Motion Design Fall 2020

4 min readAug 21, 2020

Kinetic Typography: IdeationAudio Selections

Liar Liar — The Pen is Blue 0:30s-1:17s (47s)

This scene from Liar Liar was the first video I thought of when considering creating a kinetic typography video. I thought of it because Jim Carey is such an emotional actor and I thought that all of the character that he brings to his words would give me a lot to work with in a motion design video. The clip has a large variety of pacing and inflections that would make for a more dynamic design.

2. Uncle Buck — Battle of Wills 0:18s-1:00s (42s)

The wonderful John Candy has a lot of memorable short clips and I stumbled upon this one while looking up Uncle Buck clips. This video would have more of a back and forth feel. I considered this scene because I thought the language was very descriptive and I could imagine some stylings while listening to it. This one has a slower pacing than Liar Liar and would probably end up being less dynamic. However, the audio and getting creative with the typography could probably sell this one.

3. Community — Spanish Rap 0:03s-0:36s (33s)

This is the infamous Troy and Abed Spanish rap from “Community”. The feel of this video is very light and fun compared to the other options; considering they are just saying random nonsense words. The audio is very rhythmic, and I think that there is a lot that I can do to play with the pacing. Something else to think about is that this is the shortest video that I picked out, which may be a better option for the first project of the semester while learning everything.

Decision

It was hard for me to narrow down audio sources originally because I love lots of different kinds of films and shows. Ultimately I think I decided on doing the Spanish rap from Community. It is the shortest audio clip that I found, on top of the fact that I think working with the rhythm will create a fun challenge for learning the software.

Thumbnail Sketches

Ideation

Keywords:

Spanish 101, lighthearted, beatboxing, rap, friends

As of right now, I think I mainly want to play with a pair of complementary colors that represent the two different people rapping (I’m thinking a teal and orange combination). I want to focus of spacing and timing to emulate the feel of the rhythm. Each word will come up in pieces with the rhythm, and once the whole phrase is on the design, it will be it’s own composition, which will lead into the start of the next composition forming for the next phrase. I am unsure of how I currently want to work with the beatboxing at the beginning. Perhaps I’ll have their names “Troy & Abed” acting with the beatboxing, or having the background relate to it. I still want to find a way to give the text more motion.

Typeface Exploration

I experimented with fonts with the names I plan to use in the beginning of my video. I tried using Didot, American Typewriter, Georgia, Futura, Modak, and Superclarendon. I think the main text throughout the video will be Futura. I may either use Futura throughout the whole video, or I may use one of the other fonts to give the names or “title” emphasis and variety in the beginning.