Response to The Art of Immemorability

I have never been taken through the history of language before. Reading "The Art of Immenmorability", was an eye opening experience in many ways. The distinction between textual and transcriptive and the role this played in the development of written language is new for me. I'm very interested in how this distinction resonates today with how our technology is encountering our use of language. I was caught by Bernstein's statement, "Writing tells us more than what it purports to tell". I don't think I've considered the importance of analyzing texts by its mode of telling just as well as the tale it tells. With this, I learned that language and cultural reproduction is about variance and morphing more than storing.

As far as what was hard or easy with this reading, I would say the difficulty in reading this is connected to my limited vocabulary. The time spent reading this text took much longer than I expected. It felt as though I was reading from my desktop dictionary for an amount of time comparable to reading the assignment.

Bernstein touched on one topic that I want to take with me throughout the rest of this class. He said, "…acknowledge the value of using a medium to do what can only be done in that medium". This is a big deal. So now I'm asking myself, what can only be done using kinetic type? What are the strongest aspects and advantages of animated writing? How can I implement these qualities into my work in a unique, concise, and original way?

A Video on the Letter G

Video Critique

There is probably over four videos in class today that grabbed my attention the most. Of these four there is two that shared a common feature. Implied sound. The first is of the brrrreak dancing ‘r’. I love the rhythm of the video. I would start beat boxing to the video if I was any good at it, or if I was alone. Dapa Dapa Dapa DaaaaFall! From an aesthetic perspective it could use a little work. Mainly, I would just encourage a stronger use of the composition and frame. I like the marks that were made. They fit well with the message. Another video I enjoyed was the snake. The letter S is so often affiliated with a snake that it would seem redundant and cliché, but it didn’t so much. I loved the way it made be want to speak.

About My Vid

When I looked at the letter 'g' in the typeface SF Orson Casual, I knew exactly what I wanted to animate. I exploited the two actual forms that are apart of this letter: line and circle. I concluded that the best way to animate these forms is to visually show balance in action. This works as a part of the letter animation because the video does not start with seeing the actual letter itself. There is nothing that alludes to the video having anything to do with the letter in the first four seconds of the animation. G is the surprise!

A Little History on Letter G

Unlike many letters in our alphabet, the letter g has a known date of birth. In 312 B.C., freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga created the letter. Before this, the Phonetician letter gimel had represented both the 'g' and 'k' sounds. This was much too confusing, which made the case for this new letter to be created. Adding letters to our alphabet was a touchy subject around this time. The powers that be (Roman censor Appius Claoudius, and others) were so set in the number of letters in the alphabet that the letter 'z' was tossed after 'g' came along. Our friend Claoudius found the 'z' to be just too tasteful and foreign. Thus, 'g' becomes the seventh letter in our alphabet.

Today we the lowercase 'g' in two different forms: the single story or opentail, and the double story or looptail. The single story form is derived from the uppercase letter G. The scribe starts with making the form c, then continuing by inclosing the circle, and finally adding a tail curved to the left. The double story was formed similarly, yet more ornately. The form became popular with the introduction of printing the Roman Alphabet, as the looptail allowed for more words to be printed on a page.

I'm very interested in exploring the differences between the two forms of the lowercase letter 'g'. In an animation, I could portray the many variations of this letter as time passes. Seeing the differences in a letter as time progresses would offer viewers a greater understanding of the letter 'g'. It may also offer some general knowledge about other letters and how our alphabet has changed over time. By animating this letter with some type of personification in mind, viewers will be more intrigued and interested in what knowledge I'm offering. A very important aspect of this and all letters is asking the question: why this form? What makes this letter so recognizable and easily read. I intend to explore and answer these questions in my animation.

{gimel} {Single Story} {Double Story}

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G

http://www.fonts.com/AboutFonts/Articles/Letterseries/LetterG.htm

http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/letters/historyg.htm

Images:

Looptail

Opentail

Gimel

My First Annimation

Describing the Letter 'g'

For my first assignment in animated writing, I will experiment with animating the letter 'g'. I see this letter as a form with potential movement and expression that is just waiting to be released. I plan on balance and movement in the animation. I much prefer the lower case letter 'g' rather than the capital letter. I will be using this lowercase form in the typeface SF Orson Casual.