Style Guide and Collateral

Set Design on Hugo

When Martin Scorsese asked Dante Ferretti to be the Production Designer on Hugo he couldn't say no. They had been working on Shutter Island  when the opportunity to do Hugo came about. Scorsese and Ferretti have also worked on The Aviator,  as well as Gangs of New York just to name a few. With some sketches from the book to work with Dante went to the Gar de Lyon in Paris to get an idea of how he was going to create Paris in that time. Martin wanted to create a world with bits and pieces of clock everywhere so the attention to detail was paramount, they built the entire train station in England at Shepperton Studios.The entire set was made from scratch except for a few scenes where they were actually in Paris. Ferretti says in an interview that they had to build a station to fit the 1920's - 1930's era. With this being a 3-D movie having their own station made things a lot easier when filming; they couldn't shut down an entire station for as long as they needed and having their own gave them the freedom to what they needed. As you watch this movie you see just how much effort went into the set to make everything as perfect as it could be, you really feel as if they are in early 20th century Paris.

Having an already great idea on how the set was supposed to look like, the use of design principles are found throughout the film. One of the more impacting design principles used is line. When you think about a train station, you automatically think of the tracks and where it will fit among the people milling about the station, or at least I do. Looking at the picture above there are two parallel almost complete horizontal lines that create separation from the two main characters (Hugo and Isabelle). There are many other lines from the lamp posts, to the columns, and also to the bars that make up the window panes in the ceiling. Space was also something that was needed for this film, with it being in 3-D the way that the camera has to be moved needed a lot of space that wouldn't have been practical in a real world functioning station.

Continuity has been used right from the very beginning of the film in the idea that everything works like a clock with the affect of having Paris work the many gears that create a clock. These gears are seen in many places, not just when the characters are inside them. We also use pragnanz when looking at gears because we only see circles when so much more is going on with them.

The context for the train station is a historical one. It would be very difficult to use a modern train station and make it fit the time and the feel of the story. Like it was said before it would be very hard to close down an entire train station and film the movie.

Axioms of a Website

 Business/ Communication Objectives:

This is made real simple, upon opening the website you are able to see their mission statement. What makes this online store different from the others is made quite clear, they even tell you to "buy differently".

Continuity:

This achieved when making your way from page to page when the theme is consistently the same and that the layout of squares being evenly spaced is used from page to page when searching through the different tabs and categories on the website. I think this is also used in the sense that nothing at the top of the page changes when you go from one to the other. 

Good Looking means easy:

This website looks good, it's an easy vertical scroll with a horizontal scroll halfway down, but it isn't the annoying kind that stops your vertical scroll when you get to it, there is a tab that has to be clicked and dragged in order for it to work. Easiness is also used in the squares that hold the different products for sale; with a picture of what they are, all the consumer needs to do is look at it and decide if they want to click and find out more of the product. 

http://www.thegrommet.com

Looking Good on the Screen

While looking for a video I wasn't quite sure how to find a video that suited the idea that it was shot for the purpose of being visually pleasing when viewing it on a small screen and then I thought about what I watch a lot of YouTube videos on and the answer was my iPad. So that's how I went about searching for a video that was designed in a way that worked on a iPhone screen on my laptop.

The video I chose was done by film maker Casey Neistat, he is an independent short film producer and in this he makes his own beats by Dr. Dre headphones. This video works because the main focal point are the headphones and for the majority they are the center of the screen, with modifications happening all around them. The premise is simple and who doesn't like a tutorial on how to make your own beats?

Good & Bad Design

After seeing this image of an Australian wine called Vinaceous I hated it, there was no design thought put into this other than an image that depicts some old time circus or freak show act. To add some frustration I was having a very hard time trying to put my thoughts together for this. There isn't much closure in this, when they are side by side they don't paint the picture of being part of anything. These bottles are interesting to look at yes, but they lack that special quality about them that makes it pop out at me, and if they were to be separate from each other I would not even notice they were part of the same collection. Unless I had some emotional connection with this brand I would probably not pick it up off the shelf any time soon.

Now here is a design that works very well. Yellowtail, another Australian wine has a great design from the logo to where the name is placed. Simplicity is one of the biggest reasons I believe this works so well. Aside from the kangaroo there is a solid background that compliments the color of the wine. The similarity of the different bottles works because when you look at the kangaroo you are going to remember that you have seen something like that and the more familiar someone is with a new product the more likely it is that you might buy it than something you don't know. 

I really believe that we are a society that judges from first looks and that the majority would choose the bottles with the kangaroo on them. I think that they carry a sense of legitimacy that the Vinaceous wine does not have. I would say that Vinaceous has a good sense of figure ground relationship because you can see the characters either standing or floating in some medium. 

Contrast, Harmony & Balance

Catnap painted by a German painter whose name is Lucian Bernhard. This is what I think to be an excellent example of contrast, harmony and balance. The bright blue dress is what catches the eye first and as your eye rolls up the hip line of the lady you gaze into the striking red that is her hair. She is also wearing a black belt that suggests she is not just wearing a nightgown but a dress. Then you start look around see the orange tabby and how it's laying on the contrasting color that is forest blue-green. And then you might look up and see the red in its top corner and how in the opposite corner has the alternating hues of blue. And finally I look back to the girl and at her pale white skin and see it somewhat reflected off the cushion she is laying on.

First off there is balance everywhere in this painting based on color and its positions throughout. The eye has many things to look at and lots of things that bounce off each other because the colors are so complementary, it takes almost no effort. In terms of contrast I already mentioned how the blues and the reds work  so well together and how they are perfectly placed in this piece. When I look at this and just stare I start to think of who this girl is and how she had the importance to be painted. And then I think of the cat and start to think that if this girl is important that cat must be very important as well. What I am trying to say is that this painting is very harmonious with the girl and the cat and how they face opposite directions. And that they both share the same color scheme, it more provokes the thought that they are connected. 

I think is painting is very well done and that it is a prime example of contrast, harmony and balance. The shades that are used make a very pleasant scene to the eye. This painting is very well done and I am glad that I was able to share it. 

Visceral Response

This picture makes my mouth water and my mind race back to the summers of being an elementary school age child. Nothing is better than sitting next to a campfire and eating a hot melty gooey s'more and looking up at the stares. There are so many things happening in this particular image, there's the melting of the chocolate from the heat of the marshmallow. There's the crumbling of the graham cracker and the stickiness from the mallow. 

The texture almost leaps off the cracker and right into your mouth with the light honey crunchy goodness. The few lines that make a presence are on the edges of the s'more made by the cracker and that is the simplicity of it. The stupefying part of this is how easily this can be made, with only three ingredients my two year old niece knows how these are constructed and with as much ease as it took to make it she destroys them just as quick. What else, is that a Hershey chocolate bar only tastes good when it's in a s'more.