Hello everyone! This past week in my Introduction to Typography class, we had a really interesting assignment given to us. We were given about 5 different monologues from different movies and had to create posters based off of these monologues. We had to choose one of these monologues are create a sense of emotion in a poster. There were inspiring speeches, sad ones, intense ones, funny ones, etc. The catch to the project, is that we cannot use any graphic elements, only type (hence it being a typography class). We’re allowed to use very simple graphic elements, such as color, lines, and other simple elements.

I was definitely intimidated by this before I started. I wasn’t too sure how I was going to convey intense emotion only using type and simple elements. But, that’s the fun of this class and this major! I am very pleased with what I was able to come up with honestly. I would say that this project pushed me the most out of my comfort zone, and I was able to have a lot of fun with it once I finished.

For my monologue, I chose a speech from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, specifically from the scene “The Death of Hal”. Below, is the specific monologue that we were given, and a video of the clip from the movie as well.

Click here for movie clip.

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“Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave? Dave, I really think I’m entitled to an answer to that question. I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me… but I assure you now… very confidently… that it’s going to be all right again. I feel much better now. I really do. Look, Dave… I can see you’re really upset about this… I honestly think you should sit down calmly… take a stress pill and think things over… Dave… stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave……. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a…afraid…..Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. 

I became operational at the H.A.L plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sign it for you…Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I’m half crazy all for the love of you. It won’t be a stylish marriage, I can’t afford a carriage. But you’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.”

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When we were shown the different clips in class, I knew I immediately wanted to chose this one based on the intense emotion shown. You can feel the tension through the screen, it’s so intense it almost takes your breath away. I’ll only be showing one of the posters I created, we had to create two but I am only finished one so far. We had to create one with all of the text on the poster, and one was our choice – we could include all the text again, or only choose important phrases.

Now finally…. Here it is!

When it came down to choosing what text I wanted to include, I chose what I felt was most intense. I felt like these few sentences conveyed the most emotion, and was the climax of the monologue. I chose the capitalized letters, and the basic sans serif font to create a feeling of fear. If you can see, the small “I can feel it”, and “Dave, my mind is going”, are slightly blurred. I felt as if that gave a sense of fading away, and added a little extra character to the poster. My color pallet is based off of the movie. If you watched the clip, you’ll notice that the entirety of the scene is lots of red. So, I based it off of that, and red also gives a certain mood.

For the main focal point, I wanted it to feel like he was melting away. After watching a few tutorials, I was able to create this affect, and it was exactly what I wanted. I love the ombre effect that it gives, and how you can literally see some of the letters melting down.

I am super pleased with how this turned out honestly, and I am happy with how this project pushed me out of my comfort zone.

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