Typography forever

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

An animated type video sent to me by my friend Sacha, I love it, animation is something I'd be interested in looking into trying if I could just get my head around it. It hurts my brain. Think I'll attempt a flip book first. One day. 

My mind is blown.

I was having a little look into how the Coldplay video was actually done and Chris Martin did most definitely learn the song backwards and the phonetics and everything and he is in fact singing backwards my god! I also found out that on a DVD as an extra there is a version where the video is played forwards and the song is sung/played backwards, which is what you can see above. My mind!

Sometimes it's okay to go backwards

We've started to think about the idea of either filming our film forwards and then playing it backwards or filming it backwards and playing it forwards. At this moment in time we are more set on filming backwards and playing forwards as it will give a very jerky, surreal effect. 

What?

EXTREME CLOSE UP!

I've written extreme close up so many times now that this is all that's rolling round in my head.
Party on Wayne! Party on Garth
Party time, excellent.

What are experimental films?

Just some of the things I've written down in my research in my layout pad.Just what I think on them.

reflection - mirrors, computer effects
repetition, pattern, symmetry
close ups, big close ups, extreme close ups
little or no linear narrative
fast paced - sharps changes, cutaways
grainy, gritty
blurry
surreal?
amateur - even when made by professionals still seem amateur
underground?
contrast
little or no sound, if any it is broken and disjointed, strange
disorientating
thought provoking, leave lots of unanswered questions
obscure, obscure subjects
make the audience feel uncomfortable (well us at least)

typical features:
non-narrative
impressionistic and poetic approaches to the films construction

Origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the 20s.
Different from and opposing to mainstream films and documentaries (hipster really)
However some critics say it's become it's own mainstream genre now (hipster fail)

Experiments created using the 'mirror' effect on PhotoBooth on the Macs at uni.

Reflection

Experiments created using the 'mirror' effect on PhotoBooth on the Macs at uni.

//SDP from Sophie Marschner on Vimeo.

This video was made by a fellow student from my previous course. I still absolutely love it and the way it was made. It's very experimental in the way that it uses repetition, close ups and creates patterns with the use of close ups and reflections. I think that the use of sound and choice of music really helps to make this piece successful, which is different to a lot of the other experimental films we've looked at. More often than not they have no sound, and if any it is not vocal e.g.- strange noises. 

Reflection

Plastic bag

Experimental and weird music videos (recommended by Jen)

Cycling in rhythm

CYCLING IN RHYTHM from Fran et Jim on Vimeo.

I actually really enjoyed this video quite a lot; colour, reflection and creating patterns. Typical elements of a experimental film. 

Trim from Petey Boy on Vimeo.

Experimental. Mental.

October 3rd, 2012 from Ted Sonnenschein on Vimeo.

FACES from Alvaro Salvagno on Vimeo.

140 dB from Tadas Svilainis on Vimeo.

Creepy experimental

'Transfiguration' by Olivier de Sagazan

This creeps me out WAY too much, do not like it at all. 

Stan Brakhage

30 seconds of experimental film

'A person moves into camera shot, we follow the person until they finally disappear from view'

Our new brief is to create a 30 second film in response to the skeletal storyline above. We had a lucky dip again to see which genre of film we would be making and Shona and I (the brief is a paired project) drew 'Experimental'.

The film needs to be based in the present (2012) and we are not allowed to use any genre specific props. Extra visual elements can be used, such as extra people, a specific location, etc. 

Anatomy of type

Swaying slightly

The more research I do into Cooper Black the more I'm starting think it looks okay on some things. Looking at it and the books on it with Jess I'm being swayed slightly, what's happening to me? I think that the colour 3D version in the bottom right is really successful as it makes use of the curves and strange shapes of Cooper Black and gives it sense of life

'From Benton to Berlow'

An article/PDF I found about Franklin Gothic, I could only get it onto here by screenshotting each page of it. But I thought it was pretty good.

Kinetic Franklin

Franklin Gothic from Jorge Feres on Vimeo.

A video found by Jess on Franklin Gothic

They liked it so they made a book about it

This is a book I saw briefly earlier which Jess then found on ISSUU (much cheaper for us for our research!) which shows many things Cooper Black has been used for. It's a pretty interesting book to skim through, whatever your opinion on the typeface.

Open publication - Free publishing

Behind the typeface

A video I found earlier about the history of Cooper Black, mockumentary

Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black from Cheshire Isaacs on Vimeo.

So apparently this Cooper black thing is quite popular?

Cooper Black and Franklin Gothic Book

The lucky dip of typefaces left me with Cooper Black and Franklin Gothic Book. Honestly, I don't really have particularly strong feelings about either of them but I will say that on getting the pair of them I instantly prefer Franklin, as at this moment in time Cooper Black is a bit too, erm much?

It's not necessarily a bad font, it's just not exactly the sort of typeface I would usually choose. It's quite thick and rounded in comparison to other typefaces and I find some of the shapes of the ascenders and descenders a little childish and unprofessional? It's too bold and I find the overall shapes of the letterforms to be a bit hard to focus on properly, but that might just be my terrible eyes.

However, that's not to say that Franklin Gothic is anything particularly amazing. To me, it looks more professional that Cooper Black but is still nothing particularly special about it. I think in some cases it looks a little too tall and thin, almost stretched. However, I do like how simple Franklin is, although it seems like it could be quite forgettable, just a safe option to use when you can't think of another typeface to use.

I'm hoping that the more I look at these typefaces the more interested I will become in them; I don't exactly hate them but I'm not particularly overly excited by them right now, but I know I will be, just need to get more 'connected' with them (ooh deep and brooding eh)

The roaring twenties

Blimps and hoes

Issue 1 and Issue 2

We created 2 versions of our magazine.

http://issuu.com/grillustdropbox/docs/waitingissue1
http://issuu.com/grillustdropbox/docs/issue2

Baskerville

Baskerville has been around since 1974.
Categorised as a transitional typeface; it is in-between classical typefaces and high contrast modern faces

Found little success during John Baskerville's lifetime, although it became popular in Europe after his death.
In 1996 a Baskerville revival type was designed by Zuzana Licko. 'Mrs. Eaves' was named after the printer's mistress.

Info found here: http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-baskerville/

2nd visit to waiting room