What's that sound?
What happens when sound tries to animate? Things get weird, and behind the scenes, I find my voice as a creative, across Adobe Animate, Audition, and eventually, After Effects.
But first and fivemost, the video.
What Did I Just See?
Believe it or not, as a weird guy representing himself as a mad scientist made of lightning,
(that's two concurrent weirds, folks) I thought the same thing when I first started with these.
The unweird thing is, just a few years ago, my understanding of animation was purely mechanical.
"Take thing A, have it do action b for c seconds, then repeat until d seconds have elapsed." Functionally, practical sense is valuable, but as a creative, it lacked something important.
The Pre-Me Me
Honestly, it's weird to think that there was a time before I was weird, but in past me's defense,
I hadn't found my voice yet. Unlike being professional, where your voice says "I'd be glad to prioritize making what you want over anything else," I was actively muting myself. I turned in good assignments for nice grades, but you wouldn't know they were mine. And in an environment where the just and important first question is "why should I choose you over someone else," that could have been a catastrophic weakness.
Comin' Through!
That's where these weird little wonders came in. They forced me out of my "SELF_WORK_COMPLETE_" mindset and, though I didn't know it yet, into a situation I could only solve by being myself. I swam against the current of sound design I barely understood, and a voice on mute, by being weird. And to my great surprise, I liked it. More than trying a new favorite food, something about being abstract resounded with me. It may have lead to some head-scratchers for my professors, and tricky explanations for me, but it was worth it. For the first time, I could really see myself in my work. No more Diet Voice. Every time since then, it's been time for the good stuff. The ME stuff.
A Quick Primer
Real quick, an aurality is made by recording sounds. Any sounds. Ones that sound interesting.
Those will be your actors. The building blocks of your aurality. And they'll audition to you when you play them back. This is where the weird gets spicy. You're going to listen them and feel.
Even for me, this is pretty out there, but the result is unmistakable. Eventually, something sounds like the background sounds, like characters talking, or a laser . It just happens, like being on safari in your own head. Then, when the ideas form, you animate what those sounds look like.
It's confusing, it's chaotic, and it's some of the most fun I've ever had.
Other than the obvious "learning how to design sound," of course.
Well, that's what I've got for this one! How about going back to the projects page and checking something else out?