Kinetic Typography

B4 MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Kinetic Typography

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

For the kinetic typography brief, BBC radio one was selected in order to acquire a suitable 20-second audio clip from any show. The demographic for this radio station was around 18-30. Several hours of listening to numerous shows proved beneficial and a show hosted

by Huw Stephens was selected in order to collect a 20 second audio. The music played by Huw is based on independent, unsigned and underground bands from Wales. During one of his segments on mother’s day, he interviewed

BBC Radio One

a guest named Tom who mentions when he initially picked up the phone to answer Huw, he was having a shower and the water was dripping from his head on the phone, which initiated the mute setting. Huws’ reaction was comical and responded by telling Tom that his remark was a horrid image for a Sunday afternoon. Upon hearing this audio, it was decided that this was the perfect audio to use, especially since it was very descriptive and humorous in its execution.

RESEARCH

Below: Image of DJ Huw Stephens who hosts his own show on BBC Radio One.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Due to BBC Radio One’s demographic being adult teens and Huw Stephens background being focused on DJ’ing at his own festival and hosting other festivals and club events, the style of the typography had to be focused on the wild nature of festivals combined with brightly colored flashing lights and smoke. Various images were gathered in order to acquire a decent mood or style for the typography that would accompany the audio. While also trying to relate to this festival atmosphere, there was also the idea of the guest, Tom who mentions being wet

Mood/Style Boards

while speaking to Huw on the phone. This mention of a water composition inspired some ideas of creating type made of water.

While being a good idea, there was no plan in order to create this watery type. Searching online gave several ideas of digitally creating type resembling water but the execution for this outcome needed to be more physical than digitally manufactured. Although, a few images seemed interesting to experiment with and would be helpful in devising a visual representation of the mood or style of the audio clip.

RESEARCH Below: First row of images show some examples of the type of style or color scheme that should be seen within the animated type.The second row of images show examples of how water could be manipulated to create typographic forms in relation to the guest’s character.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Planning an effective animation required close relation to the words and their meaning. This meaning would have to be shown by manipulating the movement of the words within the audio clip. While not animating every word in the audio clip, most would have some sort of screen time. As an example of some animated ideas for the words in the conversation, Tom, mentions he must ‘explain’ something to the ‘listeners’ of the show. When explaining something,

Storyboard

you make a point clear for someone to understand, therefore, when animating the word explain, it would begin as being hazy or transparent and then gradually become opaque and clear representing the meaning of the word. Another example, in the case of the listeners, rather than animating by meaning of the word, the plural context would be animated.

So when Tom refers to the ‘listeners’ the word would duplicate all over the screen to represent the vast number of people

tuning into the show. This concept of representing the meaning in numerous ways is shown throughout the Storyboard of the animated typography.

After presenting this idea, it was revealed by assistant tutors that the amount of words being animated would have to be cut short due to the 20-second time limit of the audio clip. Following this advice several experiments were conducted on light writing and water composition.

DEVELOPMENT Below: Two pages from the storyboard showing how the words would be animated on screen to illustrate their meaning or the context they are used.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

In order to keep with the overall style of the festival and club concept, light writing appeared to be the perfect choice. The form of light writing was free, loose and related to the idea the festival atmosphere of allowing yourself to be free, sing as loud as you want and behave in any manner you pleased. Although, because of this free nature found in light writing it was noted that writing in light form required practice, a steady hand and a

Light Writing Experiment

slightly planned structure in order to create type that would be conceivable by viewers. Drawing a letter required moving your hand in one motion to limit overlapping light trails, thus creating clear letterforms. Instead of drawing one letter at a time during each shot, an entire word was written to quicken the process. Writing long words such as, ‘dripping’ and ‘something‘ proved difficult but to counteract the issue of writing them properly, the exposure

time for the camera was increased to allow longer periods of writing. Some words proved too long and were out of view for the lens. This was dealt with by cutting the words into syllables instead of writing the entire word, example, sometimes was written as ‘some’ then ‘thing’ separately. Different color filters were used to create various colored themes but white seemed to be the more pronounced color in the dark setting.

DEVELOPMENT

Below: Some examples of several tests done with light writing.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

The next experiment commenced with setting drops of water on a suitable surface and connecting them to create a letterform. This was done by analyzing an image from the Internet showing the alphabet created in a water composition, it was noted that the surface was made of glass while another image used a matte surface.

The experiment was conducted by carefully laying droplets of water on both surfaces, then connecting them to complete the form of the letter. It was noted that the matte surface proved to be more helpful by sustaining the letterform after connecting the water droplets. This was due to the small crevices in the mattes’ surface, which allowed the water to settle and

Water Experiment

maintain a form. Unfortunately, while not being able to find a suitable sized glass in order to test the surface with water, a similar surface was found in the form of a plastic folder with a glossy surface. Upon testing the glossy surface, it was noted that the water kept its form for several seconds but because of the smooth surface the water droplets could not maintain their form and they grouped together to form one large water droplet.

Due to the success of the matte surface, this seemed to be the best method of illustrating the letterforms. The next test involved removing the background so the type would be seen and not the surface. A black matte surface reflected too much light and proved to be an issue to

DEVELOPMENT

completely remove. The only alternative was to try the glossy blue surface, which could be removed in After Effects and photograph or film it in order to capture the form. This proved to be successful to a point because the image of typography was captured but when trying to remove the blue background, it was difficult to view the text. Several attempts were done to brighten or color correct the image but neither established a clear visual for the letterforms.

Because of the failed experiment, other avenues were researched in order to create the necessary effect for the project. One idea from a previous brief appeared to have some potential.

Below: Images of the water droplet experiment.

Note how the forms are maintained due to the matte surface.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

A previous outcome from the Becoming brief had potential and could be used to illustrate the type while keeping the water composition. In the becoming brief, a speaker was used to vibrate an object containing liquid. This liquid would react according to the sound produced and vibrate creating minor displacements in the waters surface. In order to relate to the kinetic typography brief, the light type photographed with Tom’s words from the audio clip could be projected in a container of water and reflected on to a sheet of paper.

This container of water would sit on top of the speaker and when the audio is played the vibrations would create ripples in the water. These ripples would also be

Live Installments

seen on the reflected projection and create a water ripple composition that would relate to Tom’s character being in a shower. The idea was tested by placing a small black pan on top of a speaker, followed by projecting a moving image of an equalizer visualization on the water’s surface. When the audio was played, there seemed to be minor ripples in the water, which were reflected. This meant that the audio would have to be tweaked in order for the bass to affect the container of water and create bigger ripples. While this idea proved successful, another idea was tested based on projection.

It was noted that since Tom’s words would be reflected on a watery surface, the host of the show

DEVELOPMENT

Huw, could be projected on a screen as a way to represent the club atmosphere of projected lights and imagery on the walls. A small test was done with a translucent plastic matte that seemed to capture the image clearly. Upon testing these experiments it was devised that the project could be done as live installments rather than a simple digital animation.

Although, when presenting this idea during a crit, it was advised to still use these ideas of projecting images and reflections in water but they should be filmed rather than physically presented. With this idea in mind the light writing was edited and the audio was tweaked to create more intense ripples.

Below: Images of the setup for the live installments. Far left and top center show the water reflected onto the screen, while the bottom center and far right images show the projection onto a translucent matte surface.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Pushing the idea of differentiating two characters by displaying two separate elements for their words, the idea of simply projecting an image on a translucent matte seemed stale and boring. Illustrating Huw’s character would require a different element, which would also relate to the festival and club atmosphere he works in. During the research of kinetic typography examples, a video based on an interview with Jimmy Hendrix projected typography onto several transparent pieces of plastic in a foggy room. The type was also projected at different sizes and angles during the fifty-second audio clip of the interview. This fog was to illustrate Jimmy’s character as someone who smoked a lot.

To add depth to Huw’s character it was decided to use fog and bright lights in order to relate to the festive club atmosphere.

Foggy Character

DEVELOPMENT

Below: Image clip taken from the Jimmy Hendrix Kinetic Typography Interview.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Continuing the development of both characters for the animation, the voices from the twenty-second audio were divided in order to focus on one character at a time. After photographing all the words written in light for Huws’ script, the typography was matched to the audio and projected on various surfaces and angles in order to create a rhythm and wild nature of bright lights and fog that would be seen in a club atmosphere. An example of a tested surface was a transparent plastic cover for a container, which produced an interesting result. The white color seemed to be filtered

Light and Fog - Huws’ Character

and rather than white light being projected through the plastic container, a red color of type projected through the container onto the wall creating a dual effect of the word in separate colors. While projecting on these surfaces, a multi-colored strobe light was setup in the background to produce light throughout the room, which added a colorful atmosphere to the dark black background. A fog machine was also used to add a smoke effect to the room, which enabled the projectors light to be seen as a streak. This style of lighting is reminiscent to a festival or club event.

DEVELOPMENT Below: Light writing projected onto various surfaces at different angles in a room full of fog with a strobe light machine to add different colors to the surrounding.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

In developing Tom’s character as previously mentioned with reflected water ripples, the final experiment required setting up the projector, speaker and water container at the correct angle and test to see whether the light writing would be bright enough for audiences to read. Several surfaces were tested in order to project the reflected image on a screen. All in A2 sizes, a black matte sheet, thick green paper and a normal white card sheet were projected on in a relatively dark room. While all the surfaces displayed the type clearly by normal eyesight, the camera used to record the projected type was not recording the image clearly on all the surfaces. Only the green and white sheets of paper produced a clear enough image for the camera to record the reflected type.

Water Vibration - Toms’ Character

DEVELOPMENT Below: Images of the live installment that consisted of a projector, speakers, a container of water and sheets of paper to project upon. Other images below showed the result of the reflected type and the ripples that were produced by the speaker vibrating the container.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

After successfully completing both experiments of typography for each character, both videos were combined to complete the twenty-second animation based on the audio clip.

For Huws’ character, the videos recorded in the foggy room at different angles were used at specific points of the animation. Every spoken word by Huw was shown at a different angle by one of the manyrecorded videos. This was devised in order to illustrate the flashing lights and projections seen in festivals and clubs. It also seemed to add an element of rhythm to Huw’s words.

For Tom’s character, water ripples would represent

Twenty Second Kinetic Typography

the shower he recently exited. Because of this water ripple effect, only one recording was used for Tom’s character. This worked well considering the type was already being animated by the ripples and didn’t need altering in any way.

The effects created by combining physical elements for the kinetic typography proved to be very interesting and allowed a twenty second animation based on a short conversation to be seen in a new light and relate closely to its’ source material. While not digitally animating various fonts in After Effects like many examples presented during a crit, the final outcome proved to be more visually pleasing.

FINAL

Below: Final imagery from the kinetic typography animation.