Final Project Plan

I have been thinking about the possibilities of experimental text a lot throughout the course of this class.  After doing all the readings so far, the one thing they all seem to emphasize is the idea that text shouldn't just be animated for animation's sake, but rather only if the animation will add an additional layer of meaning to the words.  The idea that this was a new medium with new possibilities that should be explored, not just used to translate older static works into something more active, was reiterated time and time again.

Therefore, I have spent a good deal of time trying to figure out something that I could write that would only be achievable through animated text.  I have come up with a few ideas so far, and as it comes time to work on the project, will ultimately settle on one.

The one thing I know for-sure is that I don't want to bog myself down with anything too techincal.  I think I can still convey my point effectively through simplicity, and that excessive animation may actually detract from my words.  I am a writer at heart, and do not want my words to lose their power to something more flashy.  Also, if I spend less time trying to make my words do something highly complex, I will have more time to focus on my writing itself.

One fairly simple idea I like is doing something "Dakota"-esque.  I think controlling text speed (and to some extent, size) is something authors who write on the static page cannot do, and yet is a powerful tool at the author's disposal.  My content would probably be significantly different than "Dakota's," however.

Another thing I thought about was experimenting with the idea of movement or distance, as those are both things that could be conveyed well (probably even better) through movement.  I would probably have this be based around the idea of people being separated, or attempting/failing to communicate, something along those lines (I spent the first half of this year writing a letter a day to someone across the country, and think this could be an interesting idea to explore).

The last thing I thought about was playing my text in some unorthodox way, perhaps backwards (probably not like a mirror -- though maybe -- but rather as in the words roll onto the screen from left to right, so you read the last words first).  I got this idea from one of the animations I am researching, where changing the direction the words roll onto the screen changes the meaning of the message from a love letter to a break-up note.

I am hoping that I am keeping these projects simple enough that I won't need any (or at least, much) technical help during or after class.  I guess the only question I have at this point is, "How long is this project supposed to be?"  I don't expect strict guidelines, but a casual suggestion would help a lot.

I guess I hope to learn from this project what sort of things I can write that are more effective as animations, as thus far, I haven't discovered as many as I'd like.