One week Brief - Celebrate the Invisible (Brain waves)

An awkward meeting after a bad first date

My response to the brief is a short film experimenting with visual representation of thought processes. The subject of the film is a conversation between two people with a previous history that affects the way they now perceive each other on a conscious level. The style of the film is influenced by my research into the work of Michel Gondry and music video director Ace Norton. The visual representation of thoughts reveal the characters’ true emotions through words, colour and symbols. One of the most easily recognizable symbols of thought is the ‘thought bubble’ made popular by the representation of interior monologues in comic book artwork. For this reason, I developed a visual style heavily relying on the depiction of the monologue rather than the commonly used voice-over. I elected not to focus on the dialogue between characters in order to emphasize the things that would not usually be seen in film-based media.

The advantage of focusing on thoughts over words is that the narrative is not hidebound by the social niceties of day-to-day interactions. The characters are free to express their real feelings and motivations and in turn the audience is liberated to comprehend the realities of complex social situations. In addition, an interaction which would have otherwise been mundane becomes visually stimulating as the invisible becomes visible.

Finally, I have tried to push the concept of visual thoughts further to suggest that if thoughts can somehow leave the safety of the thought bubble they then become a physical entity, now visible to the characters, which in turn demands action.

Please let me know what you think of the work...

Sony Bravia Advert

A really nice addition to the 'colour like no other campaign'. This ad uses stop-motion to stunning effect. Enjoy!

Lyricist Lounge feat. Nate Dogg, Mos Def & Pharoahe Monch - 'Oh No'

This music video is another example of type in motion but this time with the visual aid of the people saying the words. The typography is bold and often becomes a self-contained image or a snapshot within the video. The more successful and subtle use of film and typography in this music video is where the hip-hop artists rap into the camera and the lyrics flicker around them (often overlayed and possessing keyframed opacity to suggest movement in time - e.g. when something is said it is highy visible but as time progressess its presence fades).

The way in which the artists rap has also been taken into consideration, each rapper has a unique lyrical style - e.g. Pharoahe Monch is very intense to the point of shouting so the typography used to reflect his voice is bold visually and resonates on the screen whereas Mos Def speaks softer so the type glows and flickers.

BBC Radio Scotland: Tartan Toyboys (1995)

I found this short motion piece using typographic imagery influenced by a radio conversation soundbites after looking at Callum Barker's Blog on Type in Motion. The motion piece was developed by Barnbook and can be fond on their website. The theme of the convesation is about male strippers (women talking about a strip show they are going to watch called The Tartan Toyboys). The visual style is heavily influenced by postitute cards found in telephone booths. The animation is cut to the conversation and is a collection of stills with elements of the conversation appearing in the chosen type styles creating a punchy aesthetic as well as suggesting an almost 'found' look to the images - taking typography out of context to link in with the soundtrack.

HBO Voyeur

www.hbovoyeur.com

US cable network Home Box Office have recently launched an ambitous interactive video-based website. The concept was a multimedia experience that gives you a peek into what happens behind the countless windows we pass everyday.

The set up of the website is a single camera angle facing the front of an apartment block. Your cursor allows you to click on one of the eight rooms which will take away the walls of the apartment to reveal a cross-section of the building and the action taking place inside. The idea is that the story lines are simply action (no dialogue) but leave the audience wanting to know more. It is also possible to show all the video story lines at once as shown in the video below:

The site itself is a really good example of how video footage is becoming the next stage in website design and also shows how an audience can interact with a video website. It is also an interesting way of gaining a wider audience and providing a whole new slant on 'watching' something but at the same time is a little too perverse for my liking. The story lines do, however, make an interesting point about the fact that when people think no one is looking they are capable of things that are socially unexceptable, dark and impulsive. Please let me know what you think of this site.

Half Nelson (Film)

This was a fantastic independent film that I recommend any film-lover to watch. What really interested me about this film was the way it was shot; in an improvisational, documentary manner. Andrij Parekh shot the film almost entirely handheld (Parekh argues that the look is honest, naturalistic and straightforward). Many scenes were shot with the lens wide open and no filtration. The film seemed alot more focused on the performance of the actors and the handheld feel helped provide a much more basic and stipped down version of a movie in sharp contrast to mainstream film.

There were alot of simple light techniques used on-set to create a humble setting. In some scenes Parekh used just one light, a 1.2KW HMI directed through a window covered in tracing paper (1000H). The actual motel room curtains were used to cut and shape the light, making the whole room glow.

"It's important to me that the actors can inhabit a space without being blinded by lights on the set," he says. "It's something I learned from working with John Thomas and Harris Savides, ASC, as an apprentice. Light the room, not the faces. It was a great piece of advice."

I really loved some of the focus work on this film as well, there were some extreme close-up shots that made it almost difficult to follow thw action of the scene but made you really focus on the emotions being portrayed and the dialogue used.

Further information on the filming of Half Nelson available at www.kodak.com

Sky Movies Advert

I found this advert on the Creative Review Blog. It is an advert for Sky about the joy of not having adverts during their films. The advert was filmed in the city of São Paulo, which is currently banned billboard advertising after a “Clean City” directive from the city’s mayor, Gilberto Kassab, which banned all outdoor advertising, including shopfronts.

The resulting advert is a nicley filmed piece depicting the absense of advertising in the city. It isn't actually that wierd to comprehend the absense of billboard advertising because we live in an age now where we are bombarded with so much advertising that we almost ignore they are there anyway / show very little interest in the fact they are there.

Justice - 'D.A.N.C.E' dir. Jonas & Francois

This is a really nice video coming of the back of the recent 'new rave' fashion trend. The video shows T-shirt graphics animated onto two models as they walk towards and away from the camera. I especially like the fact that some of the animation has been timed to make it look as if the models are interacting with the T-shirt designs. I also like the fact that the focus of the camera is on the torso of the model and completely crops out the head of the model (making you focus on the T-shirts before anything else).

Cicatriz Website

www.cicatriz.se

Here is another interesting concept for an online clothing site. Cicatriz.se has a fully intergated flash shop telling you what is in stock as well as showcasing the latest product range in a series of low-res videos set up in a grid (above).

Although the videos are low-res there are some really nice little features. For example, on the second video of the top row the model has been filmed pretending to pull the logo off of his T-shirt, a heavily pixelated version of the logo is tracked into the blank space. The end result is a blatent awareness that the visual is not meant to be taken seriously but instead shows the quirky nature of the brand as well as emphasising a selling point of the garment. Another nice feature is the planning of the website. The films fit into a timeline meaning that the play in an order, this allows for more visual tricks (i.e. creating the illusion that an item of clothing is being past between videos on two different rows by filming dropping a garment in one video and receiving the same garment from above in the other video).

Vision Streetwear Website

www.visionstreetwear.com

This is a good example of a full video website and how a apparel website can stay true to its essence. As the first page loads a pink spraypaint mark appears and drips down the page, straight away even this suggests the type of audience they are aiming for (young adults, rebellion, graffitti culture etc).

In addition to the loading percentage the website also provides you with a statement 'While you wait: 2 hectares of the worlds forests have disappeared,' however, the amount changes as the page loads and increases more and more. This is a simple idea but I really liked the delivery, it is the last place you would expect a message like that but it really works and will help to create awareness in a youngeraudience. Also, the delivery plays on the fact that you have to wait (converting the main weakness of the website into a feature), because the website is predominantly video it takes slightly longer to load - the 'while you wait' factoids are received by a captive audeince and use the amount of time a page takes to load to quantify another message.

Once the main website has loaded the entire background becomes a space for low-res videos to be streamed showing what the brand is about (skateboarding, music and the trends surrounding youth culture). The logo and navigation devices are static and in the foreground, made visible by spraypaint (also static). The entire website has a 'fanzine' influence and is an adaptation on the trend itself (derived from punk rock).

Another fantastic element of this website is the way the product is represented and really ties in the reason for having a video website. Instead of having a photo of the shoe they are selling or an expensive photoshoot with models posing Vision have instead used low-res videos close-ups of people's feet as they walk, run, and skateboard. This emphasises the brand and the fact they are more about the sport and lifestyle than other brands. They sell apparel for real people to be used in the real world. Personally I feel this is a really innovative way of showing a product and helps to strengthen the brand as well. Below are some examples of the the low-res videos of people wearing the product (the video still in the background).

'A Scanner Darkly' - Author Philip K. Dick

This is a brilliant science-ficition novel that portrays an all-too-real drug culture in a futuristic society. The 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick joins protagonist Bob Arctor in the future (1994) living with a group of drug users. However, they are unaware of a parallel life that Bob is living as Agent Fred (an undercover police officer in charge of the surviellence of Arctor's house. A major part of the story is that all undercover narcotics agents must sheild their identity in order to avoid collusion or curruption. Arctor was only supposed to pose as a drug user but becomes addicted to Substance D (Slow Death or D) which is a powerful psychoactive drug.

In the book, extensive consumption of substance D causes the user's two hemispheres of the brain to function independently or "compete" resulting in hallucinations and a state of lucid dreaming. In the case of Arctor and Agent Fred it causes them to fail to see that they are the same person and Agent Fred begins to spy on Arctor. Throughout all of this Agent Fred is being put through a series of psychological tests which eventually reveal that he is no longer capable to do his job. Donna, Arctor's dealer and love interst, takes him to rehab (known in the book as "New-Path") where he is renamed Bruce and ultimately descovers the secret behind the emergence of Substance D.

The title of the book comes from a Bible passage in 1 Corinthians 13 which states:

" For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

The main character of the book is required to view clips of his life on a 'scanner' (holographic recorder/projector used by the undercover police). In Chapter 13 of the book, the protagonist claimes that he has seen his life through the scanner but has come no closer to understanding it (similar to St. Paul in Corinthians) and that true understanding will only come in death. In other words, there are some things too big for one person to comprehend / there are things that we don't understand that will be revealed.

Although Dick's vision of the technology in the future was a little off the actual themes really struck a chord with me. Some of the key themes surrounded police surveillence and the blurring of a seedy drug culture with law enforcement agencies (which is also personified in the form of the character Bob Arctor). This duality seems to be underlying throughout the book but it could be argued that in today's society the blurring of boundaries is also a common theme. For example, in the case of surveillence where is the line drawn between lokking out of our best intersts and voyeurism?

What I also liked about this book is that although you are presented with a plausable protagonist there is no clear antagonist until late into the book.

I also watched the recent film adaptation of 'A Scanner Darkly' which I feel was a really underrated film. Directed by Richard Linklater, the film has been shot and cut like a normal film and than painfully rotoscoped to create an almost life-like animation.


The visual style for the film is spot on because it reinforces the idea of lucid dreaming or being in a state of consciousness when you are aware of what is going on around you but nothing seems real.
The Intro sequence to the film couldn't have been achieved in the same way with live footage. A Substance D user has developed paranoia and thinks he is covered in aphids but as he continuously washes they re-appear tormenting him. Please watch this film, if you are a designer or just a fan of Philip K. Dick it is worth a watch.

Battle for the Bronchs!

www.battleforthebronchs.com.au

This is a perfect example of how the digital side of design can be used in a new and interesting way, an interactive website utilizing video footage and flash gaming to create awareness about Asthma. Above is the teaser trailer for the website.

The main concept behind this website is a campaign by GlaxoSmithKline and Asthmascore to create awareness about the issues surrounding Asthma. Tequila (Australia) developed a video comic strip with characters such as Alvie Olie, Deep Bref and Hack Wheezer set in the fictional city 'The Bronchs'. The narrative involves the 'hero' Alvie Olie and his 'mentor'Deep Bref battling against the evil Hack Wheezer and his Trigger gang (The Trigger gang all have names of things that can set-off a person's Asthma). The purpose of this site is to reach young people who may be unaware of the symptoms of Asthma without boring them with facts and figures.

I really like the use of the comic strip format because it is naturally set out into scenes and has a narrative story throughout. This lends itself well to film; each box can have a different camera angle and show the perspective of the surrounding area in different ways. The actors have been filmed infront of a green screen and then still illustrations have been super-imposed as the background. The film sequences begin as stills (above) like a page from a comic strip but then each box will increase to full size (in turn) and play the section of film allocated to that box (as shown below). The end result is a flow of film in a narrative order as well as some secondary animation - sound effects and scaling as a visual aid. Although the narrative is weak and the characters not very interesting it still gets a definate message across and is alot more successful in delivering the message than a leaflet would be.


Also, the film/ comic strip is split into four main chapters, each one covering the idea of breathing and the need for air. Even the controls can be powered by the sound of your own breathing down a microphone. This enhances the level of interactivity with the story and allows the audience to engage with the concept on another level.

Nike: Play Colourful! Viral Advert

This is a brilliant viral advert from Nike playing upon Japanese humour to create a bizarre yet captivating visual narrative. The viral involves a mob of what can only be described as ninjas / power ranger-like characters harassing Japanese business men. I feel this viral works because you only see the brand for a split second towards the end, if branding had been placed throughout the viral it would have looked too staged and fake whereas the final delivery has a gutsy edge to it. Enjoy!

'Lucas With The Lid Off' - Lucas. Dir. Michel Gondry

This is possibly my favourite music video I have come across. It is, to me, one of Michel Gondry's best pieces of work. It involves a large studio set divided into several scenes. The main character, Lucas, performs whilst weaving through these scenes creating a continuous flow throughout the video. The best thing about this video is that it is one take, the movement from scene-to-scene and the placement of the camera, props and action has been timed to perfection by Gondry. The use of the camera to fool the audeince is used as well (for example, a 90 degree angle is used in the bed scene to fool the audience into thinking Lucas is lying horizontally, when the camera flips it is revealed that his legs were actually off the end of the bed - to make this more convincing even elements of the set were placed on their side).

Anyone interested in film or the production of music videos who hasn't seen this piece needs to watch it and appreciate the amount of thought that has gone into it.

Stop Motion Music

Stranger Than Fiction (2006) Opening Sequence