First, let’s talk about the limitations and affordances of print vs. screen
The Notes Vicki emailed me:
- Interaction: screen allows for interaction in the sense you can touch/click and it will change. an animation doesn’t allow for that. still, how can an animation offer more/different interaction than a poster?
- Everything is still contained within the size and dimensions of the screen. However, it could easily be scaled up or down based on the screen it is viewed on. It’s more about the ratio?
- Readability is different when motion is involved. The pace people can read at is different for everyone. You can’t have expectations, work according to an average. It has to work for everyone, and if it doesn’t, that’s a design issue. How to achieve [more] readability? — words appear aided with sound; not too many words on the screen at one time; using color, scale, contrast; types of words chosen?
- Keep in mind when the name of the typeface is introduced (not right away)
- Videos can follow grids too, rhythm of video as a whole: creates an expectedness of where things will be
The Brief
- 1.5 weeks
- 60 second long video
- 1920 x 1080
Consider including:
- Name of typeface and family
- Name of designer, country of origin, date of design
- Visual characteristics of family
- Various weights, slants
- Type in use, display, text blocks
- Two seconds at very end, before introducing credits
Vista Sans, six weights, with alternate, small cap, and italics → total 36 fonts in typeface
https://www.xavierdupre.com/vista-sans-slab
Xavier Dupre, 2002, inspired by Sumatra street signs
“the elegant, slightly bulging edge on some of the stroke endings”
- quirky, unafraid
- blackletter & humanist
- assymmetrical
- angles and curves
- tapered details
- ink traps
Vista sans + alternatives
Picking Music
One of my friends told me to of look into music used in Apple advertisements, which is a really clever idea because it’s basically a curation of songs that would work well for short & memorable videos.
I skipped through this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3mbFWxQz8zYFV0YzdBHQ9L?si=8ef9c592e1da4049
And found a few I liked that I put in this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1sdzpDtrSssegHZmHiGWva?si=59c64b5c01ea479f
What I was looking for in music:
A beat that matched the amount of content I had (lol), so not too slow but definitely not too fast either. From the example videos, I learned how text was used to the beat of the music; sometimes it was to every other beat, or only to the same notes, etc
It had to have a badass buildup, an incredibly satisfying beat drop. This will help split up the content, add drama, make it memorable.
Ultimately, I decided on Like a Movie by Labrinth. → mostly because it has such a beautiful beat drop.
I’m thinking of starting at 0:52, or 1:10. The beat drop comes at 1:27.
Also, I looked to the Apple advertisement and how they used the song for inspiration: https://youtu.be/dDKbwvSvg0w
I’m not sure whether or not I want to include the lyrics. It mostly just repeats itself so I don’t think it is too distracting. He’s also just always singing “it’s like a movie”, which kind of aligns with what Vista means.
Or, I can use the Alcohol Free instrumental by TWICE lol. kinda hits ngl. lil quirky, lil fun
Thinking About the Script & Storyboarding
— 40 to 60 words, beat drop a quarter or a third of the way in? introducing the title then, i think
——— what else could be really effective to introduce at the beat drop?
Some technical questions I have right now:
- Rights to music
- Downloading and using alternate fonts
Finding color
There’s this one line in the song I really want to play with: “And he takes off to the stars”
Division between narrative introduction and introduction to the typeface, dividing between narrative and informative. Use of color.
Contrast adds drama, symbolic for “sunset”, aligned with Vista theme (a pleasant view).
Adding Suspense
The tactic is to leverage the dramatic beat of the song and continue using high levels of contrast
