A little after effects help

[Aaron Mikil Rich]

Hey guys,
first post here, I'm needing a little help. Can some one explain to me or point me in the right direction when it comes to bleeding ink or bleeding layers in after effects. Refer to the paramount animation in the beginning of shutter island how those layers just come in randomly and bleed or fade in from directions and so on. I understand the concept I'm just feeling stuck when it comes to doing it the best way. I hear matte this and simple choker that, I just cant find a video tutorial or anything to really help me understand this effect.

thanks so much guys

 

[Brian Harbauer]

Howdy Aaron,

Looking at the Shutter Island graphic, if you look closely, you can see that the ink doesn't bleed - it reveals. It looks like it's just photoshop brushes with a mask reveal on them. Pretty straight forward.

If you're looking for something a little more complex, such as to have it actually drip, bleed and not just reveal, read on below.

Everyone's approach is a bit different. But one way would be to shoot liquid elements and then use those elements as traveling mattes to achieve the effect you're looking for.

Applying that would be to shoot an opaque liquid such as milk on a sheet of glass. Placing the glass at an angle just enough to get the desired dripping (bleed) speed. Shoot the white milk over black. Also shoot many different versions. Composite the several shots together to get the desired shape, pre-comp it and use it for a traveling matte channel. Then using solids or actual plate footage, blending modes and effects, you'll be able to create the look you're going for.

Post your WIP as you go if you are able. Would love to see how it turns out!

Sincerely,
-Brian

P.S. This post might need to be moved as this is the cinematography section. If you post it in the right section, there's a better chance the right people will see it to help you out. Wish you luck!

 

[Keith_D]

Aaron
If you want your image to appear to seep into your background layer like ink bleeding into parchment than your instincts are right. In addition to your “liquid” TRK Matte, you’ll want to use the transfer modes to blend your foreground and background layers together. Depending on what effect you’re going for, try either ADD (which adds the luminosity (Light) of the foreground layer to the layers below) or MULTIPLY (which adds the density (darkness) of the foreground to the layers below.) The saturation of either effect can be controlled by simply changing the transparency of the foreground layer.
Good luck.

 

[Brian Harbauer]

Aaron, how is the production coming? Any updates? Did those suggestions work for you?

-Brian