Information Design FINAL PROJECT: INFOGRAPHIC VIDEO ANIMATION
ZHOU YUTONG / 0378676
Information Design design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
FINAL PROJECT: INFOGRAPHIC VIDEO ANIMATION
TABLE OF CONTENT
Cheese
Short introduction of cheese
Cheese, everyone loves cheese, it can be seen that most of us add cheese on our dishes. Nowadays, there are also cheese addicts out there craving for more cheese. But do you know how do we make cheese
Ingredients (video shooting/ from web):
Process of making cheese (video shooting):
Preparing the milk: Cheesemakers start by processing the milk to prepare it to turn into cheese.
Acidifying the milk: They add cultures so that the milk ferments and becomes more acidic.
Curdling the milk: The maker adds a coagulant to cause a reaction that curdles the milk, creating curds.
Cutting the curd: The cheesemaker slices the curd with knives to separate the curds and whey.
Processing the curd: They stir, cook and wash the curd to acidify and dry it.
Draining the whey: Next, they drain the whey, leaving only a mat of cheese curd.
Cheddaring the cheese: The cheesemaker cuts the curd mat into sections and repeatedly flips the pieces before milling.
Salting the cheese: Some cheesemakers salt their cheese, while others brine it in a salt solution.
Shaping the cheese: They may shape the cheese, often using molds to assist.
Aging the cheese: Cheesemakers then age the cheese for days or years.
History of Cheese （graphics）
As early as 8000 BCE,the earliest Neolithic farmers living in the Fertile Crescent began a legacy of cheesemaking almost as old as civilization itself. The rise of agriculture led to domesticated sheep and goats,which ancient farmers harvested for milk. But when left in warm conditions for several hours,that fresh milk began to sour.Its lactic acids caused proteins to coagulate, binding into soft clumps.Upon discovering this strange transformation,the farmers drained the remaining liquid –later named whey –and found the yellowish globs could be eaten fresh as a soft, spreadable meal. These clumps, or curds, became the building blocks of cheese,which would eventually be aged, pressed, ripened, and whizzed into a diverse cornucopia of dairy delights. The discovery of cheese gave Neolithic people an enormous survival advantage.Milk was rich with essential proteins, fats, and minerals.But it also contained high quantities of lactose –a sugar which is difficult to process for many ancient and modern stomachs.Cheese, however, could provide all of milk’s advantages with much less lactose. And since it could be preserved and stockpiled,these essential nutrients could be eaten throughout scarce famines and long winters.Some 7th millennium BCE pottery fragments found in Turkey still contain telltale residues of the cheese and butter they held. By the end of the Bronze Age, cheese was a standard commodity in maritime trade throughout the eastern Mediterranean.In the densely populated city-states of Mesopotamia,cheese became a staple of culinary and religious life. Some of the earliest known writing includes administrative records of cheese quotas, listing a variety of cheeses for different rituals and populations across Mesopotamia. Records from nearby civilizations in Turkey also reference rennet. This animal byproduct, produced in the stomachs of certain mammals, can accelerate and control coagulation.
Eventually this sophisticated cheesemaking tool spread around the globe,
giving way to a wide variety of new, harder cheeses.
And though some conservative food cultures rejected the dairy delicacy,
many more embraced cheese, and quickly added their own local flavors.
Nomadic Mongolians used yaks’ milk to create hard, sundried wedges of Byaslag.
Egyptians enjoyed goats’ milk cottage cheese, straining the whey with reed mats.
In South Asia, milk was coagulated with a variety of food acids, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt and then hung to dry into loaves of paneer. This soft mild cheese could be added to curries and sauces,or simply fried as a quick vegetarian dish.The Greeks produced bricks of salty brinedfeta cheese,alongside a harder variety similar to today’s pecorino romano.
This grating cheese was produced in Sicily and used in dishes all across the Mediterranean.
Under Roman rule, “dry cheese” or “Caseus aridus,” became an essential ration for the nearly 500,000 soldiers guarding the vast borders of the Roman Empire.
And when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, cheesemaking continued to evolve in the manors that dotted the medievalEuropean countryside. In the hundreds of Benedictine monasteries scattered across Europe, medieval monks experimented endlessly with different types of milk, cheesemaking practices, and aging processes that led to many of today’s popular cheeses. Parmesan, Roquefort, Munster and several Swiss types were all refined and perfected by these cheesemaking clergymen. In the Alps, Swiss cheesemaking was particularly successful – producing a myriad of cow’s milk cheeses. By the end of the 14th century, Alpine cheese from the Gruyere region of Switzerland had become so profitable that a neighboring state invaded the Gruyere highlands to take control of the growing cheese trade. Cheese remained popular through the Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution took production out of the monastery and into machinery.Today, the world produces roughly 22 billion kilograms of cheese a year, shipped and consumed around the globe.But 10,000 years after its invention, local farms are still following in the footsteps of their Neolithic ancestors, hand crafting one of humanity’s oldest and favorite foods.
Footages:
Farms, farmers
Fresh milk
Switzerland
Graphics:
Video Shooting:
Types of Cheese (recommended cheese):
Video shooting style: Cinematic
Visual reference:
https://youtu.be/RrWv2B1h2G8?si=mw5sYjbVBqUoGI8n
https://youtu.be/rcsZC1MqDVQ?si=CrD32T2iXdOON6im
https://youtu.be/ZmMYeStitBA?si=2ATwtiKkhNjitk-k
https://www.netflix.com/my-en/title/80128096
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Camembert-cheese/images-videos
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=839512984707853
Stop-motion video
Video + graphics
1. Opening
(Opening title fades in over warm sunlight shining through a kitchen window.)
NARRATION:
Cheese — everyone loves cheese.
It’s on our pizza, our pasta, even our breakfast toast.It's on our pizza, our pasta, even our breakfast toast.
Some people call themselves cheese addicts — and honestly, who could blame them?
But do you know how cheese is made?But do you know how cheese is made ?
2. Ingredients（Lens reference: actual shooting + online materials）
Image: Slow motion shows milk being poured into a metal bucket, with salt and other materials placed next to it.
Light: Natural morning light, warm color temperature.
Narration:
Everything starts with milk.
Milk can come from cows, sheep or goats, and different milk sources create different flavors.
3. The Process of Making Cheese
4. History of Cheese（Graphics Section）
VISUALS:
Animated timeline graphic or illustrated infographic transitions between real footage.
5. Types of Cheese.
6. Closing Scene
VISUALS:
A cheese board arranged with fruits, nuts, and wine under sunset light.
Camera slowly pushes in; soft focus background.
NARRATION:
From the farm to your table —
cheese connects people across centuries and continents.
A timeless craft,
and a taste we’ll never stop craving.
Example footages:
https://pixabay.com/videos/landscape-hill-clouds-heaven-law-90492/
https://pixabay.com/videos/mountain-lake-sky-clouds-water-157062/
Our presentation PPT Information Design
Through this Information Design infographic video project, I gained a deeper understanding of how information can be transformed into a clear and engaging visual narrative. Our group chose “cheese” as the theme, which at first seemed simple, but during the process I realized that even familiar topics can become complex when they involve history, processes, and multiple layers of information.
One of the main challenges we faced was how to organize a large amount of content in a way that would not overwhelm the audience. The process of cheese-making includes many steps, and the history of cheese spans thousands of years. This required us to carefully select, simplify, and structure information. By breaking the content into clear sections—introduction, ingredients, process, history, and types of cheese—we learned the importance of hierarchy and sequencing in information design.
Another key learning point was the balance between real footage and graphics. Initially, we planned to shoot all scenes ourselves, but due to limitations in props and resources, we adapted our approach by combining video footage with graphic elements. This taught me that information design is not only about aesthetics, but also about problem-solving and flexibility. Using graphics for the history section helped communicate abstract and time-based information more effectively than footage alone.
I also became more aware of how visual choices—such as lighting, camera movement, and pacing—affect how information is perceived. The use of warm natural light and slow camera movements supported the theme of tradition and craftsmanship, while close-up shots helped emphasize important details. These decisions enhanced clarity and viewer engagement without relying on excessive text.
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