One of the difficult things about teaching motion graphics for film is defining exactly what they are. Pop ups and overlays? Yup, but that's more of a content/tutorial type thing isn't it? Title and credit sequences? Almost certainly, but where do you draw the line?

Three Examples

Here's 3 examples from the grand parents of motion graphics, Saul and Elaine Bass:

Anatomy of a Murder - Definitely motion graphics

Goodfellas - Would you call this "invisible motion graphics"? The effect is subtle but essential to Scorsese's vision (Scorsese wanted the sequence to reflect the frenetic pace of the film)

Casino - It's all footage straight out a camera, with very simple A/B compositing. Does that still count as motion graphics? Well, it's credited as motion graphics, so clearly yes!

Concepts Over Technique

As you can see, the definition is broad, which means that there are going to be lots of ways of doing motion graphics. So how do you learn that? AND HOW DO YOU TEACH THAT?

Well, I mean there's lots of ways of doing most things in film. You can't connect everything through technique, so you connect it through concepts.

The beautiful thing about motion graphics is that they are visual story telling in the absolute purest sense. They need to convey meaning, but unlike most areas of film, they can choose to do that through representation, symbolism, or abstraction. They are completely liberated, but they still follow the same rules as any design or story tool - simplicity is king, rhythm dictates mood, anticipation/foreshadowing lands the beat harder, follow through/reaction eases you to the next beat.

So while this cheat sheet does focus on motion graphics, if you were to use it as a guide to traditional animation, you'd find the concepts overlap almost 1:1.

Where AI Still Falls Short

Incidentally, these concepts are where AI motion graphics are at their weakest, but if you understand them, you can find ways to roll them into an AI assisted workflow. For a deep dive, check out our live workshop on AI Assisted Motion Graphics.

Key Points

• Timing and spacing, the foundation every other principle builds on
• Anticipation and follow through, landing a beat and easing out of it
• Stagger and offset, so grouped elements don't move as one dead block
• Hierarchy, guiding the eye to what matters first
• Kinetic typography and frame composition, making type and layout do the storytelling work