Step 5:  We can make this effect more dynamic by increasing the Contrast amount to 300.

Step 6:  Unfortunately Fractal Noise only comes in Black and White.  Fortunately, After Effects also comes with Colorama, a really kickin’ plug-in that gives you the power to manipulate the colors of a layer.  My hat is off to Brian Maffitt for creating this powerful addition to the effects arsenal.

In the Effect Control Panel, twirl down the arrow for the Output cycle and use the Fire preset.  The presets for Colorama are very complete and this is one of those instances where using a preset by itself works wonders.

Instant magic!  Make a RAM preview and you have a dynamic streaky background that looks great.  In fact if you were creating your own live action anime fight sequence this would be perfect.

For greater pizzazz and variety you could try the following:

1.  Make the layer a 3D layer and move and rotate it in 3D space.

2.  Apply the Bezier Warp effect to get the layer to curve as it moves through the composition

3.  Change the orientation of the layer (rotate or change the actual layer dimensions), change the color of the Colorama cycle to create a variation on the above example.

The possibilities seem endless when using the Fractal Noise effect for your motion backgrounds.  Experiment on your own and see what you can come up with.  You can download the After Effects Project (minus video footage) in SIT format here. motionbackground.sit

When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products, Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching courses on web and video production.  He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com, and you can visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher.