poetry animation

Animations can be narrated in many ways. One specific way this can be accomplished is through text animation. This technique can use both a voiceover and text or just text. One example for animating text that works very well is when you are working with a poem or short story. When text is displayed on the screen it helps emphasis the story for the viewer. In Lyn Hejinian’s “Eleven Eyes” she uses this technique. Her poem is very simple and text animation provides much of the visual stimulation to keep the viewer interested. There are cute characters and objects used throughout the animation but the text is most fascinating. For my next animation I plan to animate a short Halloween poem that does not have much use for character animations. I can use techniques like Hejinan uses to make my font fun and draw the viewer in. Without animating text my animation may have the scenes appear to drag on and on. But by adding text to the scenes they will seem faster and provide for a more visually exciting animation.

I personally have always loved text and text animation. In some cases I even see myself doing text animation for movie titles as a future job option. I just love the way that moving text in and out of the screen can be so fascinating, although it is just text. Many factors make a text animation a good one. “This is a Letter” uses all of these techniques. Change in speed, location, screen rotation, zoom, etc. This is an advanced text animation compared to “Eleven Eyes.” It is also much more visually demanding. It moves very rapidly and requires the viewers’ attention because things are changing so quickly. I really enjoy watching animations such as these. I’m not sure what program this was done in but I have attempted this in After Effects. There is a lot that goes into an animation of this caliber and it takes a lot of time dealing with all the minuscule detail. I would love to create something like this as a possible final because it really interests me. 

Both poems have similar yet very different approaches when animating text. The possibilities are endless and open the animator to many different options. Both animations are great in their use of technique, text animation, narration, and drawing. Everything works together and provides two excellently animated poems.