After Effects - Use of Effects, Lighting and Cameras

During this session with Sara we were taught mainly about the use of Z Space, which makes the animation almost 3D, it allows the user to start using the extra space which is available. It is a dimension of white nothingness, where neither time, nor space exist. By using this is makes animation a whole lot more versatile, it was something which we touched upon last year which is incredibly useful in order to make a high quality animation. 
For this particular session we were asked to create media to use previous to the session. I wanted to make something which represented where I was from, I used some of my own photography to trace and then create an animation out of. 

This was the original image which I used, it was taken at Mow Cop Castle, which is in Cheshire. It is the highest point in the area and looks over the Staffordshire and Cheshire plane. This image was taken on a summers day last year, in which I took a number of images and this was a particular favourite of mine. 

This was the image which I created from this, and each section is on a completely different layer so that I would be able to use the layers in order to create the animation. When moving the piece into After Effects I also changed the colours to make them completely monochrome, this gave the piece a more vintage feel and made it seem more traditional. I also added textures and lighting, along with brief information about the location.

Castle Animation from Jessica Mountford on Vimeo.