Brief

Animate a speech using typography as the main design element.

timespan

Five weeks (Dec. 2017 & Feb. 2018)

commentary

Rather than choosing a scripted speech, I decided to animate a one-sided conversation. I thought it would be interesting to animate text according to the human voice’s fluctuation in amplitude and frequency, as well as animate the unavoidable mistakes inherent in conversational speech.

CGP Grey (the main speaker) and Dr. Brady Haran (the interjector) host a podcast entitled Hello Internet. They discuss various things ranging from personal experiences, their opinions on current events, to somewhat obscure topics such as aviation accidents—and of course, flags. I chose to animate a conversation from episode sixteen where the two men talk about America’s State flags. Grey’s expressive and stuttery speech combined with his stilted description of the Maryland State flag offer a fantastic opportunity to play with the connection between speech and type. Somewhat inspired by this video, I thought that I could add a lot more to the speech through literally transcribing the spoken word with animated typography.

A line forms after the first chunk of dialogue. The line animates and camera follows. Chunks of dialogue spawn from the line. The line transforms into quadrants. The frame is further split into quadrants to take Grey’s description of the flag literally. At one point Grey misspeaks and mentions that the checkerboard patterns reside in an opposite quadrant to the crosses on the flag. The final drawing depicts this literally. The representation of the misspeak does not work as it may confuse the viewer, as it is difficult to return the flag to its default position in a clear way (as Grey carries on without correcting himself).

This sketch establishes many of the elements present in the final product, such as: each character inhabiting their own “box”; scene transitions (including shifting text off the screen and the use of diagonal wipes); the flag animation; Grey mistakingly uttering the first two syllables of “American” instead of saying “Maryland” before correcting himself as the American flag changes to the Maryland flag in the animation; and the use of a computer game level to accompany Grey mentioning, “popping back up on the other side” (drawing both a pac-man level and a generic platformer level). The spectrum here depicts the words “good” and “bad”. The final replaces the word “good” with the flag of New Mexico and, “bad” with New York’s flag—a nod to Grey’s opinion in the episode.

Having the treatment of the text imitate the motion of a flag. A preliminary idea that was scrapped due to its redundancy. As one presumably knows the basic form and motion of a flag, it is not necessary to remind the viewer of this at the mere mention of the word, “flag”.

Experimenting with a way to display Brady’s interjection.

Having the word “Maryland” mimic the colours of her flag, teasing the flag reveal later in the sequence. The final uses this idea subtly later in the video to emphasise words that describe the hideousness of the flag.

Experimenting with ways to interpret Grey’s denying of Brady’s interjection.

If you choose to watch this cut, feel free to stop watching after the 30 second mark as there is no further animation.

The first twelve-seconds are similar to the final product—although, in the final, the words “objectively hideous” increase in typographical and animatic weight as to further sell Grey’s emphasis. The remaining twenty seconds roughly outline text placement and the movement associated with the flag object. The checkerboard pattern and the crosses are displayed incorrectly. The final displays the flag authentically.

I believe that The Maryland Flag is my strongest piece to date. I had a strict vision for the final product, so I went from the sketching phase to production rather quickly. I found myself smoothly creating the piece without any hiccups along the way.

I would not change anything about The Maryland Flag’s final form. However, in hindsight, I would have dedicated more time to the sketching phase as it would have led to more options to fall back on if I encountered friction in the execution of ideas.

It may have also been beneficial to spend more time in other aspects of pre-production. I would have jotted down multiple preliminary ideas in the form of an a/v (audio/visual) script. I would have also created multiple sets of style frames for each individual scene. This would help diversify ideation whilst—again—creating a safety net to fall back on if the production did not run as smoothly as it had.

Working on The Maryland Flag furthered my interest in the relationship between the spoken word and kinetic typography—more specifically, how animated typography can imitate elements of speech. The following year, I dedicated my design workshop project (a year-long design thesis project, complete with research and a final design product) to this exact topic.