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Add an expression to make the video flicker, and animate a light flare
Overview
Name of explainer: Add an expression to make the video flicker, and animate a light flare
Creative theme: Beginning Adobe After Effects
Software used : Adobe After Effects
User level: BEGINNER
This is explainer 4 of 5 in this series
This series includes:
- Tour the Adobe After Effects interface and create a new composition
- Animate text using built-in animation presets
- Animate text using keyframes and easy ease
- Add an expression to make the video flicker, and animate a light flare
- Export the animated composition as an mp4 video
This series is also available as a FREE, short online course!*
If you’d prefer to work through this series in a short online course format, where you can track your progress and receive a PDF certificate of completion, it will be available from December 2024* on our sister site pixelsofcourse.
The Software
This series of explainers uses Adobe After Effects, an application designed for creating motion graphics:
After Effects is a PAID applications. A FREE trial is available, after which ongoing use will require an ongoing subscription. For the latest information and pricing, see Adobe’s current pricing information. If you’ve never used After Effects before, create a free account, download the trial and let’s get started!
What are motion graphics?
TV idents (like these classic idents from Channel 4 in the UK) are an example of motion graphics:
Animated movie and TV titles (like this example from the recent BBC series ‘Sherwood’) are motion graphics. This animated ‘Sherwood’ title text is similar to what we’ll create for a dystopian AI movie title sequence in this series.
Entire animations, like this amazing animated photo-movie are motion graphics…
…and we use After Effects to create the animations for the start of every video explainer:
How to generate video clips using LTX Studio
We used the online AI storyboarding tool LTX Studio to generate the short video clips for our trailer, including generating a soundtrack and voiceover. If you don’t have clips of your own this is a great way to create resources to fit your creative vision! Here are the main steps we followed in LTX Studio:
1: The LTX Studio dashboard shows options to start ‘with an idea’ or start ‘with a script’.
2: Enter the general ‘idea’ for the movie. We used an AI generated ‘voiceover’ from chatgpt as our idea prompt:
3: LTX Studio generates a storyboard with individual scenes and a thumbnail image for each. You can regenerate a scene by changing the prompt and shot-type at any time:
4: Select the shot editor tab at the top of the window to regenerate an individual video clip. Four candidates are generated to select between:
5: Add an appropriate soundtrack and a voiceover for the perfect cinematic experience!
6: Export the sequence of scenes as a single video file. The sequence is below (The audio was retimed in post to better match the duration of the sequence).
More motion graphics inspiration!
If you’re interested in the ‘story’ of motion graphics, here’s Adobe’s own introduction:
https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/motion-graphics.html
‘Best motion graphics in adverts 2024’:
https://www.yansmedia.com/blog/best-motion-graphics-ads-examples
More brilliant examples of motion graphics!
The animated trailer sequence at the end of this series
This is the movie trailer at the end of this explainer series. This is the FULL trailer which includes additional video clips (and a soundtrack) generated in LTX Studio (see section above). In this series we use After Effects to create the animated text sequence at the end of the trailer.
Screenshots taken from the start, middle and end of the title sequence. The movie title ‘Models’ zooms in over the video clip. As it comes to rest, the subtitle ‘Sentient Shadow’ flickers in below the main text:
The pre-requisities
This is a BEGINNER Adobe After Effects explainer series. After Effects is complex animation software and is not recommended for new computer users.
Why would I do this?
Expressions can help to avoid lengthy, repetitive After Effects tasks. For example, to make a video clip (or any other asset) ‘flicker’ we could carefully position and edit hundreds of individual keyframes, but this would take a very long time! A simple expression can automate this process!
Let’s do it!
Click the play icon to watch this explainer video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.
Video Transcript
Here is the full transcript for the above video.
Welcome to you.
00:16
In this explainer, I’ll add a simple expression to the video to make it flicker ominously, then animate a light flare from left to right as it becomes brighter.
00:26
This video is part of a series but can be viewed on its own.
00:30
Expressions in after effects are short scripts that adjust a single layer property over time.
00:35
For example, I could create hundreds of keyframes to vary the brightness of my video clip over time and try to make it flicker realistically, but this could take me hours.
00:45
Here’s how I can do it using a simple expression.
00:48
I’ll start by adding the brightness and contrast effect to my video clip layer.
00:55
Expand this effect to view the separate options for brightness and contrast.
01:02
As you’d expect, varying the brightness will do something like this, and varying the contrast will do this.
01:10
I’ll make sure the playhead is at the start of my clip.
01:14
Hold down the alt key on the keyboard and click on the stopwatch next to the brightness property.
01:20
Holding down the alt key when I clicked tells After Effects I want to enter an expression for the selected property.
01:26
I’ll type in wiggle, open bracket, 10, comma, 100, close bracket, then play the sequence.
01:35
This simple expression is adjusting the brightness 10 times a second, the first number in the brackets, by up to 100 from its original setting, the second number in the brackets.
01:46
This first number is the frequency and the second number is the amplitude.
01:51
I can play around with these values until I’m happy with the results.
01:55
I’ll do the same for the contrast property.
01:59
As your knowledge grows, you’ll discover expressions can be used in all kinds of time saving ways.
02:04
For links to useful resources, see the website.
02:08
Next, I’m going to add a flare that’s going to travel from left to right across the video as it increases in intensity until the video clip is completely bleached out to bright white.
02:19
Start by searching the effects and presets panel for flare.
02:24
I’ll drag the lens flare effect onto the video clip layer.
02:28
Even with the flares default settings, I can see an immediate change to the appearance of the video through the text.
02:34
I’d like the flare to move from approximately here to over here while getting brighter all the time.
02:41
As before, make sure the playhead is at the start of the animation sequence.
02:45
Expand the properties of the video clip layer.
02:49
Here are the properties for the lens flare.
02:52
I’ll place the flare center roughly where I want it.
02:57
Click on the stopwatch and place my first keyframe.
03:00
Move the playhead to shortly after 6 seconds when the zoom animation finishes and move the flare across towards the top right of the text.
03:17
I’d like the flare to start off a bit brighter than it currently does, so I’ll switch on the key frames for this property.
03:24
Select the first key frame and increase the flare’s brightness.
03:30
Move to the end key frame and increase the flare brightness until it very nearly makes the entire text bright white.
03:40
It’s certainly getting there.
03:41
I’ll carry on adjusting the properties for the flare.
03:45
In the final explainer in this series, I’ll export the composition to an MP 4 video and look at some great online resources you can use to continue your after effects journey.
Good to know
The expression used in this explainer for the brightness property of the video clip is =wiggle(10,100). This expression adjusts the brightness of the clip 10x a second, by up to 100 from the original value. Try out different values to get your prefered effect!
Ready to learn more about expressions? Here’s a helpful video!
Where to next?
In the next explainer, we’ll export the animated sequence as an MP4 file, before bringing it into a video editor to add to the other trailer clips and render the final movie trailer!
Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in October 2024. This page was last updated in October 2024.
We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Any links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software provides users with many ways to accomplish a task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risks of data loss.
This is number 4 of 5 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!
