The first stage of creating the logo for the production company of mine was to create and animate the 3D text that would be in the introduction logo itself. To do this I used a program called Cinema 4D R17 and I started by creating the text using two motext objects, one would be slightly larger but thin in order to get the red sides to the text and then a smaller, wider one in order to get the chrome front to the text. The font I used is called 'Lund' as I wanted a font that was stylish and wasn't plain like 'Bebas' or 'Calibri'. I animated the text using very basic functions in the program called keyframes, I would change the settings for position and rotation and then add a key frame. Then, Id move to where I want the movement to end or change and change the settings so the text is where I want it to be and then add another key frame. I repeated this throughout the 10 seconds worth of timeline and then rendered out the text. I rendered it as a series of PNG images so that the background would not be in the video, this means once I load the animation into after effects I can add my own unique background much easier.
The next stage of creating my introduction logo was to load the animation into a program called Adobe After Effects CC 2015. I did this by starting a new composition with the same frame rate and for the same length of time as my animation, then I loaded in my images and if I select to load in a series of images, after effects automatically puts them all together back into one smooth video. After this, I started another composition, which would be to edit the actual intro, and I can import the composition that I used to edit the photos together, once imported, I can edit it just like a video file. I loaded in the music that I had chosen to use (Night Lovell - Still Cold), which is copyright free, and then chose what part of the song I wanted to use. The next main step was to add the colour grade to the video to make the colours a little more interesting and I did this using a plug-in called 'Magic Bullet Looks' I just wanted to make the colours a little more interesting and add a red tint to the intro in order to continue the colour scheme of the intro consistent. I added the colour grade to an adjustment layer so that I could add an effect at the start in which the intro turns from black and white into colour as the beat drops. Finally, I added lots of distortion effects using an effect called 'Warp' and I added twitching effects using a plug-in called 'Twitch', I added these effects to the beat of the music in order to make the intro much more interesting and work well with the music, instead of just a plain animation with no sound effects. Once done, I exported the video the by clicking 'File', 'Export' and then 'Add to render queue...', I chose where I wanted to save it and then clicked 'Render', the quality settings are chosen at the start but they can be changed afterwards if necessary.
The final step of creating my introduction logo was to load the file that was rendered out of after effects into movie maker in order to cut down the file size. After effects produces very large file sizes and so in order to upload the video to YouTube and be able to watch it back properly to check for errors, I have to load it into movie maker and then resave the video. To do this I clicked and dragged my intro into movie maker and then clicked 'File', 'Save Movie' and then clicked the option to render out the video with the exact properties it was loaded into the program with so that the quality is the same. After the video is finished saving, the quality is the same, but the file size is much smaller and the video will play much better on my computer so that I can watch it back.
The result is an interesting, colourful and eventful introduction, which I think looks professional and will add a lot to our trailer as it will make it look much more professional to have a 3D animated introduction at the start.
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