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Project Overview
The Project
For this project, we were to make a kinetic typography animation of 1 minute or greater. I decided to make a visualizer for Green Day's "American Idiot."
The Product
My idea for this project is that it could be used as a promotional video for some kind of political action committee or activist group.
The Goal
The goal was to sync up the visuals with the audio and match the mood of the motion design with the mood of the audio.
Project Duration
March 2026
Research & Brainstorming
Brainstorming
This project was pretty open-ended, so I brainstormed a lot of different types of audio sources to sync the visuals to, including slam poetry, a presidential or MLK's speech, a monologue from a movie, and more.
I ended up going with a lyric video for Green Day's "American Idiot" because I could use the visuals to highlight meaning in the song.
Starting the Design
Paper Sketches
I sketched my ideas on a storyboard to plan out my animation and account for all the keyframing I would need to do.
I would cut out the middle verse of the audio and then have a precomposition for each line of the song.
Creating The Animation
After Effects
Once I had the animation planned out, I got started creating each precomp for the video.
For the font I chose "Protest Strike" because it was an interesting bold font that would be easy to manupulate, and also it fit the theme of the song.
I introduced myself to 3D in After Effects with this project and used the 3D camera to create some cool shots and transitions.
I also made heavy use of character animations and effect presets.
Final Video
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact:
Viewers seemed to like the animation, saying the visuals and motion design really matched the vibe and message of the song. Some feedback I got was to be consistent with the pacing of animation - either make it all fast or all slow, don't mix it up.
What I learned:
With this project I really dove into the nitty-gritty of After Effects and taught myself how to use a lot of effect presets and specific things like character animation on text. I also learned a lot about 3D in After Effects.
Next Steps
I cut out the middle verse of the song for time and to keep it appropriate for school, so going forward I could add that verse.