STEP 1: Design the animation
Always first consider the logo elements, their shapes, different sizes
and the context of the company itself. Our animator, Lori Newman,
worked with my company’s new logo, designed in Adobe Illustrator, in
this way before sketching out several animation ideas, considering how
these separate elements would appear, how they would react to one
another, and especially how they would resolve into the whole logo.
STEP 2: Create your compositions
Capturing the most interesting motion concepts inherent in the logo,
place the logo elements as a simple low-res composition in Adobe After
Effects and animate them to get a feel for timing and style. Lori
presents these rough animations to us as different compositions. We
then review them, keeping in mind the theme, positioning and nature of
the company, and discuss any comments we have or minor tweaks we want
implemented.
STEP 3: Create your animation versions
For our purposes, we wanted two versions of the logo animation: one for
regular use and one slightly different logo that could be used for
special situations. Don’t take this idea too far, though. It’s
important to police the use of your logo and how many different
variations of the animation you have. If there are too many, they can
dilute the effectiveness of the design, animation and overall brand
equity you’re trying to build.
STEP 4: Create an alpha channel in Illustrator
An alpha channel is basically a separate non-visible layer embedded
within a graphics file that stores additional information about that
file. Lori likes to use an alpha as a mask, identifying which parts of
the logo will be transparent and will therefore allow video to show
through. In Adobe Illustrator, she separates the graphic into layers,
then combines the red and white TV shapes to create the alpha channel.
STEP 5: Create the animation in After Effects
Import the logo file with the new Alpha information into Adobe After
Effects as a 1920 x 1080 composition where you can place all the logo
elements. You might want to recreate the text at the bottom of the logo
in After Effects. Lori does this to give her more flexibility with the
tool set in After Effects.
STEP 6: Add components
Next, create separate compositions with the numbers 00-24, the
different frame rates, and the solid color underneath that will
alternate. For our logo, Lori animated the red and white TV shape and
the company name text.
STEP 7: Finalize your effects
After the basic animation is complete, add an effect. Lori added the
Trapcode Shine and DigiEffects Video Malfunction effects to the
secondary logo animation. Using the main animation as a base preserves
the integrity of the new animation’s look and feel.
STEP 8: Render and output to HD
Render both animations as lossless animation with an alpha channel in the full 1920 x 1080 resolution as single QuickTime files.
STEP 9: Bring the animation into Final Cut Pro
To use the final animations, we simply import the logo animation file
into FCP, and put it on the timeline where desired (resizing it on the
screen if necessary). If we’re overlaying it on top of video, the
transparency in the alpha channel of the logo file will immediately be
recognized, automatically allowing the video to pass through as long as
the logo animation is on a higher numbered video track than any video
you want seen beneath it. All it requires is rendering and it’s ready
to go.
Support Gear: Adobe Illustrator, After Effects; Apple Final Cut Pro
YOUR GUIDES
Thomas Strodel
Producer/director/founder
24fps Productions

Lori Newman
Motion graphics artist

Thomas Strodel is an independent producer and director. His NYC-based
company, 24fps Productions, specializes in creating original
programming for cable, broadcast and satellite distribution.
Lori Newman is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with an MFA
from the University of California at Berkeley and works as a motion
graphics artist based in New York City. Her work involves concept, art
direction, design and production, with a particular emphasis in
combining color, motion and typography. Samples of her work can be seen
on www.lorinewman.com.
Tom and Lori Say Keep In Mind…
In 2005, we retired our old logo in exchange for a newer, more modern
one created by graphic designer Francis Ball. As most of you already
know, 24fps stands for the rate at which film is shot. Actually, it’s
usually 23.98fps, but that wouldn’t have been a very smart logo, let
alone company name.
Since we’d been developing more original programming, we decided we
needed more than just a static logo at the end of a show. Animating the
logo would reflect that extra bit of excitement we put into our
productions.
24fps Productions
www.24fpsproductions.com
144 W. 27th St., 12th Fl.
New York, NY 10001
ph. 646.638.0659
tom@24fpsproductions.com