“Freedom’s Ring” is an interactive presentation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous and inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech. Produced at Stanford, this speech is presented in a manner that the viewer can observe and compare the written as well as hear the spoken part through a series of images, annotations, and emphases. Vector’s Journal explains that “to capture these differences, Scalar was used to annotate every phrase of the speech, following King’s own cadences. Each annotation contains both the spoken and written versions of the phrase (if they differ), plus markup that distinguishes the two for display.”
What I saw in MLK Jr.’s interactive speech reminded me of kinetic typography. Kinetic typography is essentially just moving text or what wikipedia describes as “an animation technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation.”
An example of kinetic typography would be this:
And this:
Kinetic typography doesn’t always have to be in video format. Lately is seems to be appearing in gif form:
The text moves along with the speech in an animated manner to match the significance, context, or visual intentions of the speech. It provides a visual for dialogues with text. This is precisely what “Freedom’s Ring” also intended with its interactive visuals. What I find incredible about kinetic typography is the creativity that is needed to go hand in hand. The extensive use of dynamic layout for the “V for Vendetta” video makes for a very interesting fluid form of typography. Also the intent that each word or sentence plays not just a part in the overall dialogue, but visually as well. Words bloom, shrink, dance, shiver, and spin according to what the words describe and how it is spoken by the speaker. Even the fonts are adjusted according to the feel of the video. “Lions Roar” kept a thematic color of red, blue, and yellow to represent a traditional circus. “V for Vendetta” used different fonts to emphasize the speaker’s eloquence and broad vocabulary.
Kinetic Typography involves a great deal of forethought artistically. “Freedom’s Ring” included incredible images of activists and historical references that incurs emotions of the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement.
Perhaps kinetic typography is the solution to visual learner’s plight. Reading speeches and essays can be difficult to comprehend for those who learn kinesthetically. Kinetic Typography uses artistic value and images to create better understanding of auditory sounds with images which would benefit those who need visuals in order to grasp concepts.