The most powerful keyframe is the one you delete. The most creative choice? Leaving something still. Sharp. Quiet.

You discover a new plugin (RSMB? Deep Glow?) and apply it to everything . Text, logos, even your coffee mug in a stock clip. You feel like a god.

Then you watch TV that night and notice: every single commercial uses the exact same glitch effect you just perfected.

It’s not about the software. It’s about what happens to your brain when you live inside a compositing program for too long.

Make something in AE. Then strip away every layer that screams “look at me.” Leave only what serves the story. That’s not boring. That’s brave .

The Danger of “After Effects Normality”

Welcome to .

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.