How to Make Music Notes Float Across a Video
Usually seen in animation, musical notes that float through the air can bestow upon a video a surreal, dreamlike feeling. Mixing what was once purely accomplished by cartoons with live action was once a process that involved a studio of professionals. Fortunately, an effect like adding musical notes that float across a video is easily accessible to anyone who can use programs like Illustrator and After Effects.
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Things You'll Need
- After Effects CS3
- Illustrator CS3
- Digital video of an individual playing music
- Digital file with musical notes
Instructions
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Creating Musical Notes in Illustrator
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Open up Illustrator. Go to "File" > "Place," and open up the digital file with the notes
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Create a new layer by going to the bottom of the "Layers Panel," and clicking on the "Create New Layer Icon."
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Select the "Magnifying Glass Tool" from the "Tool Box," and click and drag a square on the first note you would like to create in order to focus on it.
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Select the "Pen Tool" from the "Tool Bar," and click the outline of the note with your "Pen Tool" to create a vector musical note. A vector note allows you to scale up indefinitely without ever getting pixilated.
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Select the "Magnifying Glass Tool," and click "Ctrl + '-' " on PC and "Alt + '-' " to zoom out of this view. Continue these same steps making sure to create a new layer for each new note.
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Go to "File" > "Save," and save this Illustrator file in a new folder on your desktop. Name the new folder "Floating Notes."
Animating Notes in After Effects CS3
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Open After Effects. Go to "File" > "Import" > "File." Select your Illustrator file, select "Composition-Cropped Layers" from the "Import As" drop down menu, and click "Import." Import the digital footage file the same way, but as "Footage" in the "Import As" drop down menu. Drag the footage file from the "Project Panel" to the "Timeline" below to create a composition the exact length as the video.
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Open up the file created by the Illustrator file. Drag down a note above the footage layer.
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Move the "Time Indicator" to where you would like the notes to begin to appear. Type "T" while the note layer is highlighted to reveal its opacity properties. Click on the "Stopwatch" icon next to the word "Opacity" right before the time you want you want the note to appear. Drop the opacity of this layer to "0." This should add a yellow keyframe diamond onto the "Timeline." Move the "Time Indicator" to the time you would like the note to appear from the instrument or radio, and make the opacity "100" -- this will add another keyframe diamond to the "Timeline."
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Type "P" for the note layer's position properties, and move the "Time Indicator" a few seconds before the "Opacity" keyframe. Click on the "Stopwatch" icon, and click on the empty layer next to the stopwatch to add a keyframe.
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Move the "Time Indicator" a few seconds past the next "Opacity" keyframe -- when the note actually appears -- and move the note forward and slightly down with the "Selection Tool" from the "Tool Bar" above the "Project Panel." Move a few seconds further, and move the note slightly up and forward. Continue this until the video is over to make the note appear as if it is floating. Continue these steps to make the other notes appear as if they are coming from the musical instrument or radio. Go to "File" > "Export" > "QuickTime Movie."
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References
- Photo Credit musical notes, numbers and letters image by Cristina Cazan from Fotolia.com
