METHODS AND MADNESS RICHARD DE CAZALET GRAPHIC DESIGN,YEAR 2
HIERACHY An example of hierachy an everyday hierachical system in which items are ranked in order of importance
GRIDS The two images are created in order to contradict each other. The top image is based on New York as it was built on a convential ‘grid’ - an entirely man-made design. Whereas the bottom image is based on London, which was built up naturally through time by joining villages creating less structured road system, though questioning whether it still works as a grid.
BIOGRAPHY These images give an insight to the darker side of Disney. He was alledgedly a fascist and a part of the illuminati, sharing a belief in the ‘New World Order.’ (see references in images to “All Seeing Eye” and pyramid) Left: Short .gif animation where his written biography reveals the ‘truth’ Above: Parody of Disney’s style and logo. The quote “Makes no difference who you are” comes from the Disney song “When You Wish Upon A Star” which contradicts Disney’s true beliefs.
PERSUASION Left: Snapshots experimenting with personal space and the use of the human body as an obstruction. This included; Sitting close to people who are sitting on their own in an empty environment Facing backwards in an elevator Facing someone in an elevator Facing backwards on an escalator Running across the street and lying on the pavement obstructing someone’s path The use of secret video recording was employed for a number of the experiments
Right: Final video. Following the idea of using oneself as an obstruction. The video can be seen at ... http://vimeo.com/16226756
SHOOTING STARS
Investigating how commercialisation would affect charities, employing Cheryl Cole as ‘the face of Malaria.’ The idea was to create something to the extent that it loses it’s real purpose, as in, you would think the campaign is about Malaria yet it’s Cheryl Cole’s face that is plastered over all the posters and merchandise. Additionally advocating the idea that Cheryl Cole is the idolistic person she is made out to be by the media, charity work always looks good in the public eye.
Left: Parodying Cheryl Cole’s previous work in the L’Oreal adverts, using the slogans and changing their context.
NARRATIVE Snapshots of videos which can be seen at Real time: http://vimeo.com/17434104 Editted (shorter): http://vimeo.com/17549567 Overlay: http://vimeo.com/17900060 By changing the sequence, it changes the story. By taking this idea and reversing a recording of myself tidying my room, consequentially, the story was changed. In the process of tidying, I walked backwards so that when the video was reversed, the video appeared normal apart from some noticable but mostly subtle differences in gravity.
By reversing the video, not only does it appear that the room is getting messier, but it completely destroys the history of how the object originally got there and creates a new narrative. These are images which have stemmed from parts of the video, creating a narrative that suggests a relationship that has gone wrong. Although they were inspired by the video, they stand as a seperate piece of work.
EVALUATION
I struggled initially at the start of the semester, finding a lack of motivation coming from the briefs. However, upon receiving the Persuasion brief, things soon changed. Normally, I find it difficult working in a group as I like to be in control of my own work and at the same time don’t like the idea of having to rely on others. However, I worked really well with my group (Dani Collenette and Chloe Anderson) and we came up with many ideas and got a lot of work done together and am very pleased with the final outcome of the video. It was both an insightful experience and also comical. I also enjoyed the Narrative brief. The idea came from seemingly nowhere and just rolled very naturally. I still have plans to continue with this idea and play around with it but due to a lack of equipment I haven’t be able to do so just yet. However, in contrast to these two briefs, I found the others quite arduous. The way in which the Shooting Stars brief came out wasn’t how I had envisioned in my head, I think it needed to be expanded on a larger scale and perhaps actually physically making the merchandising and putting them into context would have helped with this problem. My main problem with in the Hierachy and Grids brief. I didn’t really understand the purpose of them and also felt it was quite restricted, the outcome was to ‘make a grid’ and then ‘break it.’ I was trying to work with the idea of London verses New York’s layout and had traced copies of the road systems laid out for a couple months before I found a use for them. In the process of finding a use for the leftover work, I also discovered a new technique of colouring by using watercolours and then using photoshop to overlay a design or pattern, such as the flags, underneath which created an effect that looked as though I had painted it in such a way. Overall, I was not entirely happy with all of the outcomes in this unit of study but I feel I have learnt a little in the process and look forward to building upon the new skills that I have acquired.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ITV’s X Factor BBC iPlayer ‘Is Seeing Believing’ Walt Disney Logo, http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ creativelogos16.jpg Walt Disney; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1693448.stm Walt Disney’s ‘Pinnochio’