Animated Narrative Process

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ANIMATED NARRATIVE PROCESS BOOK MICHAEL FEAVEL TYPOGRAPHY STUDIO II - GRDS 755 PROF. MERRICK HENRY SUMMER 2011


I feel that my process is best expressed through my sketchbook that I keep for each class. From this, you are able to see each step and thought that comes into my head and works its way down to my hands and finally onto paper.

I began disecting what a narrative really is and deciding which elements I wanted to find most in the story, poem, or song that I would be choosing. I wanted something that really captures the attention of the reader with a strong sense of motion/emotion. I found two ideas that would fit: Tell Tale Heart and “Wood and Wire�


Preferring “Tell Tale Heart” I began there. The story is a bit long so I focused on the two intro paragraphs. They present a strong plot, characters, and emotion right from the start; lending it self to a great feeling of dynamic movement that would entice the viewer. I chose to work around the narrator/main character’s emotion as my typographic

motivation. Hesitation, anger, fear. All will be taken into account on choosing the typeface and the pace of the type entering the animation. After reading again and again, I discovered that each paragraph could stand on it’s own as an animation if the whole thing becomes daunting. This is where I have trouble deciding....


After the critique, I was still unsure as to which animation to choose. I made some more developed story boards for wood and wire, but ultimately didn’t feel comfortable with the design and stayed with “TellTale Heart”

My next idea was to focus on the song “Wood & Wire,” by Thrice. A short song with compelling lyrics, the song portrays a man who has been falsely imprisoned and is about to be executed by means of the electric chair. The song presents a character and plot immediately and portrays a somber, but accepting emotion that is unseen in many

narratives. I initially got really excited but then began to lose steam once reading specific lyrics and becoming stumped as how to treat them in a way that is compelling with the mood of the song. This led me to favor the first idea over this one. The story boards you will see at the end focus on “Tell Tale Heart.”


http://www.mk12.com/video-popup.html?video=/videos/2007/amc_montage_07.mov&title=AMC%20/%20BEST%20OF&date=AMC&info=2007&type=client

In terms of inspiration for motion, I looked toward the firm MK12 and their motion pieces. The ones that struck me the most in terms of balancing image and type is the AMC ad that showed Moulin Rouge as its focus. The words all connect and the camera motions are smooth and make sense. Some words are emphasized while others are not.

I would like to accomplish all of these things in my animation. The “style� of my animation will be much darker and slightly disturbing. For this, I looked towards typefaces that have inspiration from the 19th Century and frantic script fonts. I also wanted to keep the colors simple as to not distract from the overall composition and interaction.







After deciding to animate “Tell Tale Heart� by Edgar Allan Poe, I found some typefaces that I felt would be appropriate for the mood and began creating the compositions for each main frame from the storyboards. I wanted the style to have a horror story feel but still be clean and undistracted by excess color and stylized elements.

The compositions changed from the storyboards as I began to build the animation. The transitions between scenes worked differently than I had thought, so adjustments had to be made. For instance, the figures went from straight silhouettes to having more detail to make it less sterile and generic. The next pages show the process in flash.


I chose to slowly bring in the script typeface to simulate writing, while bringing in the serif typeface more abruptly to simulate more intense and angry thinking. Certain words had more emphasis than others and sizes changed throughout to create contrast and interest.



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