City Lit Pro: Adobe After Effects fast track

About this course

The course introduces a complete After Effects workflow, from planning projects and preparing Photoshop assets to organising compositions and importing image, video and text layers. Participants practise animating 2D and 3D transformations, effects, text, masks and a virtual camera, alongside keying and compositing techniques. Teaching combines workshops, short lectures, demonstrations, tutorials, practical exercises and handouts. The course also covers export settings, rendering, and backing up and archiving project files. Participants are invited to develop an individual After Effects project and receive feedback during the course.

What you'll learn

• Plan and organise assets for an After Effects project
• Create compositions and import image, video and text assets
• Animate 2D and 3D transformations, effects and text layers
• Create and animate masks and a virtual camera
• Apply keying and compositing techniques
• Render, back up and archive After Effects projects

Is this course right for you?

The course is intended for beginners who can work at a fast pace and have basic computer skills, including navigating and moving files. Participants should be able to follow written and spoken instructions, read handouts and safety information, use simple measurements and calculations, and take part in group discussion.

• Some video-editing or related Adobe Creative Suite experience may be useful, but is not required
• The teaching includes group discussion as well as individual practical work
• Participants are encouraged to practise techniques outside class and develop a project for feedback

Before you go

• Teaching takes place on Apple Mac computers.
• A memory stick or portable hard drive would be useful for storing work.
• Having access to After Effects on a home computer may make practice outside class more effective.