Overview
This was the midterm assignment for the class Type in Motion. The task was to build a video in Aftereffects using only text, shapes, and only one color. It had to be based on an influential figure in the design community who has passed away. I experimented with a grittier style than usual.
Research
First thing was to decide on who I would be making a video on, and it so happened that I was taking a design theory class at the time this was assigned. I'd read Marshall Mcluhan's book, "The Medium is the Massage," which was a graphic novel designed by Quentin Fiore. I had a lot of context to bring in and thoroughly enjoyed the read and its design, so it was a good choice. I wrote up a creative brief explaining what I was going for with the video.
This DES151 project is a 30-45 second typographic exploration of the relationship between meaning and motion. The prompt was to base the animation on a deceased designer or artist, using type in motion to convey aspects of their life. This project is limited to greyscale and one spot color, usage of masks, no more than twenty words, two typefaces, and typography and self-made graphics. No audio, video, or third-party graphics are used. Within these constraints, this exploration will help with understanding temporal and spatial tools to convey deep levels of meaning and emotion. This project in particular conveys the philosophies of Marshall McLuhan, an iconic media theorist. Many of the project's aesthetics and all of the text are taken from his book, The Media is the Massage.
The audience of this piece would primarily be artists, students, and academics interested in mass media theory and the counterculture, as McLuhan's philosophies seem to cater to those demographics. Fans of The Media is the Massage would also be included. McLuhan's book is a forerunner to other graphically designed books, and is, in itself, an iconic and aesthetically-pleasing read that reaches the general public, especially those more "hipster" in nature.
The overall goal is to convey the emotions McLuhan stirs with his theories on mass media. The exact quotes I include are: "The medium is the message," "All media work us over completely," and "All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values." These lines, especially at the time McLuhan wrote them, were startling and accepting of the perception that technology and mass media have the potential to be apocalyptic. To convey intense and urgent emotion, this project uses bright reds, black, and white, with very little use of grey shades. Since most of this is about tech media, sans serif typefaces were used. At many points of the animation, using large, almost overwhelming text conveys the ubiquity of media and its impact upon the human condition.
The overall message created by this motion graphic sequence is to portray the theories of McLuhan, that being the pure ubiquity and molding nature of media.
"All media work us over completely."
Then was the process of making a moodboard. I wanted to stick to the same style as the novel, so I found several examples from both Pinterest and Behance that had the essence of what I was going for.
Preparation
Afterwards, I made two style frames to help solidify the theme I chose to use in my project. I chose my second option since it seemed more true to McLuhan's book. I stuck with the font Helvetica because it is used so ubiquitously across all mediums, and red, black, and white because they were the primary colors in the novel.
Once my style was solidified, I went on to storyboarding. I was eager to do the eye animation; I felt like it really characterized McLuhan's book. I used a lot of typing bars and text changes to show a more technological aspect, since McLuhan talks about the rise of television and the advancement of technology.
Production
At this point, I was only halfway through the quarter of learning my way around Aftereffects, and there were so many limitations. I wanted to incorporate glitch effects and static-like effects, but those were out of my time constraints and skill set at the time. It was a lot of fun to make, even if it took quite a bit of time out of my full-time student schedule.
This was the final product. I received mostly positive critiques, and I was very happy with the final result.