Communication Artifact

My small contribution to our campaign was this short commercial. I felt that we needed something really simple for this commercial in order to promote a relationship of trust between Colorite Investments and the clients. So I went with the generic interview-esque feeling to give potential clients a chance to "meet" Charles and establish some trust in him and his brand. Ultimately, we wanted to direct the audience to the website.

As far as design principles go, I mostly worked on composition within the shots. During the interview clips, my goal was to frame it according to the rule of thirds. Our lighting options were quite limited because the house didn't have power to it so we did what we could with sunlight.


Overall it is a very simple production but it does its job.

Mis-en-scene

For this assignment I chose a scene from Moonrise Kingdom, which is one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors, Wes Anderson.  I have always been a fan of his unique style which almost makes you feel like you're watching a play rather than a movie. I had a hard time picking my favorite scene from this movie just because they are all so great.

The art director for this film was Gerald Sullivan. He has worked on quite a few movies like, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Dark Knight Rises, Minority Report, and many others. In this interview, he explains a little about how much work goes into designing and building sets while maintaining the vision of the director.

Compose Your Frame

I took this image earlier today for this assignment. Its not the strongest as far as lighting goes. There isn't a lot of contrast and everything is a little monotone, but it does have decent structure which is why I chose it for this assignment. 

There are a variety of lines in this picture. We have vertical, diagonal and to some extent horizontal. I tried to apply the rule of thirds here putting most of the weight on the top third of the photo.

Axioms of Web Design

Panic

http://www.panic.lv/en/

I stumbled across this website looking for an example for this assignment. I was instantly intrigued by the color scheme which being as vibrant as it is, initially came across almost off-putting. After having looked at it a little longer I started having some fun with it.

The web page layout is quite simple. All it really is a vertical column that has various graphics and videos that show previous works of Panic. The mission statement is quite clear and easy enough to find that I was able to learn about the company. 

Overall, this website is really easy to navigate and displays all of the company's important information in a way that is fun and entertaining.

Design Evaluation

The Bad

Let me start off by stating that this is probably one of the worst movie posters I have seen.

Even if we could look past the awful photoshop, this poster is an abomination. It lacks continuity. Especially the subject on the top right. He is basically a floating head. The rest appear as though they were cut from pictures of a magazine and glued it to some paper.  The shadows are also going every which way not allowing me to grasp any concept of lighting. There is also confusion as to the context of the random gun. Or in other words, this poster does not tell me enough of a story to catch my curiosity enough to see this film. From a marketing standpoint, this poster does not sell this film to me. In fact, it does the opposite. 

The Good

I'm not a huge fan of romantic comedies but I did see this one. I think this poster may have influenced me a little there. 

For me this poster works. Its simplicity is what I like about it. It gives me just the right amount of context for the movie to peak my interest without spoiling it.  It's not a photographic masterpiece by any means but it gets its point across. I love the contrast in the tattered suit and dress. Another reason I enjoy this poster and chose it was because it was unique compared to the "cookie cutter" romantic comedy movie poster.

 For Example:

Contrast, Balance, and Harmony

I stumbled across this photo and it really stood out to me. This was taken by a Russian mother by the name of Elena Shumilova. She took advantage of her natural surroundings to get this amazing shot. She also has more photos of her sons at this link.

From a phycological standpoint I get a sense of contrast between the peace and comfort of a loyal, trustworthy companion (such as dog), and the discomfort and eeriness of the unknown ahead of them. That is implied mostly by the foggy/hidden nature of the path in front of them.

There is a balance of size between the dog and the child. Their gazes toward the path guide us to the vanishing point and I feel that this photo flows very well. There aren't any harsh shadows due to the overcast which gives this photo a very calming mood. Overall this photo is harmonic to me and it resonates with my younger, more adventurous self.

Law of Similarity

I chose this logo because I believe it demonstrates the Law of Similarity very well.  When you break it down all it really is, is a series of similar lines that our brains group together to form letters.

*Bonus image

Visceral Respnse

This is one of my favorite youtube videos that has come out in the last year.  I chose this video for this assignment mostly because of the initial "awe" factor that I had when viewing it for the first time.

To me, this video comes across as clever, original, and well made. It is able to portray a short, humorous story without the use of many words. It takes film back to its roots.

Composition is also something that really makes this video great. Each frame is basically a carefully shot picture that when, by itself, doesn't really say much at all.  However, when all of those pictures are put together it tells a story. That is what film is and I believe that's why stop-motion resonates so well with me.