I’ll admit that I’m a sheep. I was the kid who was continually whining to his parents, “But all my friends are doing it!” And yes I was voted most likely to jump of a cliff if someone else did it first. I can honestly say the main reason I learned motion graphics was because all the cool kids where doing it. Take one of my visual journalism heros, Zach Wise, for example. When he started posting his videos on his blog that had that little extra “something” in them, I wanted that in my pieces. Another cool kid at the time was Mediastorm. I’ll never forget watching RJD2 “1976″ on the Mediastorm website. It was jaw-dropping. That piece pushed my over the edge. I wanted some of that eye-candy in my pieces. I was now ultra-sensitive to this kind of “presentation”  and subsequently noticed more and more story telling using these techniques. More often than not, I would see something provocative and ask myself, “How did they do that?” After many hours Googling, everything pointed to After Effects. My journey of discovery was over, it was time to venture onto learning this program.

I’ve only been dabbling in AE for about 2 years. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m having a great time on the journey to mastery. Despite the headline to this post, I’m not advocating you learn this program, just because I said so. Everybody is excited by producing different stories on many different levels. BUT, if you are interested in exploring the power of AE and want to know how to get started and where to go first, then this post is for you. Here’s how I’ve broken this post down. First I’ll give you the tongue-in-cheek reason why you should learn AE, then I’ll move onto inspiration, resources and tips. WHY? Ok maybe I’m like a cat with a new toy, swatting uncontrollably  in every direction, just becasue it’s there, but I think AE is the tool of the future for serious visually based story tellers. Take that with a grain of salt of course. Many documentaries, and videos in general employ AE as a story telling tool. More and more of my freelance work is in the motion graphics sector. I’m seeing the economic value as well as an artistic value. The somewhat tongue-in-cheek reason is because all the cool kids are doing it.  Just check out the screen shots below taken from the awesome blog http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com run by Tracy Boyer and her informative feature called  Innovative Individuals. This is what MANY of those cool kids interviewed by Tracy put on their to-do lists:

I rest my case. Inspiration Here are some of the many pieces that inspired me. Share your favs in the comments, please, I’m always looking for inspiration.

Demo reel of motiongraphic work for The New York Times. This demo reel is comprised of the following projects That use AE: Choosing a President nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/2008-election-overview/ War Without Borders nytimes.com/packages/html/world/2009-mexican-cartel/index.html Flipped: Inside the Private Equity Game nytimes.com/packages/html/business/2009-private-equity/index.html Toxic Waters: From Air to Water Waste video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/14/us/1247465176975/toxic-waters-from-air-to-water-waste.html The Card Game: The Deal With Overdrafts video.nytimes.com/video/2009/09/08/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/1247464404191/the-card-game-the-deal-with-overdrafts.html Resources LYNDA.COM I’ve been preaching the magical powers of Lynda.com for many many years. Nothing new here when it comes to AE. Worth every penny. (Disclaimer: In the near future I may have title on Lynda.com, stay tuned)

AETUTS One of the best resources and sites for some amazing tutorials

Creative Cow Another amazing site and not just for AE but FCP as well. Everytime I Google a question about motion graphics or a video problem I’m looking to solve, I always end up here.

Video Copilot

AEScripts Something for the more advanced users of AE.

Tip One of the best pieces of advice I received was to buy a professionally created AE template and study how a real pro puts the project together. I’ve learned tons by doing this. It was worth every penny I paid for the template just to see what was under the hood. I suggest you do the same. You can find some decent and somewhat inexpensive templates here:

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Please, if you have any tips or resources, please share in the comment section.

The second of three boot camps at the UC Berkeley J-School. This time the reporters for OaklandNorth.net spent the went learning about multimedia story telling and creating their own stories. This is a quick look behind the scences.Cast: Richard Koci Hernandez