Title and Credits Construction

The Bonsai Tree

Celina, James, Chandler, Jasmine

Software used

Microsoft PowerPointAdobe After EffectsAdobe Premiere

Step 1) Find a silhouette image of a bonsai tree

We chose this image because the background had a watercolour paper texture which we felt would be more effective than a plain, solid colour background.

Step 2) Change colourway

The blue background was unsuitable for our trailer and we wanted the background to be red to symbolise passion and anger.

We used the filters on Microsoft PowerPoint to edit the image. The main tools we used were: ‘Recolor’ for the initial filter, ‘More Variations’ to get a deeper red and ‘Corrections’ to increase the sharpness and contrast of the image and to decrease the brightness so the red looks less pink

Step 3) Edit on After Effects

We imported the image to After Effects and changed the colour of the filter to a cherry red which we later enhanced using the different lighting options such as hard light and pin light. To fit the screen we resized the image by dragging the picture to the corners. We then added the content of the title “The Bonsai Tree” in white sans serif capitals.

The inner gradient from dark to light was achieved using the radial tool. We also added a dissolve at the beginning of the title; one of the ‘behaviours’ available on Adobe Bridge.

We replicated the inner gradient from dark to light which was achieved using the radial tool. By changing the lighting options, we were able to intensify the grittiness of the image which works quite well with the background music as it begins to sound grainy as it trails off.

We really liked the water colour paper texture on the bonsai tree image so to keep it consistent we got an image from google and also recolored it to red.

Final Credits

Final Credits