Team 1

"Kill two birds with one stone"

“Kill two birds with one stone.”
German proverb: “Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen.” (Literal meaning: “To hit two flies with one swatter.”)
Greek proverb: “Me ena sbaro dio trigonia.” (Literal meaning: “To catch two birds with one shot.”)
Indonesian proverb: “Sekali mendayung, tiga pulau terlampaui.” (Literal meaning: “One boat trip reaches three islands.”)

Status Quo

In the intercultural workshop “Type in Motion,” our team consisted of one Greek, one Indonesian, and three German students.The participants had to choose a proverb that has the same meaning in different languages and to present it through an animation which consists mainly of typography.


Problem Statement

We wanted to use as many languages as possible in our animation. The difficulty was to find a way to illustrate all the different meanings in one animation, using mainly type, without making it too crowded or boring. Another challenge was to work with the traditional Javanese script and the Greek alphabet and to keep them understandable and readable.


Purpose Statement

We wanted the different proverbs to be connected through one story. It was important for us to turn our ideas into an animation that has simple clean line art and typography. By the use of keywords, we wanted to find similarities and symbols of the different proverbs.

Concept

In the whole animation, which is almost entirely black and white, we used simple forms and fonts. We also included the traditional Javanese script and the Greek alphabet to highlight the backgrounds of each proverb. The Keywords of these sayings are “Bird”, “Stone/Bullet”, “Flies”, “Paddle” and “Island”. In our animation these objects are illustrated with type that shows each word in the language of the relevant proverb. The symbol “Bird” for example can be found in the English and in the Greek proverb. That is the reason for using four birds in our animation. All of them are made out of typography. In two birds, the English word “Bird” is readable and in the other two birds it says “Trigoni” in the shape of a Trigoni bird, which is a well known bird in Greece. The illustrations of other Keywords function in the same manner. After every scene of the animation, the relevant proverb is on display. Eventually all the proverbs are readable again in all languages, to symbolize that in the end they all have the same meaning.


Message

We wanted to point out the same interpretation of all proverbs despite the differences in each language. That's why we made one story out of all proverbs. The meaning of the proverbs is to achieve more than one result with a single action. The effectiveness and success of the act is the central point.


Conclusion

It was pretty inspiring to work in a team consisting of three nationalities. Our team was well-structured and everyone had their own tasks and could help in creating the animation in equal parts. During the workshop we learned a lot about the conception and creation of animations. But more importantly we learned how to work with people we didn’t know before. It was very interesting to see the cultural differences and to realize what is possible within only three days.

Teammembers

Judith Bahr (6th sem.)
Ulm University of Applied Sciences

Xenia Engelker (6th sem.)
Ulm University of Applied Sciences

Maxi Stumpp (6th sem.)
Ulm University of Applied Sciences

Regina Sembiring (8th sem.)
Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta

Yannis Katsimpras (6th sem.)
Technological Educational Institution of Athens