CGI or computer generated imagery has been around for nearly 30 years now, but in more recent times computing power has given us access to its magical powers even in the lower budget video world.
But how can your production benefit from the use of computer imagery?
Below are a few of these techniques cgi is most used for.
MOTION GRAPHICS
A digital montage of text, images and illustrations.
Motion graphics can be anything from a short title sequence for your video to a full length visual story. As an art form the possibilities are endless, and if you have a message to get across, embellishing the information in this digital art form is a great way of engaging your viewer.
One example of this is the ‘info graphic’ style, where vector graphics and text are driven by a narration that guides the viewer through the information.
Here’s one I made for Unite the Union to get across some facts about public sector workers:
Another use of motion graphics, is to create a story with animated characters. For instance here is one we made for a product called ‘Snowmee’. The artwork was created by an illustrator that the client chose, and then we brought it to life.
One quick and affordable method of integrating motion graphics into your project is to bring your logo to life. Rather than having a static image at the beginning of your videos, we can take your logo and find a creative way to bring it onto the screen. Then this new motion graphics animated logo can be reused on future projects!
VFX
Another way that CGI is used is in the field of visual effects or vfx. This is where computer graphics are integrated with video in a more subtle way, so as to convince the viewer that something was there when you filmed it. We created a music video for the band Gravedigger where we needed to create a battle scene. We filmed multiple pairs of actors in front of a green screen and then ‘composited’ them together, with multiple copies to create a whole army of people. The shot started with merely an empty field, as you can see in the breakdown from our 2011 showreel (link below, breakdown begins at 25seconds).
http://youtu.be/0Rtk6kmE83I
3-D CGI
I’m not talking about the kind of 3-D where you have to wear glasses, 3-D CGI is creating your CGI content in three dimensions, simulating light and texture for a very powerful visual result. For instance, with 3-D CGI composited into your video, a character could seemingly walk around an object. 3-D could also be used in a motion graphics piece, giving the camera free reign to move around and capture the scene from any angle.
Here’s a piece I created while experimenting with Adobe’s ‘After Effects’ software, the first 3-D object I could think of was a cube..
Whatever your project, there is always a way that CGI could be used to spice it up a bit more. Silvertip films has a great selection of CGI tools at their disposal. The only limit is your imagination..
Call us to discuss your ideas!