Kinetic Typography

During class we began looking at Kinetic Typography. The technique uses moving text to portray ideas and emphasis using short sentences or single words at a time and stringing them together to link. I've looked into some more examples which I thought were effective and could be influential to my work.


I first came across Saul Bass's opening sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest which is possibly one of the best known examples. It uses white text and a simple background but with the music and movement it creates a really effective title sequence.

I had a look into animated typography in a range of different things such as music videos, films, opening sequences, adverts and youtube videos.
The first example I looked at was Kanye West's music video for 'The Good Life'.  The animation was done by a graphic designer called 'So Me' whose work I was familiar with from various work with Ed Banger records. I love the look of the video, I think the use of coloured graphics with black and white video looks really effective and I like the style the designer too such as the range of typography he uses and the look of the images in the video. 











This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Another example I found was the trailer for the film 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated' by Kirby Dick. It uses kinetic typography and simple animations to create a fast paced description of the film. The language used is supposed to be short and shocking which is emphasized by the kinetic type's movement. It uses key phrases from the point the narrator is saying and adds small comical character animations to illustrate the point. I love the simple style of the characters and the whole look of the piece. I think it makes an effective and funny trailer for the film and the movement and style of the text is something I will look into further for my own final work as I think it would be effective if my work was narrated or had a song with lyrics.

Mad Men Title Sequence

The Mad Men opening sequence is one of my most favorite TV show titles ever. I think the dark silhouette against a light and simple background is really effective and I like the way the background is drawn. Its a clear a simple outline with minimal colour which is a contrast to the bright red typography in the name. The overall finished product with the colour contrast and the key character is a combination and look which definitely inspires me to try something very similar.