Short film by ShowStudio

Short film by ShowStudio for CFDA Awards 2007 Starring Agyness Deyn.



I guess i like all the strange shapes pulled at the beginning, and then the gradual cuts that make the shapes seem ever more awkward, more eye trickery!

Trompe-l'œil

Trompe-l'œil, french for 'trick of the eye' involves art that appears real through optical trickery!
I recently found some images of chalk-art trompe-l'œil, in particular those by the artist Julian Beever.



There are lots more on his site. Some need double takes to realise they're not photoshopped, and in a world where everyone can bloody photoshop pictures like this, people who can still manage this trompe-l'œil effect by hand should be celebrated!

pin-up, a modest history.

I have just finished reading this book:

"Pin-Up, A Modest History" by Mark Gabor.

This book documents the trials and tribulations of the pin-up as we know her. Despite its fleeting (war time) moments, as an empowering image of womens liberation, the pin-up, more often than not, simply subscribes to patriarchal female stereotypes, objectifying women for male digestion. It seems odd to me, that we are still, portraying these stereotypes, especially in advertising, despite the controversy surrounding them. I find most adverts created for females insulting and often patronising, without mentioning house work, shopping and the colour pink, it seems they can't find any other way to talk to females.

Tactile

My housemate recently came home with this book, Tactile:


and what a lovely book it is! I remember wanting to get it, due to the enormous amount of pixelgarten work there is in it (as a long term favourites lister) and everything else within it is just as lovely.
One of the pieces which had people cut outs looked like a more contemporary version of my little film 'a dangerous memory' and i pretty much dig everything in this book.


Now i have an urge to create paper organs to spread accross rooms and cardboard scrabble letters.
It's wonderful to see how far paper can be stretched and molded and how such modern pieces can be created from a traditional material. I also like the element of 'craft' and the graphic looking pieces they have achieved, two things which don't often fuse together.
Maybe in my next piece of 2-d poster work, i could consider creating something physical and as surprising as these instead.

Myriad Harbor

I have been a bit obsessed with this song since christmas, and when i saw this video for it (about a month ago) i got even more excited!
I love the whole aesthetic quality to it, the bright colours, the nice textures and the style of all the illustrations. I love the 2-d ness of the clothes, mixed with the real dimensional qualities of the faces, everything seems to go with the song so well.
The movement is also something unique within itself, and how parts of the characters seem to move with it, is just genious. i love the way the singers hair individually move as he does, as if he were underwater.

I guess in parts it reminds me of the emergency evacuation cards on airplanes, the colours and the thick outlines.

It's really surreal and inspiring to see something so new looking, not appearing so digitally jaded, everything is kept fresh, experimental, definately surreal and true to such a good bands ethos.

i like!

The Small Print Book

"The Small Print is an on-going exploration in creating lots of tiny things. Each design is meant to be reproduced small (no larger than 6x6") and are meant to only focus around communicating one idea."

There are some really nice images from this book, for some reason i think a lot of images look better and more intricate on a much smaller scale,




There is a really, naive quality to most of the images, with hint of professional touches! Because they are working on such a small scale there seems to be a focus upon graphically bold images, exagerrated textures and contrasting colours, with the bold aesthetic common amongst all the pictures despite how different the content may be. Each image is different, amusing, with various styles used, and i could imagine them being used for printed band posters and record sleeves. I think what keeps the images interesting is the differences between them, and what binds them together, being the key qualities they have in common.



(why am i not seeing tegan and sara now :( )

free range workers

I like this 'free range workers' image from http://www.usdesignstudio.co.uk/
it is supposed to be 'a response to the similarities between many office working conditions and battery farmed hens'
It reminds me of something said in coupland's generation x. It's a really strange sight but straightforward concept, and as i said i do like it, but it does make me feel a little bit sick, i guess it might be the pose.
And it is hard to imagine from an image the scale of this piece, i think that in itself will have much more of an impact, with the graphics appearing more obvious.

James Jean Prada short - Trembled Blossoms

This seems like a strange and slightly pointless way to advertise prada, there are parts I like in it and others that just seem far too strange, mainly the person!

I like the beginning, with the starkness and the pale pale colours, how the flower looks on the screen, where it is, it's whole watercolour aesthetic mixed with the 3d effect of the shading. I think the idea of a form, of shapes, is the best thing that is going for the video, but after the stark beginning there just seems to be an abundance of photoshop imagery and layers which just looks ugly, and totally derivative at the moment.

The whole look of the video goes so well with the 'cocorosie' soundtracking, the whole whimsical, experimental, d.i.y ness of the song seems to have trickled down to the movement and story of the film completely.

Object.org

I have been doing bits of reading here and there for my gender studies elective and i came across this website, with lots of convincing evidence about the detrimental effects of objectifying women in advertising and the 'lads mag' culture.
I think it quite astonishing, how accepting we are of certain images and oppinions, and whilst we are all quick to acknowledge that they are wrong, we are still buying magazines that enforce them, and perhaps in terms of designers, we are still creating work that pertains to them, sex sells, whether you beleive it to objectify or not. Women buy their image, perhaps this is why the 'dove - real women' campaign took a dive in profits.

Considering this is something we are all used to, it is hard to get to grips with the idea that if you are not renouncing and objecting to certain ideals, that you are effectively promoting them.

London Fashion Week

Unfortunately we sit on the sidelines here in leeds, far away from the LFW influence, but most stores in London were getting in on the act. In celebration of the activities I found a lot of shop fronts were sporting the 'paper cut out' a la Rob Ryan's 'this is for you' book.


There is an interview with the man himself on the magma website



The book is so intricate and detailed, it is hard to get over. He creates every piece from an innitial sketch and then cuts by hand. Major cutting skills! It is also nice to see such mostly decorative work being celebrated as much, now that crafting seems to have become purely ironic.

His book is out now and his website is
equally lovely.

Selfridges was the main culprit sporting the cut out windows, purely in white, it looked very fairytale -esque, but it must've taken a lot of work.
Stil sounds like a great job to me.

rocket science

Saw Rocket Science last night! From the director of Spellbound, it was likened to many films that I adore (Thumbsucker, election, rushmore e.t.c.) It was a good film, perhaps not as great as those because there wasn't enough closure for me, it was about a kid at high school suffering from his stutter and facing public humiliation. Maybe I empathised too much because parts were really hard to watch! but the part with the cello was good. There is still room for more teen angst films.

photography prize 2008

I went to london for a few days this week, as yorkshire is not being kind to me of late!
& whilst i wasn't particularly trying to do the tourist trap, i went to have a look in The Photographers' Gallery, which normally has some quirky work exhibiting.

At the moment they are showing the 2008 Photography Prize, in the cafe they had a lot of pieces by John Davis. These photos were black and white urban-industrial landscapes, images of places such as sheffield and stockport:


They read as really objective images, documenting this relationship between our urban history and modern day lives. The images display how something we see every day can suddenly look so impressive, the patterns of the infrastructure, the shapes of the buildings, the activities taking place within these surroundings, my favourite was one of people playing boules, within a mighty agressive industrial backdrop.

Overall really great photos, that suggest when you become bored of everything around you there is still something to see. Maybe this is something i could have a go at around leeds. :)

tegan & sara

installation animation! it's really hard (using animation) to find something, an idea, that fills up the song time. I quite like the idea of creating something in 'real time', a mix of film and animation, like this! it's simple, but still interesting and easy to watch. When just using animation it takes so much time to fill even a couple of seconds, so it would be interesting to play around with animated real objects or people.

argh. i'm sporting the same haircut.

cakes

This was the cake i made for Josh's birthday! (not andy warhol's) . . . it worked out pretty good, now i'm inclined to continuously work with edibles. (& eventually open up a cake shop)

i must belong somewhere

when i first started watching this video i thought it was a bit rubbish, but as it developed i really liked it! i like the mini carnival that packs itself away. i really like the look of the video and that it relishes in it's simplicity and relies on a really good idea, that isn't TOO literal to the song, but it is completely relevent.

best animated ads of 2007

According to thefirstpost these are the best animated ads of 2007!

Although my sister seems to love the robinsons one, i quite like the mtv switch one. It just looks quite nice and its something you could mimmick quite easily (i think at least), nothing too swish about it, just a clever idea.