Telling Stories With Type

So before I stated this class, I had never really thought about typeface too much. Sure, I've gone through the long lists of fonts in Word when making a birthday card or poster, but I've never stopped to think about why I selected a certain font. Now, I've realized that typeface makes a big impact on how we see things. Even the spacing of letters and phrases give off a certain feel.

I found a few clips off YouTube that use typefaces to tell a story. The way they are spaced, the colors, and the orientation have a big effect on the feel of each story. Each one is set to an audio clip from a famous movie, and even though there are no pictures, only words, the viewer gets a feel for the mood of the movie. The first one I found was from Wedding Crashers. When he starts to ramble off the thoughts in his head, the words jump back and forth, portraying the dilemma he is going through. The sentences are also very close together, empathising his rambling. The words bend to mimic two bodies when he talks about the 'awkward hug.'

The second clip I found was similar but for the Dark Knight. Even though this clip is also just using words to convey the story without images, the feel is very different from the Wedding Crashers clip. The dark backgrounds and types make you feel like you're in the middle of Gotham, fearing death and the Joker. I like how each character's voice has a corresponding typeface. For example, the when the Joker is talking, the typeface is unorganized, messy, and the letters are not lines up. This is how we see the Joker, as a crazy mess. When the butler speaks, the fonts are classy, going along very well with his British accent. The typefaces are intimidating when they need to be and crazy when that is the point to get across. It is amazing and very interesting to me that so much can be portrayed simply through the design of a letter.

Type in Action

This being my first blog for Graphics 217, I was not really sure on what I was looking for as far as blog material goes, specifically type related. So being an individual with a wandering mind I found my way on to YouTube. There I took a shot in the dark and typed typography into the search bar. To my surprise I stumbled on to the wonderful world of animated typography which was tailored to some pretty popular movies.

I found bits from Anchorman, Superbad, and even a bit modeled after Kanye West's "Stronger." While watching these type movies I noticed the importance surrounding the contrast within the animation. It seems as though one character will be assigned on type font to follow their voice and another type font assigned to another character. In the Anchorman bit for example, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is given a novelty serif font that expresses his overblown sense of cavalier sophistication. The other gentleman (known as Brian) is given a very bold sans-serif font that illustrates his sense of meaning business. Additionally I noticed that the size of the font varied with what I can only assume the creator considered important dialogue (the larger the font the more important), which plays right into the hierarchy of type which was discussed in lecture. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac6EM4eS07g


The Superbad bit goes on to incorporate color into its clip by again contrasting individuals' voices. The three characters each have their own distinct type color assigned to them in the piece. The orientation and position of the type in this clip even furthers the message by illustrating confusion, impatience, and anger. Even shapes and lines are thrown into this video.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ74ocmqMTw

The Kanye clip includes a variety of serif, sans-serif, and novelty fonts each with the distinct purpose of capturing his intended meaning behind the word. For instance the word "Now" is put into a font similar to what would be found on an alarm clock to illustrate that the time is now. Again this video incorporates scale to show the hierarchy of the message and specific orientation to match the flow of the song. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq8BY2utbT8


In reference to the reading from Lupton, I believe these clips accurately portray the concept that "designers are dissatisfied with clean images, instead seeking to plunge the letter into the world of physical process...the letters are now scratched, bent, bruiesed, and polluted." I'm sure that there are plenty of ways for this textual display to be used inappropriately, but I believe in using them as entertainment devices paired with audio they are very effective and very appropriate. I almost found them as entertaining as watching an actual clip from a movie or music video.
I see these clips as just another outlet for art and entertainment, and I am presuming that is what their creators intended them to be. I wonder if we will be doing any work like this in class? These clips give a new meaning to moveable type.