Motion Vocabulary/Literacy

Please read the Motion Literacy chapter of Jon Krasner's book (download PDF here).

Motion Literacy involves an understanding of

• Spatial properties such as positioning, scale, orientation and direction. The behavior of an object inside a given frame.
• Temporal considerations such as velocity, pace and rhythm.
• Coordinated movement. Motion principles in nature, physics.
• Movement of object vs movement of camera.

The method that you choose to move an element across the screen can enhance or change its meaning. They way how something is moving can have a stronger impact than the object itself. For example, a line of text that animates slowly across the frame while fading up from black might imbue it with a sense of mystery and calmness. If the same text flips over and then whizzes across the screen, it may express a sense of playfulness, urgency, or perhaps, instability. The motion itself can be the message. It's important to be aware that motion is not the purpose for its own sake but a way of serving the purpose of communication.

Motion Literacy meaning: The act of trying to understand how motion can be used to communicate more effectively.
Definitions of how things behave in space and time.

Spacial Properties

Spatial Transformations: Describe the conditions of elements with regard to their positioning, orientation, size, and relative scale inside the frame. These factors play a considerable role in determining how their movements affect the space they “live” in. Also rotation and direction properties..

Direction: The direction or “route” that elements travel is also an important consideration with regard to how movements will occur across the frame. There are two types of directions that elements can move— linear and nonlinear— in a straight line or on a curve. Mechanical objects, such as pendulums and wind-up toys, travel in predictable, linear directions. On the other hand, living subjects and phenomena that are affected by natural forces, such as tree branches, water, and grass being affected by the wind, behave and move in unpredictable, erratic ways. They can also change their spatial orientation as they travel. For example, a kite flying through the sky may change the direction it faces in response to alterations in air current..

Arcs: With the exception of mechanical devices, most actions travel in arcs—slightly circular paths. Because the human body is composed of many rotational joints that allow the limbs to rotate freely, a natural walk cycle shows a figure moving up, down, and forward to create an arc in space. Gravity is also accountable for this. When we move forward, our bodies are pushed down by gravity, creating a slight arc in our direction of travel. This animation principle can be used to support the quality of physical realism in accordance with the laws of gravity and inertia..

Frame Mobility / Mobile Framing: Framing of the object being filmed changes. The concept of the mobile frame means that parameters such as camera height, camera angle, camera level and distance may all change during the course of a shot..

Motion Paths: Motion paths allow you to specify the course of travel that elements take over a given time interval. They are represented as straight lines, curves, or a combination of lines and curves. Both linear and curved paths can be modified to control the direction that objects travel in a composition.

Temporal Properties

Pace: Represents the speed in which content is presented.

Tempo: Refers to the speed that beats occur in each measure.

Velocity: Linear and non-linear, Positive and negative acceleration

Rhythm: The repetition of beats and accents, directly related to Pace.

Timing: Establishing a steady, continuos rhythm.

Frame Duration: The duration that a composition’s segment remain onscreen.

Repetition of Image and Action: Cutting or Transitioning between recurring segments that have matching or similar images or actions.

Variable Rhythm: Not uniform, changing over time to vary the mood. Emphasis: Marks the interruption in the fundamental pattern of events, breaks predictability and defines a point of focus.

Varying event Frequency and Tempo: Showing the same event repeatedly, but in different way, can block the viewer’s expectation about the narrative.

Varying Frame duration: Controlling the rhythmic succession of images, actions, or events by manipulating their onscreen duration.

Pause: Can vary a compositions rhythm and pace.

Transitions

Transitions: Link sequences in a smooth flow between changes by providing a link between sequences.

Dissolve: Used to indicate the passage of time and involve smooth gradual changes of opacity between two overlapping events

Fade: Is achieved gradually from or to black or any solid color by gradually increasing the exposure until the image reaches its fullest brightness capacity.

Fade Out: Is obtained by gradually decreasing exposure until last frame is completely black.

Wipe: Involves one image literally pushing another image off the frame through a vertical, horizontal or diagonal movement.

Flip: Is a type of wipe in which the images appear to be cards flipped one after another and can move.

The interpretation of words, images and sounds are denotative and connotative. A denotative interpretation is an explicit, specific indication of a word, image or sound—it is self-referential or iconic, and the viewer does not necessarily have to work to recognize it. A connotative interpretation is the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart or beyond the thing it explicitly names or described.

Further Reading

Excerpt from "Motion Literacy" by Jan Kubasiewizc

Since motion is a constant in everyday life, then isn’t motion integral to design? Of course Motion has already been explored within different disciplines of art and science, but with the easy accessibility of kinetic tools, motion and communication design are more than ever integrated into one discipline. And since designers are becoming more concerned with injecting motion into their work, motion literacy — the act of trying to understand how motion can be used to communicate more effectively — is essential.

From a technical viewpoint, making type, an illustration, or a diagram move on a screen is a relatively easy task. However, achieving clarity of communication through the language of motion proved more challenging for many designers than achieving fluency in kinetic tools.

Communicating via motion involves issues of both “what” is moving across the screen – typographical, pictorial, or abstract elements – and “how” that something is moving.

The “how” question refers to the kinetic form and its grammar, defined by both space and time dimensions of motion such as velocity and amplitude. Kinetic form itself, may convey a broad spectrum of notions and emotions: from a sensible gesture, through a dramatic tension, to a violent collision. Of course motion in combination with pictures and words (and sound, if available) multiplies those irresistible opportunities in making meaning.

The meaning of motion on a screen, similar to all other aspects of communication design, relies on conventions and artistic techniques. A cross-fade of two scenes conveying a lapse of time, or a split screen meaning simultaneous happenings, are just two examples adopted from the cinematic vocabulary – the source of inspiration for motion designers. The language of cinema in its century-old history evolved into a complex, universal system of communication, combining the visual, sonic, and kinetic aspects into a synchronized, multi-sensory experience, and that language now becomes a new realm of communication design.

While perceiving visual/sonic/kinetic information simultaneously through multiple channels and over a period of time, the mind attempts to organize these discrete messages into a story, however abstract that story might be. A story must have its beginning, middle and end, but a story not necessarily has to be told in this order. Therefore, the designer’s awareness of different timelines – the one of the story, and another one of the storytelling – is essential. Equally essential is the designer’s awareness of the “plasticity” of time, and consequently, the designer’s ability of manipulating with time – real time, its representation and perception ­- through motion, sequentiality and multiple-channel correspondence (multimediality). Time, as intertwined with motion, becomes the structural design element as well as the subject of design.

Coordinating movement

involves understanding traditional motion principles. Squash and stretch, for example, can establish the physical basis of objects that have mass, giving their movements the illusion of weight and volume. Anticipation creates a sense of natural movement by dictating that an upcoming action is about to occur. Follow through and overlapping enables the flow between actions to be carried out smoothly. Acceleration and deceleration can soften lifelike movements, making them appear more natural. Secondary actions can heighten interest or add realistic complexity by supplementing and reinforcing the primary action. Movements can be combined to give nonrepresentational content the appearance of living subjects. The manner in which movements begin and end (birth and death), as well as their duration (life), should also be given consideration.

Framing, Mobile Framing:

2:35 Transitions,