Shop Vac (kinetic typography animation)

1.7M views · 15 years ago · animation · evergreen

A kinetic typography music video by Jarrett Heather, set to Jonathan Coulton's song "Shop Vac" and animated with tools like After Effects. The lyrics become the visuals, with the text itself acting out the song as a mock commercial.

HN people hold it up as a labour-of-love example of what kinetic typography can do, and as the piece that later got Weird Al's attention.

“such as this amazing piece of kinetic typography / video done to Jonathan Coulton's Shop-Vac”

7 comments from Hacker News

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@DonHopkins2020 · in “Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014)”
I'm delighted your stopped by! Thanks to you and Weird Al for all of your dastardly animated criminal words. Your Shop Vac cartoon led me to discover Jonathan Coulton's other geeky music, like Code Monkey! He makes his songs available via the Creative Commons license, so people have made some really cool videos to them, including yours. link link Shop Vac: ▶ this video Code Monkey videos: link >Jonathan Coulton is a singer/songwriter who releases his songs via the Creative Commons license, which enables projects such as this video. Through his "Thing A Week" podcast, Jonathan has put out a clever, creative song like this one every week for a year. >Mike Spiff Booth is a Program Manager at Adobe who though this great song really deserved a video. >Before you ask, since apes, goblins, and night elf receptionists don't tend to interact much in the wild, I couldn't only use captured game footage to make this video. Every frame of this video was composited together by hand using images captured from the WoW Model Viewer, WoW Map Viewer, and the World of Warcraft game itself. >No monkeys were harmed in the making of this film. >Please visit www.spiffworld.com for more information about my videos, including info about how I make them. >The song at the end of the video is "Big Bad World One", another great Jonathan Coulton song. link >This was an animation that was done in about 2 1/2 weeks. My friend Tom Weiser and I wanted to put together a short for a free ASIFA event. We are both fans of Jonathan Coulton so we figured a music video would be fun. I know Code Monkey already has a lot of videos made of it, but having worked as a web design/developer for the government...well how could I not?! I hope everyone enjoys it. link >This AMV features the song Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton, using footage from the anime Black Heaven. link >Code Monkey Jonathan Coulton Lyrics Kinetic Typography (shorter version). Thanks to Jonathan Coulton for releasing his music under the creative commons license! link >Jonathan Coulton in LA -10-Codemonkey >Tenth song- Code Monkey. Recorded live at Temple Bar Santa Monica CA. October 9 2006. Code monkey like this song. MP3s of this performance graciously made available at spiffworld.com. Check out his amazing JoCo/WoW videos too. link >Jonathan Coulton re-recorded Code Monkey for Slashdot's 15th Birthday >Rob Malda: I was stunned when this arrived in my inbox from JoCo... a huge thanks to him for the song, and of course Happy Birthday Slashdot.
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@programzeta2011 · in “Y Combinator by the Numbers”
I think it's a ripe field for experimentation at this point, as it's a very entertaining way to present information. There is/was a series in Australia called Hungry Beast, which produced "Beast File" segments that used kinetic typography in the same manner as this video: Stuxnet: link Google: link Apple: link There are more of these segments, but a lot of them have to do with Australian politics / corporations. I've watched them all because I adore the style but it might not be for everyone :) In addition, there have been several labours of love which really showcase what's possible when you make a full production out of such a work, such as this amazing piece of kinetic typography / video done to Jonathan Coulton's Shop-Vac: ▶ this video Any potential company would have their work cut out for them to allow user-generated content to even get close to the above segments, but as the current crop of tools are general professional-level tools (Adobe After-Affects / Premiere or related) there's definitely a specialized gap here.
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@biturd2011 · in “How to Make Text Look Interesting: Minimalist Web Design”
For me, this Shop•Vac Pardoy Commercial thingy had really great typography. It kepy me interested the entire time. Granted, it had other elements keeping me interested, though I feel it was mainly the interesting use of type. ▶ this video
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@jbrowning2010 · in “Shop Vac (kinetic typography animation)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@DonHopkins2023 · in “Wikipedia user edits over 90k uses of “comprised of””
Speaking of heroes who I could care less about: Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014) (jarrettheather.com) Archive: link "Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes: link >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. Word Crimes Animatic: link >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two that didn't make it through to final animation or some very subtle changes in the lyrics. HN Discussion: link MrHeather on April 9, 2020 | parent | next [–] When I first met with Al about this project, I was quick to point out that linguists would disagree with about a third of the "advice" he's giving out. His immediate reply was "WELL THEY'RE WRONG"--really loudly in the "Weird Al" character voice. In my mind the joke is that the song's narrator is a know-it-all character that shouldn't be taken entirely seriously. But on the other hand, a lot of educators have contacted me to tell me they use the song as a learning tool. DonHopkins on April 9, 2020 | prev | next [–] Jarrett Heather is the artist behind Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video released in 2014 (at 48.4 million views now). Word Crimes: link "Word Crimes" is Weird Al's spot-on parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" with T.I. and Pharrell Williams. I think Weird Al's version is better and more educational than the original -- smart and catchy like a modern Schoolhouse Rock. Blurred Lines: link Weird Al contacted Jarrett Heather after being impressed by "Shop Vac", his previous work with kinetic text (typographic animation), which he made using animation tools like AfterEffects. Shop Vac: ▶ this video This page on Jarrett Heather's web site tells the story and shows the art and technology behind the "Word Crimes" video. He's also published the Animatic storyboard-in-motion that took about 100 hours, to Weird Al's original home-made demo of the song! It's fascinating to compare them, and see how their ideas evolved from storyboard to final video. Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes: link >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. The Animatic: link >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two that didn't make it through to final animation or some very subtle changes in the lyrics. Jarrett originally designed the Live Journal logo back in 2000 or so, and parodied it in the video, with a broken pencil tip. link Here's a great "Local Boy Makes Good" article and TV interview about Jarrett Heather from around the time the video came out, th
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@DonHopkins2020 · in “Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014)”
Jarrett Heather is the artist behind Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video released in 2014 (at 48.4 million views now). Word Crimes: link "Word Crimes" is Weird Al's spot-on parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" with T.I. and Pharrell Williams. I think Weird Al's version is better and more educational than the original -- smart and catchy like a modern Schoolhouse Rock. Blurred Lines: link Weird Al contacted Jarrett Heather after being impressed by "Shop Vac", his previous work with kinetic text (typographic animation), which he made using animation tools like AfterEffects. Shop Vac: ▶ this video This page on Jarrett Heather's web site tells the story and shows the art and technology behind the "Word Crimes" video. He's also published the Animatic storyboard-in-motion that took about 100 hours, to Weird Al's original home-made demo of the song! It's fascinating to compare them, and see how their ideas evolved from storyboard to final video. Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes: link >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. The Animatic: link >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two that didn't make it through to final animation or some very subtle changes in the lyrics. Jarrett originally designed the Live Journal logo back in 2000 or so, and parodied it in the video, with a broken pencil tip. link Here's a great "Local Boy Makes Good" article and TV interview about Jarrett Heather from around the time the video came out, that was previously posted to HN -- I love his down-to-earth advice: Elk Grove animator thrives as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s partner in ‘Word Crimes’: link Common Ground - Jarrett Heather “Word Crimes” Music Video Artist link >"If I did fail, it would have been Al's fault for hiring a software developer to make a cartoon." >Word Crimes is 244 seconds long. Each second took two hours at the computer. 500 hours work, in all. >"Yeah, no classes, just, you know. I think people really underestimate the value of just sitting down and reading the manual."
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@DonHopkins2020 · in “Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014)”
Jarrett Heather is the artist behind Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video released in 2014 (at 48.4 million views now). Word Crimes: link Weird Al's spot-on parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" with T.I. and Pharrell Williams: link Weird Al contacted him after being impressed by "Shop Vac", his previous work with kinetic text (typographic animation), which he made using animation tools like AfterEffects. Shop Vac: ▶ this video This page on Jarrett Heather's web site tells the story and shows the art and technology behind the "Word Crimes" video. He's also published the Animatic storyboard-in-motion that took about 100 hours, to Weird Al's original home-made demo of the song! It's fascinating to compare them, and see how their ideas evolved from storyboard to final video. Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes: link >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. The Animatic: link >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two that didn't make it through to final animation or some very subtle changes in the lyrics. Jarrett designed the Live Journal logo in 2000 or so, and parodied it in the video, with a broken pencil tip. link Here's an article about Jarrett Heather from around the time the video came out, that was previously posted to HN: Elk Grove animator thrives as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s partner in ‘Word Crimes’: link
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