Creating a Movie Trailer

For our main project today, we will be creating a 30-second movie trailer. This trailer will be created with several animations which we will sequence to create the full animation. We will also add some music at the end of the project.

This project will consist of several compositions consisting of animated text, most of which will be 5 seconds long, and a final animation with the title of the movie and release date, which will be 10 seconds long.

For time's sake, we have a partially completed project that we can work with. Let's open this project now.

Step 1. To open the file, from the Menu bar,

Click File, Click Open Project...

Step 2. To open the file,

Double-Click Trailer Comps.aep

Step 3. To convert the project to the newest version of After Effects, if necessary,

Click OK

The file opens, superseding our previous project. In After Effects we can only have a single project open at one time, so opening a new project closes the previous project.

We might see some compositions already open on this screen. If so, ignore them. As we work, After Effects will leave old compositions open but focus on the one we've most recently selected.

We'll start with creating a new composition with text.

Creating a Blank Composition

Before we create a blank composition, we want to ensure that it will match the rest of our project. If the composition is too large, it will be clipped, and if it is too small, it will have a border around the outside edge. Neither one is acceptable. So let's examine one of the currently listed compositions to see how large it is.

Step 1. To see how the current title card is set up, in the Project panel,

Click the first composition listed

If we look at the top of the Project panel, we'll see more information about the selected asset:

We can see that the selected composition's size is 1280 x 720 pixels, and the frame rate is 29.97. This happens to be the exact size of the preset HDV/HDTV 720 29.97, which we can discover by exploring the presets in the new composition window. HDV/HDTV 720 29.97 is the preset we will select for the new composition.

Step 2. To create a new composition, at the bottom of the Project panel,

Click 

The Composition Settings dialog box appears:

Let's give the composition a name first.

Step 3. To name the composition, in the Composition Name field, type:

On a Distant Planet

We will select the HDV/HDTV 720 29.97 preset from the Preset drop-down menu.

Step 4. To select the preset, in the Preset drop-down,

Click, Click HDV/HDTV 720 29.97

The settings for our composition will change to the specific settings for the preset we've chosen.

Next, we'll need to change the duration. This composition will be 5 seconds long.

Step 5. To set the timecode, in the Duration field, if necessary, type:

0;00;05;00

We'll also need to change the composition's background color to black. 

Step 6. To start the process of changing the background color, 

Click 

The Background Color color picker will display. We'll set the color to black using the hexadecimal color code field.

Step 7. To set the color, in the hexadecimal color (#) field,

Press & Drag the current value, type: 000000 Enter key

Step 8. To finish creating the composition,

Click

The blank composition appears. Let's add and format some text.

Creating and Formatting Text

The composition we just created will be the first composition seen in our animation, so let's put some text in. This text will be on two lines, and will move in from the left and right sides, meeting in the middle before fading out.

Let's do this now.

Step 1. To activate the Type tool, in the Tools panel,

Click

Step 2. To add text to the composition,

Click anywhere inside the composition panel, type: On a Distant

Now we need to close the text box. We can do this with a keyboard shortcut.

Step 3. To close the text box, type:

Control key + Enter key

Note for MacOS Users - To close the text box, on the keyboard press: Command key + Enter key.

By pressing this combination on the keyboard, we close the text box so that our next click on the composition will create a new text box.

We are now ready to type our second line.

Step 4. To create the second line of text,

Click below the first line of text, type: Planet

Step 5. To close the text box and switch to the Selection tool, in the Tools panel,

Click

We want to select both of our text blocks so that we can format them both at the same time. Unlike many animation and design programs, we cannot press and drag the selection tool over objects to select them, so we'll need to select the first text block, then hold down the Shift key and select the second text block.

Step 7. To select both text blocks,

Click the first text box, hold Shift key and Click the second text box

We see red squares surround both pieces of text. Let's format the text using the Properties panel.

Remember that the Properties panel displays options for changing the appearance of text when the Type tool is active. Here we can control the font size, style, color, and other aspects.

Let's change the formatting now.

Step 8. To change the font, in the Font name drop-down menu in the Text section of the Properties panel,

Click, type: Eras Demi ITC Enter

Step 9. To set the text color, 

Click 

The Color Picker appears. We will type our color into the hexadecimal field.

Step 10. To set the color, in the hexadecimal color (#) field,

Press & Drag the current value, type: FFA302 Enter key

Let's position the text in its final location.

Step 11. To move the text,

Press & Drag the text boxes until they match the following arrangement:

Keep in mind that this screenshot is cropped to show just the text. This is how the text should be arranged at the end of our animation.

Finally, we'll change the size of the text.  We'll make the second line of text larger, to help it stand out a little from the first line of text.

Step 12. To select the second line of text,

Click a blank area of the canvas, Click the line reading "Planet"

Step 13. To set the font size, in the size field,

Click the current size, type: 130 Enter key

Now that we have formatted and placed our text, we can animate it.

Animating Position

Previously, we animated the opacity property so that our text would fade in and out. Now we will animate the position of our text. In our final animation, the two lines of text will move slowly from the edges of the frame to their final position.

We have set up our animation to view the final frame. We are starting from the end because we know what the final frame will look like. The text will not be visible at the beginning of the animation, so it will be easier for us to start at the end of the animation, where the text will be visible.

Let's do this now. Remember our animation process.

Step 1. To set the playhead in the correct location on the timeline, on the keyboard, press:

End key

We see our playhead move to the end of the timeline.

NOTE: We could also Press & Drag the playhead to the end of the timeline.

We'll want to set the position of the final frame for both text boxes at the same time, so let's select them both.

Step 2. To select both text boxes,

Click the first line of text, hold Shift key, Click the second line of text

We now want to be able to animate the Position property for both text boxes. We could show the entire list of properties again, but we have an easier way to do this.

Understanding TRAPS

TRAPS is an acronym in After Effects that helps us to remember the five properties we can animate and gives us a list of keyboard shortcuts to use to quickly animate these properties.

TRAPS stands for the following:

Notice that Opacity is the only property that does not use its first letter as a keyboard shortcut, but since this is the only exception, it shouldn't be a problem.

Let's try out our keyboard shortcut now. We can see that to animate the position, we should press the P key on the keyboard.

Step 1. To show the Position property, on the keyboard, press:

P

We see the Position property appear in the Timeline panel for both text boxes:

Since both are selected, and the playhead is in the correct place, let's click the stopwatch to place the first keyframe.

Step 2. To place the first keyframe, in the Timeline panel next to the Position property,

Click 

NOTE: Because both of these layers are selected, we can click either of the Position stopwatches in order to begin animating.

Because both are selected, clicking one of properties will activate the stopwatch for both text boxes. We also see a diamond-shaped keyframe appear at the end of the timeline. Now we can move the text and animate the position.

Next, let's move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline.

Step 3. To move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline, on the keyboard, press:

Home key

The playhead moves to the beginning of the timeline.

Now that the playhead is at the beginning of the timeline, we can move the individual text boxes to the locations they should be at the beginning of the animation, and After Effects will create a new keyframe for us automatically. After Effects will create the in-between frames automatically to smoothly animate the text between how it appears in the first keyframe and how it appears in the final keyframe.

First, we need to select the individual text box, since both are selected currently, and we need to move each text box to opposite sides of the canvas.

Step 4. To select a single text box,

Click away from the text, Click the text "On a Distant"

We want this bit of text to float in from the right, so let's move it off the edge of the canvas now.

We will use the numbers listed next to the Position property to move the text. These two numbers indicate the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the text box. This is calculated from the Anchor Point, with the 0,0 coordinate being the upper left corner of the canvas.

This is the current view of our first line of text, though your numbers will almost certainly be different:

The leftmost number indicates the horizontal, or X, value, while the rightmost number indicates the vertical, or Y, value. For this animation, we will only alter the X value.

We can quickly alter the X positioning value by using our mouse to press and drag the x value, and the text will move in the direction we drag. Let's do this now.

Step 5. To move the "On a Distant" text to the right, in the Timeline panel,

Point to the X value for the On a Distant layer, then Press & Drag the X value to the right until the text just leaves the canvas

We can see a box outlining the text that is outside the frame. We can also see a line running from the text box's current position to it's final position. This is a preview of how the text will move, and if you are familiar with the the idea of curve handles (the basics of which are covered in Using the Pen Tool in Illustrator: The Basics), it can also be curved.

Let's animate the second line of text now.

Step 6. To select the text,

Click the text reading "Planet"

We want this text to float in from the left of the screen, so let's move it to the left.

Step 7. To move the "Planet" text to the left, in the Timeline panel,

Press and Drag the X value for the Planet layer to the left until the text just leaves the frame

NOTE: You might need to release the mouse button and Press & Drag again if you hit the edge of the screen with your cursor while changing the value.

Let's test our animation now.

Step 8. To test the animation, on the keyboard, press:

Spacebar

We can see the text move in from the sides of the screen, meeting in the center. The animation will continue until we stop it.

Step 9. To stop the animation, on the keyboard, press:

Spacebar

Let's save our file and focus on adding effects next.

Step 10. Save the file.