Domestika Subprime Title Sequence

Project Overview

This title sequence was created for a fictional documentary series inspired by the book “Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet.” It explores the themes of technology, advertising, and attention as commodities. It was produced as part of the final project for the “Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design” course, showcasing the use of animation rigs and techniques such as expressions and mathematical equations.

Role

Motion Designer
Instructor

Services

Title Sequence Animation
Tutorial recording
Course production

Design

Treatment

In this title sequence, we delve into the theme of technology, advertising, and attention as commodities. The sequence begins by introducing artificial intelligence as the driving force behind this technological landscape, working with data and personal information to capture our attention. As the sequence zooms out, we see how this information is crystallized into abstract geometric forms, represented through algorithmic and mathematical expressions. These dynamic animations demonstrate the power of technology to shape and manipulate our experiences and perceptions.

Mood Board

Algorithmic

Code

Animation

In this title seqence, I have used three animation techniques to create dynamic and abstract visuals. The first technique is the “shell core orb,” which is made entirely in After Effects using a simple base shape and an expression to arrange duplicates in a conical spiral fashion. The second technique is the “step-repetition data tunnel,” which is created with a base texture of fractal noise and an expression to stack duplicates of the texture in z-space. The final technique is the “cyber techlines,” which are made with an expression using conditional logics and animated with trim path. These three techniques allow me to create a range of abstract and futuristic visuals that can be customized with different parameters and settings

Shell Core Orb

The first element of my design is the “shell core orb,” which is entirely created in After Effects. My design process began by starting with a simple base shape and writing an expression to arrange duplicates of the base shape in a conical spiral fashion. From there, I added distortion effects and color correction to stylize the shape and achieve the final look.

Step-repetition Data Tunnel

The second element of my design is the “data tunnel,” which is also created entirely in After Effects. I began by using a base texture of fractal noise and wrote an expression to stack duplicates of the texture in z-space. This step repetition allowed me to create a digital block environment.

Cyber Techlines

The final technique in my design is the “cyber techlines,” which are based on one of my past expression tutorials. These shapes are created by writing an expression using conditional logics into a shape path in After Effects and animating them with trim path. The shapes are mirrored to make them symmetrical and visually appealing. The beauty of this process is that I can easily generate various variants just by changing the seed value with a slider control. For more information, check out my YouTube tutorial on this topic.

Domestika Course

I was given the incredible opportunity to launch my first online video course, “Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design,” on Domestika, the biggest creative community for curated courses and short documentaries. Domestika discovered me through my YouTube channel, NoSleepCreative, and invited me to produce a course about my work and creative process. They took care of all the filming, editing, and promotion of the course, and provided me with advanced payments and earnings based on course sales. I was asked to produce the written content for the course, which captured my process and tips as a creative. Domestika also invited me to their studios in Madrid or New York to film the course, covering the cost of travel and accommodation.

Producing the course was a six-month process from October 2021 to March 2022, and required a lot of preparation, including planning, prototyping, scripting, and editing. The course project was a 25-second title sequence for a fictional documentary show about technology, advertising, and attention as commodities, which made use of expressions and mathematical equations to create complex animation rigs. I followed the same design process that I would use in a school project at SCAD, including creating a creative treatment, mood boards for art direction, and storyboards to visualize the sequence.

After the course was completed, it took another five months for Domestika to edit the video, prepare promotional materials, and decide on a launch date. Overall, it was a rewarding and challenging experience to produce my first video course, and I am grateful to Domestika for providing me with the opportunity.

Check out and sign up for my “Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design” course on Domestika.

Learn more about the journey in my interview article with Canvas Rebel.