A steady beat of stadium claps sets the stage for Buck 65’s gravelly voice as he weaves a miscellaneous lyrical list in the first verse of his track, “Superstars Don’t Love.” Simultaneously, Travis Hopkins’ fictional title cards stream forward in a blitz of elegant homage. These 69 individually-crafted title cards salute films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Wild Style, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Royal Tenenbaums, and others, turning Hopkins’ clear enthusiasm for film and typography into a charming panegyric in the style of the masters.

I've been working in the motion graphics design world for eight years. In that time, I've done my fair share of kinetic type animations. Often clients want nothing more than a bold Helvetica font flying and spinning around the screen. With "Superstars Don't Love," I wanted to show that kinetic type animation could be more about design than just your average "see and say."

Final title card examples (4 images)

I was listening to "Superstars Don't Love" by Buck 65 on my iPod and was immediately inspired by the flow of the lyrics. I'm a huge fan of movie title and poster design from the '70s and '80s and thought this would be the perfect match for a video.

Reference materials (Click to Enlarge)

I began by collecting reference material from books and the web, especially Christian Annyas' Movie Title Stills Collection which spans from the silent film era to present day. I then took the song lyrics and started applying specific movie genres that related to the lyric itself. I worked in sequence, often going back to tweak or re-do some of the cards I didn't feel were up to par.

Title comparisons (Click to Enlarge)

I used Photoshop and Illustrator to design the title cards, and After Effects for all the animation. The video is also made up of a collage of public domain movie clips, stock photographs as well as footage and photos I shot myself. In total the project took about 140 hours to complete over the span of two weeks.

Unused titles and alternative frames (3 images)

WRITER: Lola Landekic

Designer: Travis Hopkins

Buckshot Design