I don’t watch TV like normal people. Every time I see something on TV, I start breaking things down in terms of how they are produced in post-production. I think about the effects and techniques involve and wonder how I would go about creating something similar.

There’s like 10,000 Police/Crime/Detective dramas shows that have come and gone that I never watched much. I think the major networks have this idea that the good guys need to catch the bad guys in a half an hour or else people won’t watch and they can’t sell any ads. I urge you to forget these broadcast network crime shows and go get your hands on The Wire. Trust me. There are two types of people in this world, people who think The Wire is the best show in TV history, and people who have never seen The Wire. You will regret wasting your time watching people take their sunglasses on and off instead of watching The Wire. It has no discernible line between good guys and bad guys, the stories have a series of causes and effects that span several seasons beautifully, intertwining conflicts get resolved and lead to new ones, and it’s HBO so it doesn’t have to hold back like regular TV.

Oh yea, motion graphics. I made this intro in CInema 4D and After Effects for a shitty crime show that will surely get cancelled.

The opening scenes are all Cinema 4D with an assist from Photoshop. The fingerprint transitions into After Effects. I got the background image from here and I purchased the main character from iStockphoto. I realized after I bought it that he was wearing a tuxedo, whoops. I was fixated on his sunglasses and totally ignored the tux. Nothing Photoshop can’t fix. Main character wearing sunglasses at night? Perfect. The caution tape and titles were Cinema 4D, positioned and animated to fit in the scene. The siren colors are a simple After Effects expression. I think it’s a good composition considering I have no actual video elements in a 15 second clip. All from stills and scratch.

It needed a voice over track, but if you’ve listened to my tutorials you know my voice is so terrible for this. I had a some great corny lines like “If you aren’t watching the best show on TV… GET A CLUE.” Forensics humor. Nice. Anybody with a good network promo voice who wants to record some cheesy copy I have in my head, I welcome it.