The Process of Creating a “Simple” Lyrics Video (quotation marks very intentional) — but Meaningful

Escrito por Vivian Gordillo Mendoza

I’ve always loved the idea of making something aesthetic to accompany the lyrics of my favorite songs. That’s where my fascination with lyric videos comes from: finding ways to make them visually engaging while adding a personal layer to verses that have either resonated deeply with me or that I’ve simply enjoyed a lot.

This time, I decided to create a video for an emotional song that mirrored the uncertainty of my feelings. Maybe it was a way of procrastinating on other “more important” projects, but in the process I learned a lot of things worth sharing. Before that though, let me explain what my initial goal was for this video, and break down the planning behind it:

1. Build an atmosphere aligned with the lyrics and message.
This song was evocative, melancholic, and intense — like a hug of empathy for those moments when you’re left alone with your thoughts, insecurities, and emotional abysses. The lyrics also mention the color blue and the idea of being in an empty space like the ocean, so I wanted to reflect that through a background that looked like an underwater scene: soft diffused blues, currents, subtle variations that shifted with the mood of the lyrics.

2. Decide how to present the text.
Since emptiness was such a recurring theme, it felt natural to place the lyrics at the center, keeping them focused but not overwhelming the composition. I went with a casual handwritten-style font, small but readable.

3. Consider other elements.
At first, I wasn’t sure whether to add anything besides the background and text. Eventually, I experimented with symbols and doodles, taking advantage of the empty space. This part ended up being the most experimental — and probably the most useful for future projects.

What I Did

At that point, I wasn’t aiming for a “perfect” project; I just wanted to channel my emotions as a form of catharsis. A few weeks earlier I had also realized that, to stay sane while juggling multiple creative ideas, I needed to streamline my technical process. So I researched efficient workflows and then went step by step:

Step One: Prepare assets

I always start by downloading the song (if I don’t already have it) and grabbing the official lyrics. In this case, I added one more task: translating the lyrics into Spanish, since the song was originally in Korean. That took some time, but accuracy matters to me — I want the text to feel precise and natural in Spanish.

Then came font selection. Typography is key in lyric videos: it has to match the tone and emotion of the song.

Step Two: Add the text verse by verse


I wanted each line on a separate layer, so I used a handy script called Decompose Text. It works best for simple setups (though it can limit some character settings). The workflow was straightforward:

  • Download and install the script.

  • Prepare the lyrics already separated into verses (I used Notepad for that).

  • Paste them into a text layer in my composition (I set mine to Full HD so my computer wouldn’t choke).

  • Run the script from the Window menu.

Here’s the key: in the pop-up, you must select “Approx. position without expressions.” If not, you’ll get heavy lag from the expressions it auto-generates — a mistake I learned the hard way. Once you click OK and wait a moment, the verses are ready.

To align everything, just select all layers, open the Align panel, choose “Align Layers to Composition,” then hit horizontal and vertical center.

This was my first big hurdle: the script slowed everything down so badly I spent hours troubleshooting — only to discover the fix was ridiculously simple. But honestly, that’s just part of experimenting with new tools: problems will come up, and the only way forward is trial, error, adjustment, and persistence.

Step Three: Sync the lyrics with the audio


The method I found most effective:

  • Add markers to the audio layer with the * key (or x on the numpad).

  • Use J and K to jump between markers.

  • Cut the text layers accordingly (I created custom shortcuts: Ctrl + Q to trim the start and Ctrl + W to trim the end).

  • Navigate between layers with Ctrl + ↑/↓.

This part is repetitive and honestly kind of dull, but it works. There are alternatives — like duplicating layers and dragging them manually to each marker — but that takes longer. If you need specific tweaks for certain lines, that method might be worth it. Either way, I’m sure faster workflows exist. I’ll keep exploring and share what I find in future projects.

Step Four: Build the background (from scratch, unnecessarily)
This was one of the most complex parts, because I wanted to simulate a very specific texture. I could’ve used stock footage and applied effects, but I wanted to see how far I could get using only After Effects’ native tools.

Here’s what I did:

  • Create a blue solid, apply a Gradient Ramp, and set start and end colors.

  • Animate the gradient with keyframes, shifting the colors to match the song’s emotional peaks. (Time-consuming, yes, but the result feels more personal — and color really is a powerful emotional tool.)

  • Add Turbulent Displacement to make the gradient less linear and more dynamic. Optionally soften with Gaussian Blur.

  • Add Caustics.

This last one was the hardest. I’d used Caustics before, but never like this. Honestly, I spent over an hour just fine-tuning settings. If you try it, be patient, keep your humor, and take it slow.

Here’s the basic setup:

  • Create a new “Bump Map” layer.

  • Apply Fractal Noise to the Bump Map — it simulates ocean currents really well.

  • In the Caustics effect on your background, link the Water parameter to the Bump Map layer.

  • If it’s linked correctly, you’ll see the watery movement appear.

From there, adjust settings as needed: tweak colors (I used a very light pastel blue), test different Fractal Noise styles, and maybe blur or reduce opacity on the Bump Map for a softer look.

Step Five: The (Unnecessary) Hand-Drawn Doodles

The process I chose ended up requiring a mix of skills I’d never combined before: symbolic interpretation of lyrics, drawing (though for this project simple doodles or aesthetic scribbles were enough), converting photos into vectors with Illustrator, and of course, After Effects.

Here’s how I approached it:

  1. Find inspiration in the lyrics
    Imagine what kind of doodle could appear at specific moments in the song.

    A few tips for this stage:

    • Try to draw with confident, decisive lines if possible. Using a marker or pen helps — and it matters for later steps.

    • The drawings don’t need to be big. Since they’ll eventually be vectorized, scale isn’t too important. 3–4 cm on the page is fine, and you can fit several doodles on the same sheet.

    One of my first editing teachers told me: don’t be obvious. If the lyric mentions something directly, you don’t necessarily need to show that exact thing. Instead, you can use a symbol or an indirect representation. Keeping that in mind, I made about 30 tiny drawings — and spent a surprising amount of time just looking for inspiration 😅.

  2. Digitize the drawings


    Once I had the doodles, it was time to scan or photograph them and move the files to my computer. That’s when the slightly repetitive technical part began again 🦥.

    Ahh, but let’s go through it step by step:

    1. Open each scan/photo in Adobe Illustrator.

    2. Convert the jpg into a vector. To do this: select the image, open Window → Image Trace, and adjust the style settings. I used “Black and White Logo.”

    3. Fine-tune parameters so the vector matches the original drawing:

      • Threshold: stroke intensity

      • Paths: level of line detail

      • Corners: sharper angles

      • Noise: reduces unnecessary points

    4. Once it looks right, hit Expand.

    5. Clean up the vectors: delete extra lines from photo shadows, then separate each doodle into its own Illustrator file. (Use the Direct Selection tool — “A” — drag to select unwanted areas, hit delete, then copy-paste the cleaned drawing into a new file.) Yes, it’s tedious, but it’s all part of the process.

    6. For each new Illustrator file:

      • Delete any unnecessary fills (like inside circles).

      • Go to Object → Expand.

      • Group the lines with Ctrl+G.

      • Save as a new AI file.

  3. Bring doodles into After Effects
    Once saved as vectors, I imported the .ai files into After Effects as compositions. This allowed me to convert each drawing into shape layers, which are easier to animate.

    To do this: right-click the .ai layer → Create → Create Shapes from Vector Layer. After that, you can delete the original AI layer and work with the new shape layer.

    To recolor them (mine were all set to white), I selected the shape layer and changed the Fill color — either from the top toolbar or inside the layer’s properties under “Fill.”

    I repeated this process for every doodle, placing them on the timeline wherever I wanted them to appear.

    For animations, a great effect is Trim Paths, which reveals the strokes gradually, like they’re being drawn in real time. In my case, my doodles were too complex, so Trim Paths produced messy results. Instead, I used an opacity wipe controlled by an expression. (More on that in the next section!)

    Tip: If you see dozens of separate strokes inside a shape layer, you can merge them. Expand the layer, copy all strokes except the first with Ctrl+C, then paste them into the first stroke with Ctrl+V. That way, everything’s combined into one stroke, and AE handles it more smoothly.

Step Six: Animations

I used expressions to add a wiggle not just to the doodles but also to the lyrics — giving the feeling they were floating in ocean currents.

Here’s how:

  • Alt+click on the Position stopwatch, add a wiggle expression.

  • For variation, I combined it with fade-ins, fade-outs, and opacity sweeps so elements would appear and disappear gradually, almost softly.

Example (expression for fade):

fadeIn = linear(time, inPoint, inPoint + 0.8, 0, 100);
fadeOut = linear(time, outPoint - 0.8, outPoint, 100, 0);
clamp(Math.min(fadeIn, fadeOut), 0, 100)

For the text layers, I added an Animator inside the text dropdown, then added an Expression Selector. I set the movement to be based on Words (letters felt too excessive, but it depends on the project).

Inside the Expression Selector, I alt+clicked the Amount stopwatch and pasted this:

text.animator("Animator 1").selector("Expression Selector 1").amount
seedRandom(textIndex, true);
amp = 9;
freq = 1.0;
Math.sin((time + random(-1,1)) * freq * Math.PI) * amp

  • Amp controls amplitude (movement size).

  • Freq controls frequency (movement speed).

  • The sine function introduces randomness, making it feel like unpredictable ocean waves — perfect for this theme.

To make text and doodles pop, I also applied a Glow effect. Adjusting glow size according to line thickness kept everything visually consistent.

All these settings can be saved as a preset to quickly apply to other text or vector layers. Then you can fine-tune individually where needed.

Step Seven: The Final Touch

Animated lines with Trim Paths.

At the end, I asked myself if I could add just one more detail without falling into dreaded scope creep. So I added a simple Trim Paths animation to hand-drawn lines at the conclusion of the video.

The method: draw a line with the Pen Tool, adjust the stroke so it matched the doodles’ style, apply Trim Paths, and animate the End Point so the line gradually draws itself. It was a small addition, but it helped underline the emotion of the ending.

Conclusions

This project became an experiment where “simple” came alive through a completely self-produced workflow in After Effects. The result may not look groundbreaking on the surface, but the process was deeply rewarding in terms of learning.

What started as a straightforward idea — making a lyric video for a song that reflected my emotions — turned into a technical and creative journey. Every obstacle, every new expression, every hand-drawn vector contributed not just to the video itself, but to my growth as a creator.

The most important realization? Beauty doesn’t always lie in technical complexity, but in authentic expression. The small doodles, the subtle animations, and the careful integration with the music made a piece that, while modest, conveyed exactly what I wanted: a personal, emotional interpretation of the song.

Patience was another key lesson. The repetitive, sometimes tedious steps were essential parts of the process. Every minute spent vectorizing or adjusting expressions added to the whole — a project that felt coherent, intentional, and mine.

In the end, this “simple” experiment gave me more than just a finished video: it gave me tools, knowledge, and reflections to carry forward. Sometimes the smallest creative projects become the richest sources of growth.

And so, this little video marks not just a modest milestone in my development as a video designer, but also a big step toward overcoming that familiar temptation to slam After Effects shut in frustration or get lost in endless tutorials. Sometimes it’s these small wins that light the way toward our bigger ambitions. 😊

Vivian Gordillo Mendoza
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