This is my submission to Nick Campbell's 5 Second Project / CMYK. The idea is to take the theme and make a project that is five seconds to the frame. I chose an apparently abstract project.

CMYK is a subtractive color model so I created a bunch of addition signs and at the beginning everything is black. It represents all of the inks added together and the project fades to white as the addition signs merge to subtraction signs. I used Maya's dynamic engine and some really juicy post processing with After Effects.

The 5 Second Project is a super great concept. It is the topic and deadline that really encourages people to make something instead of not. Sometimes self motivation isn't enough, even to commit to one hundred and twenty frames. The greatest thing about the premiss is also the worst. All projects have to be exactly five seconds!

I had a lot more detailed ideas that involved character animation and actual plots, but the two week deadline and the trimming required to make the project fit the specifications would not have blossomed into my grand original idea. Perhaps the 5 Second Project does more to motivate young animators and motion designers, it emulates a real world client who will always want something cool, fast, and to their constraints.

Visit Nick Campbell's website Greyscale Gorilla to find out more information about the 5 Second Projects and to watch fantastic tutorials for After Effects, Cinema 4D, and Photography.