Pandemic Film: Kansas Surge

This was a fun shot I worked on yesterday in After Effects. Depth worked really well with the foreground headstones and the far fields. I had to paint the COVID twister a bit to get some depth to that. The fun was in animating the flying cow and house. I had the cow large a the start of the shot and then smaller as it twisted away. The house didn’t change size as much and it flew with a slightly different trajectory. The far tractor and flying boards only moved a small amount in the distance.

You might notice that the virus cyclone isn’t completely painted. That is because it was blocked by the house in the original painting. I put a few sloppy brush strokes in that area as filler but for the most part that area remained blocked by the house during the length of the animation.

I started experimenting with bezier curves in animating the foreground cow and house. Up until now I have only been using linear movements. Bezier curves have a habit of getting away from me, creating unexpected movement. Some of that chaos is evident in this shot and I decided to leave the results since it makes it look like a panicked hand held shot.

I just learned I could press the Y key to move the anchor point of an object. I could have used that knowledge in this shot, but I will use that new knowledge in the next shot. I learn what I need as I go and if I can find a work around I will. Anything to get each shot done on time.