Creating an intro animation in After Effects

Being a Freelance Video Editor (as I would like to be) requires a showreel on sites such as Fiverr and Upwork. Learning how to use After Effects would benefit this greatly as I could create a catchy first few seconds that will look professional and slick for potential clients that will be at the start of the showreel.

It's going to be a simple one for my first effort. My name in a moving animation with maybe some lens flare effects that I recently learned how to create. Simple... yet stylish. At the moment I'm not sure how I'm going to get my name to appear on the screen, appear as if from nowhere, fly in from the side etc... Having a play around will be something that wont go amiss.

This is the video I came up with after a few hours following a tutorial I found on Youtube.

I don't think it's too bad, but it is really similar to the example produced by the guides, so I would have to go back into the file to really make something my own.

This is my 2nd draft of an intro, It's not exactly the same as the first one, it is more my own and I do like it.

Learning more techniques and abilities within After Effects will allow me to be more creative.