C Studio Project 4: Time and Motion

Day 1: Storyboarding + Creating a Script

This is what I want to say in my video. It was difficult to cut down since my essay for the spread was on the more extensive side.

Renaissance England: 1750s

Classical typefaces of the period, like Romain du Roi and Caslon, featured mathematically-drawn characters that felt cold, which prompted Baskerville to create a softer typeface with rounded bracketed serifs and a vertical axis.

Inspired by his background in calligraphy, Baskerville features high contrast strokes, crisp edges, and generous proportions.

Improvements on Caslon/other classical typefaces:

increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes in his letters, making the serifs sharper,

shifted the axis of rounded letters to a vertical position

curved strokes became more circular in shape

characters became more regular, which created a greater consistency in size and form.

Available printing technologies at the time were not reflecting the nuances of Baskerville’s type. So, he took matters into his own hands. He reinvented the press, created his own ink and paper.

Baskerville was cutting edge for its time. He fully embraced printing technology and sought to create letterforms that reflected contemporary tools rather than classical ones:

Shortly after, Baskerville’s work fell into obscurity and didn’t experience a revival until 1917 when Bruce Rogers released the modern Baskerville for the Harvard University Press.

While not well received during his lifetime, today, Baskerville is coveted for its legibility and used for countless books and logos.

Baskerville: light, elegant, refined.

When Vicki read this, it took her right around 51 seconds. I think this means it’s a good length. She did think a couple spots could have been written better so that they read more smoothly. I’m focusing my video a little more heavily on the story behind Baskerville as opposed to the qualities of the typeface itself, although I think this is okay.

These are my first storyboards. Vicki said it looked like a lot of words.

Day 2: Building Assets in Illustrator + Music

These are some of my top contenders for music choice. I think I want to do something classical yet light and fun.

I’m leaning towards the last one. I like that it’s a ballet song, so I could almost have the letters “dancing” in a sense to the music.

Day 3: Starting in AfterEffects

I started making this animaton during class. I was feeling a little behind since I hadn’t started in AfterEffects yet and I think I started with something a little too complicated. Vicki suggested I take a step back and create more of an outline. I also had the words “thick” and “thin” coming in along two different axes. She warned me that this may negatively affect readability, especially with how little time is on each slide.

Andrew also suggested that I explore the use of letterforms in my video. I want them to be viewed more as shapes and less as letterforms, so I think possibly increasing the size so that they go off screen will help with this. He also liked the idea of using accent colors, like the pink I have in the circle in my storyboard. I might not stick with the pink, but I definately like the idea of using an accent color to highlight. I may also use the circle shape as a repeating element throughout my video to tie scenes together.

Vicki also said I can’t use Rondo Alla Turca because it’s too well known and I can’t use La Giocanda because it reminds her of a comedy skit from a few years ago. She said Pizzicato Polka might work though. She reminded me that I don’t necessarily have to use classical, since Baskerville is used so often in modern times as well. I will have to revisit music.

Day 4: More Music

After some deep Spotify exploration, this is what I’m leaning towards now.

I really enjoy how playful the music from Fantastic Mr. Fox is. I think Mr. Fox in the Fields may be a little too well known, but Kristofferson’s Theme is just as playful and less recognizable, so it may be perfect.

Day 5: More Work in AfterEffects

I have the bare bones of my video and how I want the text/objects to line up with my music. I decided to go with Kristofferson’s Theme for my video.

I want to start to incorporate color into parts of my video. I really loved the color palette from my spread, so I think I’ll use something similar.

I’m thinking more about transitions between scenes. Right now it feels a bit like a Keynote animation, especially with the white background and black text.

Day 6:

I showed my video so far to Ricky during class. He suggested adding a background color. I liked this idea, I think it adds a little more life and warmth to the video.

Vicki said I’ve made some really smart decisions since she last talked to me. I think i need to work a little more on the last section where the descriptive words come on the screen.

Yoshi reminded me that I need to keep alignment consistent throughout my video. It’s a little all over the place right now.

Day 7:

Bon and Claire came into studio and watched my video so far. Bon again reminded me that I need to work on my alignment, especially at the end with the letterforms. Bon said he didn’t like the part where “calligraphy” goes off screen. It’s interesting because Vicki said she liked the visual interest this part brought. I agree more with Vicki, I think I will keep it this way. They really liked the part where the books pop up on the screen to the music. They also liked my color choices. :)

Final Video!

Overall, I’m really satisfied with my animation. Working with music and animations presents an entirely new set of challenges, but its a lot of fun to work with. I definitely see myself using the skills I’ve garnered in AfterEffects in my future work and career.