Design in Motion – Kinetic Typography Music Videos
There are a few techniques that never seem to get old. Kinetic typography falls into this group. It’s more than just arranging a poster into a variation of blocks. It’s a whole 3D experience choreographed to dialogue or rhythm.
Chances are that you’ve seen the famous Pulp Fiction dialogue somewhere on YouTube. While there are plenty of other really creative projects floating around, this showcase is going to highlight examples in musical (or rhythmic) type.
How It’s Done
I’ll be the first to admit that I have extremely limited experience with After Effects and Motion. However thanks to the internet I can point you in the direction of people who do know what they are doing. Here are a few introductions to making your own kinetic typography music video.
- Kinetic Typography Tutorial (via Crooked Gremlin)
- Create an Animated Homage to Bruce Lee (3 part series on AETuts+)
- Design Rhythmic Motion Typography in After Affects (via AETuts+)
A Showcase of Words in Motion
Even if some of these aren’t to your musical taste, hopefully you’ll see some of the artistic brilliance. The most impressive part? Most of the projects below were done by students.
Lion’s Roar
By The Hush Sound
Zak and Sara
By Ben Folds
Never Let Me Down
A mashup of Kanye West and poet J. Ivy
Something Stupid
By Frank Sinatra
Josie
By Blink 182
Still Alive
From the game Portal
The City is at War
By Cobra Starship
Chiquita Banana
A nostalgic jingle for bananas
Bohemian Rhapsody
By Queen
Pieces
By Sum 41
Would You Be Impressed
By Streetlight Manifesto
Conclusion
If you’re feeling particularly inspired by this post, YouTube and Vimeo have plenty more to look at. If you find anything spectacular, don’t hesitate to share a link in the comments.
Discussion
April 30th, 2009 at 12:28 PM
really cool and inspirational!
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April 30th, 2009 at 1:47 PM
The city is at war is a great vid, good find! Shall tweet this!
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April 30th, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Love these!
May 1st, 2009 at 7:37 AM
Nice list…
Here is one of the first videos that I saw demonstrating these types of text effects (was up’d to YouTube 3 years ago). I believe it is a tribute video, and not an official music video release for The Faint’s song – Symptom Finger…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ejagGzmIQI
Also, to mix things up a bit, I figured I’d throw this one in too. The new Ford Truck commercials all have similar text effects. Really surprising to see a company like Ford doing such a stylized advert. Here is one of the several they’ve done…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqoHrzuut70
May 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 AM
Wonderful collection of videos! Some are definitely my favourites already. Thanks for posting mine :D In return, I tweeted this post!
Cheers,
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 AM
How about the Human rights declaration? I like this. – By the way: Nice collection. :-D
May 4th, 2009 at 6:36 AM
The best Typography Music Video for me is undoubtedly Alex Gopher – The Child: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/alex-gopher-the-child-a-bardou-jacquet/875180577
May 4th, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I like this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvqP9wTv_20
May 4th, 2009 at 10:36 AM
what about this one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CyPixDcNzk its one of the best I’ve ever seen
May 16th, 2009 at 8:01 AM
I was inspired by Starbucks’ ad campaign during the last election. They were giving out free coffee if you voted. I did a REALLY BASIC typography video recently. Just in Final Cut. Plan to go with Motion next time and add some more movement to the text and a LOT MORE time into the project.
http://www.vimeo.com/3286142
September 18th, 2009 at 2:34 AM
Great collection of videos! Some are definitely my favorites
Thanks for posting
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Very cool article about animated texts.
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