Hope you have a cup of coffee or chai in your hands and ready to read about the amazing toggle session we had with Van Velvet, where she shared a lot of great insight about cinematic language and how to use your own life experiences as a motivation to tell stories beautifully.

The History

Van is a film director and a motion designer, she has also been a TA for school of motion. After working for nine years at an animation studio, where she worked with editing, vfx and compositing, headed post-production, and directed films, she moved on to freelancing.

What is your Story?

As motion designers, we bring ideas to life. We do so many things to make this happen. We can really push our motion work to the next level when we pay attention to our film language. It makes us stand out.

But the core of everything is the story. Whether it's a character, a shape, or anything on screen, how they move, depends on the story you wanna tell.

Static v/s Motion

When we move forward in life, we do it for a reason and with intention. In cinematic language, this is called motivated movement.

When we have an infinite realm of possibilities in Motion Design, it’s easy to do things just for the sake of it, like having an elaborate transition between scenes which doesn't serve the story, and sticks out like a sore thumb. So any movement or "non - movement" should  elevate the story.

Another reason why cinematic language is important is to communicate with the team. If you're working in bigger studios or with bigger teams, knowing a few cinematic language terms comes in handy as a tool to make sure the team is on the same page, and Van drops great knowledge in the session about camera movements, transitions, and animating with intention. Check out the full video below!

"No matter what hits the road, keep going, pick yourself back up and bring motion into your shots and your life."