sometimes it is easier to
not do live action as it can be expensive and unnecessary for the style of the movie.

9. Frame Rate
This depends entirely on the usage of the final product.
For Film – projected at 24fps
Television in the UK – 25fps
Internet/web use – up to 60fps
Video Format
MPEG-4 this is a method of compressing an audio and visual digital data (AV). You will lose some quality within the video compared to the
original raw footage but you will also get a smaller file size (easier for storing onto a device).
MOV a audio and visual file that can be easily edited within QuickTime. Within QuickTime both MPEG4 and MOV can be interchangeable
since they use the same formats. MPEG-2 “the generic coding of moving pictures” is a lossy video compression and lossy audio
compression. (Lossy Compression is the class of data encoding methods that uses inexact approximations and partial data discarding to
represent the content. These techniques are used to reduce data size for storage content). MPEG-2 is also known as H.222/H.262 and ITU).
Screen Ratios
For Film – 1.85:1 and 2.40:1 (most anamorphic showings)
Television – 1.77:1 (16:9)
For Web - Youtube and vimeo primarily uses 16:9
Resolution
Due to screen ratios, this can effect the resolution. As a rule of thumb, the higher the resolution, the better the
image quality due to the number of pixels present
4K: 3840x2160
Full HD: 1920x1080
HD: 1280x720
SD: 720x576
Compression
Format: H.264 and the present “Vimeo” or “Youtube” at 1080p 24 or
25p
The higher the bitrate, the better quality, but also larger the file size