Kinetic Typography: Dancing Words

I've always liked words, so perhaps that's why typography holds a certain appeal for me.  The artistic ways in which words can be relayed fascinate me: word clouds, alphabet photography, and shape poetry, among others. To me, the written word is in itself a kind of art form.

Kinetic typography takes the aesthetics of words to a whole new dimension by giving  them life. The creator of kinetic typography is able to add color and vibrancy to words, and make them even more mesmerizing and captivating than they already are.  The kinetic typography videos that I hold near and dear to my heart are the ones that incorporate both audio and motion -- adding music or voice to words can bring out their meaning in a way that goes beyond their appearance on a page.

Here is one of my favorite kinetic typography videos. The typography is to one of my favorite songs, "The Lion's Roar" by the Hush Sound.

I really appreciate the technical skill involved in making something like this (it took them about a year to make!), but I also love that the creators were able to emphasize certain aspects of the song that they deemed important. Each portrayal of a song or poem in portrayed kinetic typography reflects the interpretations of the creator, and allows them to share how they feel about a particular work.

I tried my hand at kinetic typography myself last year, when I did my Dancing Haiku Public Poetry Project. I didn't  have the software to do the motion that I wanted, but I had a lot of fun animating the text and picking music to fit the winning haiku submissions.

Here is the most technically advanced piece of kinetic typography that I made while working on the project:

The dandelions and dandelion fluff were a mess to animate -- they took over 20 layers in Photoshop, and then I had to import them  to After Effects, spending another hour-and-a-half tweaking them so that they appeared to fall or appear at the right time. I have become ridiculously familiar with all the quirky little add-ons and animations that After Effects hides in its occasionally frustrating menus.

 Unfortunately, my copy of After Effects has become prone to displaying a red screen relaying an unwelcome message: "Your 30-day trial is over". For now, this has hindered me in my quest to create works of kinetic typography. But once the frenzy of applications and schoolwork dies down a little, I will address this perturbing issue and try my hand at creating once again.

Objection!

Your Honor, the witness is clearly lying! She does, in fact, play video games. She's just too embarrassed to admit it!

Not a whole lot of people know this about me, but I like video games.  Ace Attorney is one of my favorite game series, even though I have little interest in ever being a lawyer.  In the first three games of the series, you play as Phoenix Wright,  a slightly hapless lawyer who is ridiculously skilled in the art of bluffing. For some crazy reason, his bluffs are always correct, no matter how far-fetched.  There is always some key piece of evidence that manages to turn the case around, and enables you to defend your (usually) falsely accused client successfully. It's like reading a mystery-- except you get to draw your own conclusions and see how they measure up to the truth.

This game appealed to me initially since I love mystery novels, shows, and the like. Solving the mystery in this game usually involves finding out that one of the prosecution's key witnesses is the true culprit. But the characters are surprisingly well- developed -- more so than in most video games I've played. A character that is near and dear to my heart, Ema Skye, is an aspiring forensics scientist.  The relationship between Ema and her sister Lana (who is Phoenix's client) is so complex that the case is worth solving simply to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Something that surprised me and (continues to surprise me) is how the games manage to maintain such a lighthearted atmosphere despite dealing with serious topics such as murder and betrayal. The games boast punny names galore: Luke Atmey, Ted Tonate,  Ini Miney, Winston Payne, Lotta Hart, Detective Gumshoe -- the list goes on and on.  Sarcasm is peppered throughout the court proceedings, and Phoenix Wright's self-proclaimed assistant, Maya Fey, never misses a chance to have a laugh at Phoenix, or anyone else, for that matter.  An issue of contention between Maya and Phoenix (and a running joke in every game) is the issue of step-ladder vs. ladder:
 

Maya: Look, a ladder!

Phoenix: That's a "step"-ladder.

Maya: So? What's the difference? You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions, Nick!

Phoenix: R-right... sorry. (This girl is OUT there!)

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of serious moments, some of which are all the more frightening since they are  indicative of real terrors. For example, the games deal with corruption in the police force and deadly blackmail among corporations. In one of the games, an assassin kidnaps one of Phoenix's dear friends, and refuses to let them go unless Phoenix can pull off a not guilty verdict in court.  On this occasion, Phoenix is faced with an ethical dilemma. Although such a dilemma is much more dramatic than what the everyday lawyer might face, it is true that lawyers may find themselves defending guilty clients and making difficult ethical decisions.

I never thought that I would ever become so invested in the characters or the plot of the Ace Attorney games, but the truth is, the experience of playing through the games is almost akin to that of reading a well-crafted book.  I would definitely recommend them to anyone who likes a mystery with dynamic characters, and a good bit of fun mixed in.