My first attempt after the tutorial

Using a program that comes with after effects, called Mocha where you are able to track things, by making a mask object around the object you want to follow. This surprisingly tracked my finger quite well, as there's quite a lot going on and many other fingers that could be picked up. It did, however, fail to track my finger after about a minute.

A path is made in Mocha, which is then saved and then exported/copied, where it then can be pasted into after effects on a sold layer. It then got a little complicated and hard to explain and a lot of clicking happened. The track code is then linked to a new layer called the 'null object' by making it a 'parent' to the null layer, where then the null object follow the track like a train. 

Then the effect called 'partcular' is added to the null object, which then creates the crazy lights following the path with the null object. It's very complicated, but the effects are fun, and once getting past the terrifying process of getting it all right, i then got to begin with playing round with how to change the "crazy lights", which can be done in many ways.

Something the was hard to get around was that the 'particular' could only create light and it's effect. It involved creating a new light layer, something i have never approached and naming it an Emitter. This then causes the light for the effect. This was another very complicated thing, and something i think i will struggle to remember if i were to try this effect again. 

Despite how boring and complicated it may seem and look, this was all very fun. I really enjoy combining the two medias and finding the new effects. From here i began to play around, adjusting the looks of the 'particular' using repetition and other colours.

Right now, i am feeling a lot more confident that i am not just repeating the work i did before summer. I am reintroducing myself to after effects and learning new things. It is really fun and i do want to continue. However, i am finding that i am not sticking to my original aims. I do need to revisit them. But i am learning that i am not good with aims, although i do need to set myself them. I am finding that there are things that i want to do, but in order to get to them, i get distracted and more interesting in other processes. I hope that finding these processes will help to eventually begin a proper animation.