Kinetic Typography (KT)

I have recently discovered Kinetic Typography (KT). Most of us have probably seen it before, most commonly in Music Lyric Videos. Kinetic Typography, put simply basically means moving words.

There are many works involving KT out there, be it simple videos on Youtube to commercial advertisements using it. They range from simple videos using sound clips from movies and only involving words moving on screen, to renditions of game trailers with relevant images and artwork being involved.

Here is one I find particularly interesting.

 It is based off the movie “V for Vendetta” and features the scene where V introduces himself, a captivating speech to say the least. In this video, I love how the animations serve to highlight and maintain the suspense in the scene, creating a good synergy with the audio text.

The concept of KT interests me greatly, (obviously otherwise I will not be blogging about it) the use of words in these videos highlight certain interesting thoughts to me. Firstly, how will one go when one wishes to present a video with KT. After all, the lyrics have to be present irregardless. The only variable is how you present it. This reminds me of typesetting, where the overall form of the words and even how the words go together can be presented to create and emphasize the audio.

Besides the static display, the animation, with tools such as Adobe After Effects allow for the words itself to be altered. Words splitting apart to show chaos, or the impression of rising up to show growth, all these are possible.

Of course, the words do not need to be presented in and of itself. Many videos contain minute animations, moving images in tandem with animated words. This allows for a greater freedom of expression then one might expect with the idea of kinetic typography.

The most common use of kinetic typography seems to be of music lyric videos. However, I feel that their potential far extends that. While adaptations of trailers are interesting, I feel that using kinetic typography on speeches are by far the most captivating. Much like how literature has us analyzing text, peeling them apart in layers to see what the author means, KT does the same, but in a more overt, visual way such that the animator can express his views on the audio clip that he is presenting.

-real tired ARP