In this lesson, we looked at the parallax effect which is also known as 2.5D. This is when an object is viewed from different positions and it appears to differ depending on which way you look at it eg. through a viewfinder in a camera will be different from what you get in a photograph. The parallax effect is a modern web design technique, the background of the image scrolls slower than the foreground content. This can add depth to the background image and make it feel interactive. A good example would be, look out the window when driving on a motorway, things closer to the road will zoom past very quickly whereas trees in the background far away from you will appear to drift by at a slower pace.

The strengths and limitations I have found are that I can use this effect for a cool title sequence. The limitations could be that it is very hard to do and it would be hard to perfect especially as we are all working from home now, so I find it hard to ask for guidance and help.

I could use this effect in my fantasy brief as it would add a wow factor as it is pretty cool. I could use it at the opening scene or in the title sequence. I could have fire, flames or clouds parting to reveal the first scene. I could use this for a mountainous scene with a castle. I could use many different layers so when the camera pans, it adds depth and interest to the shot, drawing the audience’s eye to what you want them to focus on.

I had a go at this technique, I wanted to make a butterfly move whilst it was sitting on a flower

I found an image of a butterfly and I used the pen tool to trace around it

I then duplicated the image and changed the mask set for the background to subtract

I made each layer 3d and added a camera, I then moved the background to the back and the butterfly to the front

I used generate fill layer on the background

I then used the puppet tool to animate the butterfly

The finished product:

Even though I never planned on making a title sequence and did an animation instead, I made a test animation for what a title sequence could look like. I reused the matte painting I made and added a flash at the start to show the fog more clearly as the fog slowly disappears to reveal a scene. I could use this as the opening scene.