06: Visual Design for Print and Screen: Kinetic Typography Part 1

Reflection

Dan Boyarski’s TED talk was eye opening because it separated the two main substrates of communication (screen and print) in terms of what they can offer both the creator and the audience. The digital form allows for more dynamism, as in the examples of student work that were shown which used kinetic typography to dynamically communicate information about topics ranging from oil peaks to autism. I enjoyed watching how each student used a combination of images and important sections of text to creatively communicate their ideas. Unfortunately this Type in Motion assignment includes a constraint that prohibits the use of non-text elements; I got a lot of inspiration from the oil piece specifically about how to use graphical elements in a kinetic typography assignment.

This Week

The Clip

After browsing through what seemed like hundreds of clips of movies from my favorite shows and movies, I finally decided on a clip from Mad Men. The clip is from a scene where Don Draper is giving a motivational speech to the employees in the office about how they will have to buckle down and work hard over the holidays and weekends to secure an important client (Jaguar) for the firm. You can find the clip here.

I chose this clip because as I listened to it, I could see a number of interesting and dynamic kinetic typography scenes that I could implement with the dialogue. For instance, Don says “prepare to take a Great. Leap. Forward.” I can imagine how I can use type, size, and motion effects to emphasize the words graphically, as they were emphasized in speech. Below, I will include images of my initial ideas of the other scenes I hope to implement.

Story Board

Here are a few of the important frames and transitions that I’ve mapped out so far:

1. “The survival of this company was on the line”: The words ‘the survival of this company’ should come up one by one as they are spoken. When Don says “on the line”, a tightrope line should appear below the words ‘the survival’, and the words should swing as if they are balancing on the line. To transition into the next part of the video, the words should fall off the line and wipe off the other words from the screen.
2. “Prepare to swim the English Channel and drown in champagne”: I’d like to make it appear as if the words ‘swim the English Channel’ are swimming through rough waters, but I’m not sure how I’ll do that yet. When Don says ‘drown in champagne’, I’ll have the words appear as if they are bobbing in water, and then a light champagne color (and maybe some bubbles) will bubble up through them like they are drowning. The words will bob more and then ‘drown’ off the screen.

3. “There are 6 weekends between now and the pitch”: The words ‘there are 6 weekends’ will appear as they are spoken, stacked on top of each other. 6 should be emphasized in some way, probably with typeface and color. When Don says ‘between now’, the screen will shift left and show the word ‘now’, maybe with three dots in between the word and the original phrase. Then when he says ‘and the pitch’, the screen will zoom out to show the original phrase sandwiched in the ‘now’ and the word ‘pitch’. 3 dots will appear between the phrase and ‘pitch’, to signify the rest of the weekends.

4. “We are going to spend them here”: As Don says this phrase, the words will appear, stacking below each other. The word ‘here’ will appear emphasized, probably with typeface and color. When Don says ‘we will all spend Christmas’, those words will appear underneath the original here. Then as he says ‘here’ again, the first ‘here’ will slide down past the new phrase and fall below the word ‘Christmas’. As it slides, maybe it will change the typeface and color of the words ‘we will all spend Christmas’.

5. “Every agency on Madison Avenue is defined by the moment they get their car”: the words ‘every agency’ and ‘Madison Avenue’ will each appear as they are spoken, stacked as in the picture. When Don says the word ‘defined’, the words ‘every agency’ will change dramatically in some way, may appear to glow or bolden. The transition to the next slide should happen when he says the word ‘car’. It might look like the word ‘car’ speeding through like a car and wiping out the screen.

6. “The world will know, we’ve arrived”: The screen should zoom all the way out to show all the words arranged in a large circle, representing the world. When Don says ‘we’ve arrived’, each word will appear softly in the middle of the circle.

7. I plan to use the applause of the other characters in the office as background noise to show my credits over.