Chapter 11 / Show and Tell

In the last chapter of Animated Storytelling, Liz Blazer discusses a few main considerations when entering your work into festivals and releasing it to the world. Regardless of where you send it, packaging it clearly and fully is a key step. Some important pieces to include are a title logo, tagline, description, and a director’s biography. When sharing your first projects, starting small is the way to go. Entering work into smaller festivals at first may help you gain an audience and valuable feedback, which can then propel you into bigger festivals like Sundance. You can also build substantial traction through posting your work on social media platforms. Increased engagement and interest online can be fulfilling in itself.

A Look Back on the Last 7 Weeks

Before starting this motions graphics course, I was intimidated by the software and language needed to create successful work. Now, I’m much more comfortable working with After Effects, Animate, and Premier Pro. I am still very much a novice, but knowing the basics of these platforms makes me confident that I can continue to build on my skills. As a freelance graphic designer, I’m excited to incorporate what I’ve learned into my professional work! 

 For my final project of the course, I wanted to challenge myself to create a kinetic typography lyric video. I grew up watching them to learn the words to my favorite songs and was always curious to how they were created. I taught vocal and guitar lessons for several years, so finding a video that students could easily follow along with was crucial. I have a new appreciation for the level of detail and time it takes to create a lyric video.

Research to Inform

I clicked around to find some examples of lyric videos that were simple but refined and well-timed.

This video keeps consistent visuals throughout which helps the audience anticipate what they might see next. This is a key consideration to keep in mind when creating a video for viewers to easily follow along to. The florals add some movement without distracting from the text.

This next example is a classic in the realm of lyric videos. The background stays stagnant to not distract from the text. Longer lines are given to help viewers comprehend the lyrics in a style that is comfortable to read. When single words are given, following along is much harder because the turnover speed is increased. This format of lyric videos was a favorite among my students!

This video takes a more creative approach when displaying the lyrics. The theme of an Italian restaurant menu keeps the lyrics confined to a set space while allowing the layout to vary. This style of lyric video is more effective for holding attention and entertaining rather than teaching the viewer the lyrics.

My Turn!

Below is my take on a lyric video. Although creating a video like the last example above would be rewarding, I chose to keep the layout simple so I could focus on the basics and making sure the timing of the graphics were accurate with the song. The first minute or so of the video was pretty time consuming to compile, but I was happy when I realized I could duplicate certain graphics for the repetitive sections of the song. I really enjoyed making this and plan to continue building my skills to create more involved lyric videos!