Image Still from Alien (1979) dir. Ridley Scott
Studio Proposal
This year I hope to delve further into my interest in the stereotypical design and construct of Hollywood’s approach to sci-fi and to examine how information is disseminated in film.
Excessive repetition of the font type ‘Eurostile’ and the extravagant and complex computer interfaces seen in such films convey the themes and overall look of a feature but how important are these elements and as an audience what information does this convey to us?
We can break down film and consider colours, typography, objects, people, narritives and so on. Patterns that are generally very similar to one another. In addition I would like to refine my interests in the design details of such features, for example, Typography with set/prop design. I wish to conduct research into the patterns of these genre’s art forms and bring focus to the long running aesthetic of retro-futurism and its relationship with human nostalgia whether that be in terms of analog technologies or a font type. I’m looking to identify and explore the stylisation of particular era’s in film and I wish to push myself further by applying certain rules of film making to my own work as I have explored this theme in previous years. For example if we look at the work of Chris Kieffer for ‘Interstellar’ there is a set of rules generally followed. The Paradigm W.I.M.P (window, icon, menu, pointing device) is generally the rule of his design work for interfaces seeking other inspirations from the surrounding object.
Over the last month I have obsessed over the work of Dave Addey and have read ’Typeset In The Future: Typography and Design In Science Fiction Movies’ twice round. His insight to detail and specifics has really fuelled my current ideas and given me a fresh perspective on my interests. In particular he references the work of Ron Cobb (Alien) and Syd Mead (Blade Runner). Ron Cobb’s ‘Semiotic Standard’ visual language has made me reconsider data visualisation and sparked an interest in the meaning behind design. The themes of Brendan Dawes’ work, in particular ’Cinema Redux’ is another inspiration to my work this year and shows the non linear and ‘un-informative’ side of data vis. It allows the question to begin of what is the information and who is meant to understand it. Syd Mead’s work for me is much more aesthetically driven and relays the idea of ‘the future right now’. Why are we revisiting designs of 60’s through 80’s ideas of the future in present day film making. Is it nostalgia of an era or something more?
Considering these ideas and works I also wish to explore the practicalities and experimentation of technologies and inventions in film, such as the sliding technique seen first in ‘Minority Report’ had a major deal to play in Apple’s sliding function for iOS. Considering the vast abilities the smoke and mirrors of the industry can achieve and to think about design elements in depth. Film and other digital tools allows us to experiment with these ideas that would typically be out with my skill set or too time consuming and allows to use of smoke and mirrors to convey an idea or invention.
I wish to be hands on with my approach to final year work. Lots of building, making and experimenting as I feel I have held back in previous years with such. I want to utilise workshop space and to allow my ideas to take physical form as well as digital form throughout the year. I’m looking to explore relationships between physical materials (designing such objects) and technology and explore this idea with the help of AR and its ability to add information and context to a piece. My goal is to experiment with prototypes, to build first with basic materials and grow to something more sophisticated. I also wish to work with data in new ways and would consider revisiting machine learning to do so.
Typeset In The Future, Dave Addey - Christian Marclay's The Clock - Brendan Dawes' Cinema Redux - Christian Marclay's Telephones