Kinetic Typography One

For this session of process and production we looked at animating typography. I decided to create an animation with the use of kinetic typography, on the font "proxima nova". As seen below, I used techniques using the 3D feature, which allowed me to animate the type using both the x and z axis. This allowed me to create some nice transitions between the different weights of the font.

Proxima Nova Animation from Jack Pomfret on Vimeo.

I am pleased with the result of this animation. The use of type in this way has interested me, and I intend to look further into the concept in a future project.

Prequel / Sequel

In this lecture we looked at prequel and sequel. This was looking at the fact that nothing is original, and the different designs that we see are usually inspired by other pieces of deign through history. People can still be creative and original work for themselves, it does not mean that people practically copy others work. however they guide their creative process in the direction that others have previously done, therefore being inspired by past pieces of work.

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing." - Salvador Dali

This quote speaks volumes. And helped to lead on to looking at internet memes. These are a perfect example of a prequel / sequel as they are completely unoriginal. People still love internet memes because they are funny, but they have no value.

Finally, to conclude the lecture, we watch a video called "Everything is a remix". This was very interesting and was defiantly my favourite part of the lecture as i am into music in general, and it was interesting to see the creativity of music explained in depth. The documentary looked at how artists have used different sample beats that have been used before in other songs to create their own. It also explained the laws and regulations about using the beats. From this i took that legal remixing is fine, however illegal copying is not.

Visualisation of sound

For the first theory lecture back in the second term, we looked at the visualisation of sound which is the second project. Each week we will have a piece of music to respond to, which can be approached in a variety of different ways. We were encouraged to go beyond the means of just digital work, as this project has a lot of scope for more traditional practices in both print and animation.

There are at least 3 possible outputs covering both static and motion based responses. These include; notation, interpretation and experimentation.

We were introduced to graphic notation. This could be an interesting way to visualise sound, as graphic notation refers to any kind of music notation that uses pictures, symbols or illustrations, instead of or in addition to regular notation. 

Jacob Thompson-Bell said that:musical scores can be just as satisfying to look at as they are to listen to. This got me thinking of the different things that could possibly be used for notation. Could anything be used from ordinary everyday things if their was just a key to it? This is an interesting thought. However complicated the notation my become, there must be many ways of notating music for someone to play.

Jacob Thompson-Bell said also stated that visual art can be a powerful improvisers seeking musical parallels to the shapes and imagery of different creative mediums. 

This is the oldest form of notation, which is in cuneiform writing inscribed on a clay tablet. This is a form of logographic writing which dates back as far as 2000BC. The song is known as Hurrian Hymn No. 6, which apparently dates back to 1400 B.C.E. The piece was discovered in syria in the 1950's and was interpreted by Dr. Richard Dumbrill. The piece was performed by the very talented musician Michael Levy on solo lyre.

We then looked at various other ways that sound could be represented in a visual and aesthetically pleasing way. We looked at various different visuals, some looking into more abstract design. However one that stood out for me was a piece by Ligeti, G (1958).

This specific piece stood out to me as looking at it logically, i can kind of make out what is going on. With the other visual music scores that where exhibited, i did not understand how they could possibly be read. I myself can read notation to some extent for treble clef and bass clef, as well as drum notation also, therefore i can appreciate musical scores.

We then looked at some animations. One that stood out for me was the lyric video. I think that this would be a fun thing to create, and would allow me to improve my skills on after effects. 

We discussed that 2 experiments should be carrier out each week in order to complete the requirement of 8 experiments by the end of the project. These should be as experimental as possible, and can be either/both digital/ non-digital. 

Overall, the lecture gave me some ideas to think about, and i look forward to the coming project.