Motion Graphics Inspiration

Last Heist EP is a 2010 album from Impactist (Portland duo Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing). They created four uniquely genuine short animations for each of the four tracks on the album. Here are my impressions:
Spheremetrical (Here With You) - To me, this is the story of two personalities. They may be circles with triangles for mouths, but they seem very humanlike. And I think a lot of us are familiar with the "yes. no maybe," situation that can happen when you start a new relationship. Interpretations aside, the track begins with geometric shapes gliding along to soothing acoustic piano. It picks up with the addition of electronic sound, and the animation becomes truly exciting when one of the circle personalities transforms into a sphere, with other three dimensional shapes popping out of the two-dimensional background.

The Magical Number Seven - Grainy black and white footage of birds flying in a Northwest wilderness area is accompanied by a soothing, merry electronic melody. Soon the footage reveals that we are actually near a town, with boats and piers and logging mills, while the music picks up and flashing, solid-colored geometric shapes are transposed over the film. It becomes truly mesmerizing as dotted lines and shapes are drawn around birds and objects behind them, with the effect of partially cutting/peeling them out of the film. I see colored shapes, seven in all, playing in a black and white world.


Micrhomage (Community) is a very brief film of organizations of organic and geometrical shapes. "A micro promo that serves as an homage to the artists that inspire us. Hence, it's a Micrhomage." I wish it were less micro and went on longer.

Looking for You - Another soothing, melodical electronic track tinkles away to background footage, this time of the Mars Rover camera. Looking for you... who seems to be located at the pyramid on Mars, because that's where I feel the rover is headed to based on the interspersed images of pyramids. Another geometric theme.

I found these four short films very inspiring. I would love to do something like this, especially The Magical Number Seven, in Flash or After Effects. I got a pretty good introduction to Acid Pro 7 and creating electronic music last semester, so I could try to come up with some music too.