Great Scenes from TV and Film, Told Using Only Typography (and Sound)

In Gary Hustwit's fascinating yet at-times plodding documentary, Helvetica, a variety of experts opine on the importance of typefaces as well as the subtle, unrealized effects that typography can have on us.  Among some of the choice quotes from the film:

"Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere, they give words a certain coloring."

"Graphic design is the communication framework through which these messages about what the world is now and what we should aspire to - it's the way they reach us. The designer has an enormous responsibility. Those are the people putting their wires into our heads."

But what happens when you combine typography with motion? That's the process of kinematic typography and the results, when paired with some excellent scenes from your favorite films and TV shows, can be moving and marvelous. Here are some of the best examples of film kinematic typography on the web.

Update (3/22/08 10AM): For a great video demonstrating kinematic typography AND explaining what typography is, check out this video:

Without further ado, here are the videos:

Pulp Fiction

Let's start with one of the most popular examples, the one that many of you have probably seen already (also, coincidentally, a scene mentioned in my post about pre-murder monologues). In this re-creation of the famous assassination scene in Pulp Fiction, creator Jarratt Moody deftly blends together different fonts to great effect, and employs one of the best uses of font close-ups you'll ever see.

Kill Bill

Jordi Casanueva's simple yet effective portrayal of Lucy Liu's speech in Kill Bill manages to send a chill down your spine using only typography. Note the gradual increase in size and speed, building to a gruesome bloodsplatter at the end.

V for Vendetta

V's strangely hilarious speech at the beginning of V for Vendetta is rendered creatively by Chris Silich with some great lettering and alignment that fits the tone and alliteration of this scene perfectly. (Click here to see some of this artist's other Youtube videos)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny is one of my favorite shows that very few people seem to be watching, and this video by Mark Johnson demonstrates why it's so subversive. Dennis and Dee try to create psychotic personas for themselves, and the brilliance in this video is in the way that it uses color, graphics, and motion to show the comedic timing these two have together.

The Office

Dwight's re-creation of Mussolini's speech is given life here through type, with a perfect choice of font (looks like courier?) as well as faded film stock. The large size of the font amplifies the masculinity that is personified by Dwight Schrute.

Fight Club

There are just one or two scenes that can, by themselves, really capture what Fincher's Fight Club was all about. Video creator Sebastian Jaramillo has chosen one of them. Not only does this video have a great use of font collision, which gives the text weight and heft, but the animations offer a great in-joke to those who have seen the film.

Ocean's Eleven

This is a difficult scene: in the movie, George Clooney's so-slick-it-annoys-you speech about the break in is accompanied by shots of exactly what he's talking about. In this video, Youtube user Callme4b demonstrates how to use simple text and lines to convey very specific images.

Psycho

This is perhaps one of the simpler of these videos, but still quite effective. Specifically, the words in this video interact with each other in a jumbled mess that seems to indicate Bates' own state of mind.

The Big Lebowski

This is unquestionably my favorite scenes from the Coen Brothers' hilarious film, and this video by Michael De Graaf, though simplistic compared to the others, offers a good look at several interesting elements of kinematic typography: wacky color usage, simultaneous dialogue and ellipses. Here's another great one from the same film:

The Devil's Advocate

I don't know how it's possible to convey Al Pacino's bombastic-ness using only type, but this person found a way.

Update: Here's a couple more great ones. Thanks Aaron!

Full Metal Jacket

Who's on First

Wedding Crashers (Can't believe I missed this one by Brian Cain. It's hilarious!)

[This post has been linked to on Digg, Gorillamask, Neatorama, del.icio.us, Metafilter, i-am-bored,  The Movie Blog and too many other sites to list here, unfortunately. Thanks to Suxmonkey, beeker101 and spec80 for submitting it, thanks to all those who linked to it on their blogs, and thanks to all our visitors for taking a look!]

Did I miss any? If so, add them to the comments and if I like them, I'll throw them on the post in an update. Also, I have given attribution where I could find it. If you've created one of the videos above and you'd like me to link to your site, e-mail me at contact@alwayswatching.org.

If you liked this article, you'll probably like these:

• The 10 Most Badass Geeks in Film and TV
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• Top 10 Fan-Made "Sweded Films
• Top 10 Most Outrageous Moments from The Transporter
• Top 10 Reasons Why Cloverfield Lived up to the Hype

You can also hear Dave, Adam, and Devindra on The Watchers Podcast.

[Photo by Flickr user otherthings, via CC]