You start seeing life through AE goggles. A passing car’s headlights look like a bad lens flare. A leaf falling feels like a missing position keyframe. You mentally add wiggle(2,30) to someone’s walk cycle.
You show a friend a clean, simple lower third. They say, “That’s nice.” You hear: “That’s boring.” So you add a faux VHS overlay. Then a camera shake. Then a glitch map. Now it’s “interesting.” And you’ve just contributed to the visual noise of the internet. after effects normality
True mastery in After Effects isn’t knowing every effect. It’s knowing when not to use them. You start seeing life through AE goggles
The Danger of “After Effects Normality” You mentally add wiggle(2,30) to someone’s walk cycle
You spend 12 hours tweaking a 3-second transition. You add motion blur, chromatic aberration, and a perfectly timed ease-in-out curve. It looks flawless.