Type in Motion 10

I'm a softy for things that look good, and this looks good. From the transitions, color choice, and rendering to the motion tracking, sound, and overall visual aesthetic, this video is a solid video.

Right at the beginning of the video, white paint [or something], drops, and the illusion that text drops with it is given. The type is comprised of two very different fonts that I really like together. I haven't spent much time working with multiple fonts. I've, sort of, played it safe, staying with one font family for most of my work. This, and some of the other videos, really inspire me to acquire more fonts and play with mixing them (elegantly). I really like the "the" above the "s" for spectator. This is a very small part of the video, but I like it!

We then get a different view of the dripping, which masks in more text (in the same font as "the"). This text is broken up by section (within a complete thought). If you read it, you could read it in three sections, or two; they have visually broken it up so that you could read it in three or two sections. I like.

At :04, there are two word sections with solid block backgrounds ("by deciphering" and "& interpreting"). It's weird, but I really like the way that they used the plain block backgrounds, juxtaposed. They are opposite colors, and they play off of the background.

Around :05 - :08, we see contribution coming together, which is pretty nice looking. It's very cool seeing broken text in still graphics. It's even cooler seeing it happen in motion! During this same time, we see "to the" in that "the" font at the beginning and "creative act" under it. They are referencing the style that they used at the beginning with a different large font. Even though the font is different, though, it is still a visual theme that is being repeated.

The next part is one of my favorite parts, because it is well done motion tracked text :D The same word placement that we talked about above is used again, but in a different color, and this time at an angle, within a scene. During the transition (of the red thing) there is actually some subtly placed text. If you pause the video at about :10, you can see it. "The areas of consensus shift unbelievably fast". I love subtlety in design of everything (including writing for scripts). There is a rule of three in video, that talks about repeating something three times so the audience will get it, but it really underestimates an audience that yearns for something more challenging. I would rather have subtle details that only one person sees than in your face details that everyone gets, right away.

:16 is one of my favorite parts. Little text is motion tracked, and it says "design is so simple", and it fades in in three separate shifts. Visually, the composition is very simple, but there's something very charming about it (especially with the sound). The tracking is very specific. The designer chose to track (instead of to the drops) to the horizon, so that the text moves with the waves of the overall movement of the liquid. I like.

The next scene says "that's why it's so complicated." What I found interesting about this was the tiny serifs on the font. I like it, and it works. (The word "simple" is written in a sans serif typeface and the word complicated is written in a serif typface [which also has more variation to the weight per letter form]) I think that we're over the whole "no serif for video" thing, now that we've moved to high def. After all, 1920x1080 is my entire monitor, with every pixel accounted for. That's plenty of space for a serif or two ;)

Type in Motion 9

Live the Language

This is a series of videos created for study abroad programs. After I found it, my roommate, Joey, told me that he had watched the video of Paris, before he went there on his trip. Different people have created different videos, but they all have a unified visual style. What drives these videos? Type.

It has become a theme, in videos that I find that I like, that the videos I choose as well done videos create (almost) logos out of each new title or set of words. In these videos, each title is thought out and designed, and could pass as a logo. This makes a much more interesting experience, than seeing the same typeface or just different typefaces slabbed on the screen. Even kerning properly wouldn't do it. Each title is DESIGNED, and that makes a huge difference. Even though these title shave different fonts and styles, they all seem very unified. Even the different languages seem like they all belong to the same set of videos.

The style of the type is also something that I'd like to comment on. In a lot of my work, I use a drop shadow that has an increased size (from the standard) and no distance from the object with the opacity set to 5% to 25%. This allows for subtle separation and more legibility, but usually goes unnoticed, depending on how opaque it is. There is something very classy, however, with sticking to plain white with no drop shadow, even if it is hard to read. I noticed it YEARS ago in the Oceans movies, and it's a very slick look.

Movement of the type was one of two things. It was centered while the video was in motion, behind it. Or, it was motion tracked to objects in the scene. I think that this was a really clean and classy use of the text and titles that they were using. Motion Tracked text is sexy; it appears as part of the scene, while maintaining it's own visual aesthetic.

I love the way that each title design has the same style of pronunciation, below it. It gives more unity to the titles, as well as reminds the audience about the purpose of the video (relating to the title, Live The Language).

It was interesting seeing different languages, and seeing how designers used type design with their versions of words (symbols for Beijing). Beijing's text was very interesting to see, because the variation of font was cool to see, without the perspective of the alphabet that I am used to. I honestly never even thought of fonts for different languages that were symbol based, but it was interesting to see how different and interesting symbols can look with font variation.


OTHER VIDEOS

Type in Motion 8

My man Conan O'Brien...

A unique thing about this video is that none of the text is being independently animated. It is all set where it is going to be, and the only thing being animated is the camera. The camera work and animation is actually good, and this is a major beef that I have with most kinetic typography (most kinetic type that I've found isn't actually that good - I thought it would be easy to find a lot for this blog, but it's hard to find well done projects).

I like the fact that this is in a 3d program. The light and diffused shadows make the text really give the illusion of three dimensions. Also, doing this in a 3d program allows the viewer to see different angles of the sides (extruded parts) of the text, which helps with the illusion of three dimensions in a two dimensional medium.

The designer uses boxes for separation, and within each box is a new phrase. I love that each phrase is extremely unique, and looks well kerned and tracked. Every section looks well thought out, and most sections seem like they could be a logo. (Some of them are.) The point is that this person didn't just stick to text, and that is what makes good kinetic type. Being creative with letterforms, geometric shapes, and everything else that goes into logo and type design adds so much. You can tell that the person who designed this put a lot more effort than just animating text onto a screen and timing it with the audio.

Type in Motion 7

MOSHUN


TYPOGAMI


This is the first time that I have seen anything like this. These two videos are fonts designed for After Effects.

Regardless of motion, I think that motion is a very creative typeface. It's not an average "safe" font. They got really creative with geometry, and wasn't afraid to have a LOT of variation between letterforms. For instance, the letters H, U, I, C, O, and S don't have any solid black, but V is almost entirely solid black, and K and A have tons of black in the letterform. I guess the way to tell if it's effective or not is if it looks unified, it does, and if it is legible, it is.

I don't like Typogami as much as Moshun, but it's still a very cool animated font. I like that all of the opening animations are the same rectangle, and then fold into their letterform. The beginning shows this green color that makes it look very pixelated and nasty, but the zoomed in version at the end shows it in different colors and with customizeable shadows, light position, and fold angle! Wow, I (now that I've seen the ending) like this just as much as Moshun.

I really like the idea of motion in letterforms. It would be cool to see something like this get standardized, as normal fonts have. I think that any project merging mediums is a worthy endeavor.

Type in Motion 6

This is one of the sickest [most disgusting] animations. The thing is, it's just so fresh. I'd like to focus on the beginning and the end.

Starting with the text..

Tight kerning mixed with a good use of Bevel and Emboss creates the nice and simple black gray and white tone. When "tginho" first animates in, it doesn't just flip in place. It actually moves toward the camera at the beginning and eases into it's final position. Normally, people start out doing this, having the text totally flat (invisible). This animator actually had it tilted upside down a little bit, to start out with. This, in combination with animating towards the camera in 3d space, creates a great overall effect.

"Viuze" then animates in, and I love the animation used. Each letter has an anchor point at the bottom center of the letter-form. When it animates in, each letter individually scales up and then eases back down to its final size. Normally, the word as a whole would scale up and back down. The animator (maybe) took the time to create individual objects out of each letter, and animated them individually, independent of each other. The overlap of the letters looks great when they scale up, because the kerning stays the same. It's a very interesting and awesome way to work with text. [Side note: the animator then flips each letter-form independently.. so sexy.]

the Sound..

The sound is great. One thing that I notice about the animation style that I like is that it's a little late. The movement of the visuals seems really relaxed (to match the sound). Had they matched the animation perfectly to the sound, it wouldn't have the chill vibe.

Shapes and Color..

I love the accent colors used in this video. The gradient from orange to pink is awesome. The shapes move around and create positive and negative space, while adding the little accent of animation to music and color. The end (00:51 to the end) is probably my favorite part. The last three beats (with the little line that looks like a cursor) are so well done. The line goes from underlining one word to being the transitional visual to the next word. It then looks like it's interacting with the text to the right of it to the beat, and then creates the middle bar by expanding. This allows the animator to use the background grey as the text for his name. So so well done..

Type in Motion 5

The very unique thing about this video, especially when compared to kinetic typography, is that the artist didn't just use different fonts, styles, and color for different parts of the video; the artist created different brands for each section of the video.

The mix of color, graphics, lighting, and font selection creates a different look and feel about every three to eight seconds. This is a very noteworthy accomplishment to have done something based around text with such variation at such a fast rate. The type isn't just thrown around, either. It is carefully thought out, kerned, tracked, and leaded with a purpose, and it really shows in the end result.

The video does a great job of referencing things by the use of recognizable fonts. [1:04 Sega Genesis reference] [1:55 Fox reference] It's fun to look at how much a font can remind us of a brand is by its typeface. This shows how important and valuable a good typeface is to represent a brand and stick out in the minds of people that see it.

The retro feel of this video is great. The designer created classic old school effects. These effects look old and primitive, but they are actually very complex graphics and effects. The transitions between type/branding is great, the best of which is at 2:33. This transition from DVNO to the keys on a piano is awesome.

Type in Motion 4

I was actually surprised to find such a cool video that I haven't seen before! My personal taste conflicts with a lot of the video, but it is such a well done video that I will talk about it positively.

This video , as I talked about in another video, did a great job of staying true to, for what I can see, sticking with only text in this video. Everything that was made was created out of text. From the building to the streets to the street lights to the cars and people, everything is expressed by showing text. The very cool and interesting thing about this video is that they didn't just stick to forming figures out of text. They actually had legible words creating the objects, labeling what the objects were, such as "pregnant woman" with words describing what she is wearing.

To complement the typography, the creators used the music and sound bites to help describe the different things happening. I loved the car crash. Using color and variation of type size, they created something that really represents a cop car, without being in the shape of an actual car, at all. I think that the reason that I enjoy this so much is really because they chose not to create visual representations of the physical world with type. They did something different, and they were very successful.

The camera movement and lighting was great. It added so much to this video. The creators really did a great job creating a 3D world out of all text, lighting, and movement. They were really able to convey a story in a unique way.

Type in Motion 3

One thing that I really like to see in still typography design is creating a scene and or things, creatively, out of only type. It is something that takes time and a lot of detail work. I was surprised to find a well done animation using this visual technique. As much work as it takes to create a still frame of typography like this, adding motion adds a new level of complexity.

There are three elements of animation going on in this video: animation of the camera, animation of elements (groups and separate within and outside of the groups), and masking (creating a drawn on affect).

I love that each element used is a letterform of some sort. The beginning really caught my eye, where the commas are falling as rain. One of the most brilliant parts of this entire video is when the commas hit a surface, bounce up into an exclamation point, and a ripple is made out of parenthesis.

Even without lines defining a ground, this video demonstrates some really intuitive techniques for showing space and perspective, including linear and areal perspective minus elements that we're used to seeing as signs of perspectives (defining lines).

The sprouting growth of the "Y" trees was also something that I liked. Some of this video, however, I didn't like. Some of the camera movement wasn't very well done, and a lot of the letterforms looked very bitmap/non-vector. Also, it doesn't look like the project was rendered at a very high quality. This, however, was a fun project to observe, and the person responsible did a great job.

Type in Motion 2

Well, I was actually going to choose another video. But, I stumbled upon this video afterward, and it can't be ignored. One of my favorite things to do is animate to music and sound. This music had some very interesting effects, and it's an animator's job to express different sounds, visually.

Some things could be better, but I really admire the way this animator stuck to good composition. There was good positive and negative balance, and the letterforms were interestingly played with. The motion had a good vibe; it had a good combination of fluid and jarring motion, to go with the music. Everything looked very controlled. One important aspect, that I always look at in video, is that if I were to take a still frame at any point where the text held for a second [not in the middle of a transition], it would make a good static design. It is easy, in video, to forget good composition [in animation AND cinematography]. Keeping the quality of a photographer or graphic designer -- even when in motion -- is what separates the best from everyone else.

Type in Motion 1

The reason I chose the opening sequence for Panic Room is because of its simplicity [of the idea]. Technically, this is an extremely complex feat: motion tracking, reflections, texturing, lighting, etc.. The idea, however, is to make text look like it's a part of a scene. Now, this is not a new idea. We've seen practical effects, where people actually create type in a scene out of food or written in a newspaper or license plate. This is unique because the text is not made to look like it is a part of an object in a scene. The text is an entity of its own. The scale is also something that I like. Generally, with this sort of typography in movies, there is a sense of believability. [I could believe that a license plate could have that on it. Or, I could believe that the tag on the shirt said that.] But, the scale of the text, when combined with the wide establishing shots, makes for something that we could never see in real life: suspended massive typography that perfectly melts into the scene as if it is there. Generally, in video, we stay away from serif fonts that have little baby serifs. They used a font with little serifs, but it seems to work because the text is so big. [And, because it is intended for a huge screen.] From the reflections on windows to panning perfectly with the shot this text really sells the idea of it being a part of the scene, and has made its mark on opening film sequences, forever.