Brian Cain is finishing up his time at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and he decided to throw an intonation project* into his portfolio. Working with Vince Vaughn’s rapid-fire “Perfect Girl” monologue from Wedding Crashers, Brian did a great job keeping pace while managing to throw in a few clever ideas of his own. My favorite bit—in both the original monologue and in Brian’s piece—is the “just the tip” gag. Apparently, I’m still 15 years old.
*For the uninitiated, projects like Brian’s have become standard fare in motion graphics classes. In my experience, they’re most often referred to as “intonation” assignments, because students are challenged to visually represent not just the content of the audio but also the way it which it is expressed—the intonation used by the speaker.
Although the basic concept of representing spoken words verbatim on screen and in real-time is probably almost as old as animation itself, MK12’s 2001 “Brazil Inspired: Macho Box” is often cited as popularizing the style for contemporary motion graphics.
Other examples include:
“Say What Again” by Jarratt Moody
“Feeling Good” by Tamara Gildengers Connolly
“The Lion’s Roar” by Mig Reyes and Matt Born
“Ya no se que hacer conmigo” from Milagrito Films (not student work)
For a higher res version of “The Perfect Girl,” visit Brian’s site.