Advertising Seminar

High Art Vs Low Culture

Task 3

List of Designers/Photographers/etc I like.

La Boca

Stuart Kowasaki

Saul Bass

John Galliano

Viktor and Rolf

Paul Phung

Partnersin

Milton Glaser

Rachael Smith

Brian Keplesky

Emily Allison

Ali Eng

Virgilio Tsaz

Devin Washburn

Phil Dibello

Min Choi

Rachel Willey

Jason Arias

Pablo Delkan

Pedro Messias

Tad Carpenter

Leen Sadder

Vesa Sammalisto

Trigger Communications

Colle and McVoy

Bryan Keplesky

1. The vintage aesthetic of the illustrations
2. Original use of composition and placement of text
3. The quirky style of his illustrations, and the hand drawn effect he uses
4. The fact that it looks like a lot of love has gone into his work, shows a sense of optimism and happiness within his designs.
5. The use of softer pastel colours in his work.
6. His work is fun and interesting to look at (such as the Ugly Beats Lomita poster), and displays a lot of skill and detail, instead of using vectors and simplification of information.
7. I like the creativity and cleverness displayed in his Austin illustration, where the building is placed inside a corn husk, which relates to Austin in a humorous and innovative way.
8. He keeps a good balance between communication and retaining a sense of style.
9. Sense of humour in his work.
10. Use of print process.

Emily Allison

1. Unashamed Feminine style
2. Considered use of colour
3. Attention to detail
4. Beautiful Typography
5. Use of layering and pattern
6. Nostalgic feel to her work
7. Use of print processes
8. Sense of Humour
9. Quirky and fun illustrations
10. Balance between communication and her sense of style

LA BOCA

1. Clever use of referencing modernism in the Black Swan poster set,
2. Bold use of colours in many of their works, but they are also considered and balanced.
3. Experimental and eclectic style -  their work is broad and communicates different things for their clients - shows their understanding.
4. Dark sense of humour within the Subverse posters, again, a clever referencing with the cartoon Mr Men style.
5. Their work has a very cool and confident sense of style.
6. Good balanced composition within their work despite the large amount of information on show.
7. Typefaces used are simple but effective, and in keeping with the different styles used in each image.
8. I love their work with layering, such as the photographs overlaid with colour, as they look so cool and interesting.
9. Originality and experimentation.
10. The detail and skill displayed in their work. 

3 Designers who I found out about through Blog Marry Avoid.

Olly Moss

1. Intelligent yet simple concepts based on the film
2. Experimental style
3. Strong use of colour
4. Screen printed, authentic quality to his work
5. Use of humour
6. I like the way the posters have been stripped down, and aren't saturated with information.
7. I like how the typefaces used work perfectly with the whole aesthetic of the movie poster without feeling contrived or tacky.
8. He has such a broad skill set that means that his work always feels authentic to the style and aesthetics of the poster, it never looks like he's simply referencing them.
9. I love his work because I love film posters and anyone who reinvents them or makes them look more special.
10. I'm also astounded by his accomplishments despite being only a few years older than me.

Camilla Engman

1. There is a sense of humour to her work.
2. I like the childlike quality of her illustrations.
3. I love the quirky characters and sets she designs in the paintings and illustrations.
4. I like the soft and simple use of colour.
5. Very feminine and pretty style that looks quite innocent.
6. The images she makes are interesting and unusual, I don't feel like anyone would simply flick past them without being intrigued.
7. I like how she doesn't only focus on illustration, and that she has other outlets for her work such as painting and collecting. 
8. Aesthetically they are very soft and calming to look at, and they aren't trying to be controversial or bold to gain viewer attention.
9. Dreamlike quality.
10. Sense of nostalgia.

Here Design Studio

1. I like the fact that they work in multiple areas of design, which displays their broad skill set.
2. I love the use of simple illustrations on the Geometry of Pasta, which looks contemporary and cool, despite the boring title.
3. I love the fact that they seem to understand implicitly what needs communicating within each brand or editorial, instead of basing everything on their own styles. 
4. I think they have a great use of composition and balance within each of their designs.
5. There is a sense of humour and wit in each piece, in particular the Etiquette for Gentleman book.
6. The simple colour palette works well for each piece of work.
7. I like the cool and modern aesthetic in the Bocca cookbook and the Geometry of Pasta designs.
8. I like the way that their editorial work isn't overloaded with information.
9. I love that their designs are unique and interesting to look at without feeling brash or attention seeking, the designs speak for themselves.
10. I like the fact they are a small studio working with both big names and more independent companies.

Lecture Notes - Italian Vernacular Cinema

Italian Cinema was very much separated by class around the 1960's and 70s. 

'Film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates'

There is the prima and seconda visione - which were cinemas that attracted a sophisticated, middle class audience, and these cinemas were usually found in major cinemas.
Then there is terza visione - cinema shown in less populated areas, selling cheaper tickets. The audience this attracted went to the cinema out of habit, rather than selection of a particular film. The films shown in these locations were more formulaic and popular, instead of being critically acclaimed. It was also aimed at a more typically working class audience.

In Italian cinema, Fellini is one of the most well known auteurs, who was taken very seriously as a director. He commented on the superficiality of middle class existence, and his films are associated with style and sophistication.

One of his most famous films is La Dolce Vita (1960). Many of his films have a common theme or narrative, with a foreigner entering Italy. The foreigner usually leads a very cosmopolitan 'jet set' lifestyle, which is then questioned or explored throughout the film. In La Dolce Vita, we follow a week in the life of Marcello, who is torn between a life of frivolity or a meaningful existence. These 2 opposing lives are represented by the elitist Roman social scene, which is devoid of any moral or ethical values, and his devoted girlfriend Emma.





Terza Visione - the working classes
For the working classes, the cinema was something sociable, and was a place for them to meet up with friends, eat and drink. Unconventionally, they would arrive at any point of the film, and simply rewatch it from the beginning to catch up on anything they missed.
Terza Visione films were more popular, which meant there was a greater amount of them being produced. Genre's associated with terza visione are Giallo (detective novels), Spaghetti westerns, Mondo (cannibal), and Poliziottesco (Police Procedural).
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a good example of a terza vision film.
Directed by Sergio Leone, there are key features which make it identifiable as italian vernacular cinema, which include

• Use of sound and music, as opposed to heavy use of dialogue
• Use of eye line and cutting
• Differences in scale
• Use of camera to tell the story
• Fragmentation of body
• Catholic references (the cross)

Giallo is another well known genre of Italian Vernacular cinema, and is based on detective novels, which is where the name is derived from (giallo translates as yellow, the trademark colour of paperback crime novels). 

Notable directors include Mario Bara, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. 

The genre treads a fine line between style and bad taste. 

Defining characteristics of Giallo films include a foreign protagonist, who witnesses something terrible and then they become private detectives. The protagonist usually works in the creative industry, and is there to provide a fantasy figure that the working class audience can aspire to. 

Generally set within an italian city scape, evoking a stylish and cosmopolitan atmosphere that showcases Italian architecture, and provides a sense of escapism and glamour. 

'The Girl Who Knew Too Much' (Mario Bara, 1963) is one of the first Giallo films with these defining characteristics. 

Lecture Notes - Hitchcock and the Auteur

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the of the most well known and critically acclaimed film auteurs. Films include The Birds, Vertigo, Rebecca and Spellbound.  

Auteurs typically create films that are imprinted with a signature sense of style, and the viewer is led to these by key signifiers in their films. 

Signifiers of an Alfred Hitchcock film are 

• Suspense and Tension - his films are created in such a way that they manipulate the viewers sense of security, evoking an emotional response in his audience
• Little dialogue is used - instead, Hitchcock focuses on the visual to create tension and narrate the story
• Cameo appearances of him as a minor part
• Expressionism
• Obsessive casting of blondes as the main female role
• Continuous use of particular actors (Cary Grant, Doris Day, James Stewart)
• Dolly Zoom
• Cutting and Montage
• Themes of psychology and sexual epiphany

Many of his films display his obsession with psychoanalysis, in particular Vertigo, which explores Hitchcock's own fear of heights.
Symbolism is also used often in his films, such as the use of green in Vertigo, which appears in various forms in each scene, and represents the ever living. Spellbound is also another notable example, a film he collaborated on with Salvador Dali. In Spellbound he explores the use of eyes, intended to symbolise perception or voyeurism. The dream sequence in Spellbound again explores his fascination with psychology as he looks into a surreal internal dreamscape.

Other notable auteurs include Howard Hawks, Jean Renoir and Terrence Malick. 

Whilst many champion the concept of the auteur, there are some who critique the theory. 

There are many others working as hard as the 'visionary' to create the film, yet they get very little credit or acknowledgement within the industry or the press, it creates an elitism within the film industry, and it is also used as a capitalist device, by selling the film based not on the quality, but simply on a name.

Many auteurs are also incredibly self indulgent, relying more on style than any real content or relevant narrative, or simply creating a film meeting their own needs, and not those of the viewer.

Typogateux Inspiration

Happy Pantone Christmas!

How To (Make Christmas Dinner Less Stressful)

Christmas Dinner with Less Stress

• posted by 
• Alice Sinden 
• in 
• Parenting
•  
• on 
• November 26, 2007 - 4:49pm

Christmas is coming again! Busy cooks will prepare turkeys, geese, hams and tofurkeys to serve in vast quantities. We’ll devour all kinds of appetizers, vegetables, fruits, salads, breads and desserts, according to people’s varying traditions.

You can create less stress for yourself over the holiday in small ways. Many of those ways involve the foods you serve. Caution: The “human factor” of stress is always present, especially around Christmas, so one of the best things you can do is keep your sense of humor, even about food!

Our grandparents and great-grandparents spent their working hours in factories or on farms, while we tend to spend ours in offices. Our bodies don’t require the heavy meals they regularly ate. We now consume more than we produce. Be honest here! How much of the food you plan to serve did you plant, harvest, preserve or butcher? We don’t need all the trimmings anymore, especially since they end up around our waists and hips!

Cutting down on your consumption for the holidays is a great place to start your “de-stressing.”

Plan

Start ahead of time. If family and friends usually bring food to your dinner, find out what they’re bringing. Make a list. Then add to the list everything you normally serve.

What’s on your list that everyone will miss if you scratch it off? What’s on it that almost no one will miss? You can cross those things off your list. If Aunt Sophronia’s creamed onions that no one eats are on that list, consider asking her to bring something else this year, perhaps a jar of pickled onions. Explain to her and others that you’ve decided to cut down on the amount of food that’s wasted and to make things easier for those who have to watch their diets. That may help avoid hurt feelings.

Remember, you want to reduce the number of things you'll be serving!

Shop for your dinner ingredients as soon as possible. Having everything on hand before Christmas arrives means no one has to make a last minute trip to the store. Don’t forget to include the things you’re not out of yet, but will be by Christmas.

Delegate

Ask others to bring things like salads, vegetables, relish platters, pasta dishes, rolls, desserts, fruits or cheeses, etc. You could even ask someone to bring paper plates and cups to eliminate both dusting off your good dishes and having so many dishes to clean up afterwards. This will cut down your time in the kitchen and the stress that comes with trying to get everything done at once.

Design

Design your dinner with the following in mind:

• Instead of traditional appetizers, serve a raw vegetable platter or glass of juice. • You can prepare some things ahead and refrigerate or freeze them, as appropriate. • Think about stuffing your bird with vegetables. Onions, celery and carrots are good basic vegetables to add flavor to your turkey. Loosely stuff both the neck and body cavities. The vegetables are less dense than bread or rice stuffing, so your bird will cook faster. You can also process them in a blender/food chopper to add to your gravy. • Cutting up the vegetables takes far less time than making a traditional dressing/stuffing/filling: more time for you adds up to less stress! • Your bird will also cool off faster if you stuff it with vegetables. It can either be put in the refrigerator sooner, or the meat stripped off the bones for serving later. Boil the bones for soup stock. • Use a packaged stuffing mix: it saves time and work. The most popular (US) brand also comes in a low-salt version for those who should avoid high sodium intake. • If you serve a bird with dressing/stuffing/filling, don’t serve two kinds of potatoes. Turnips, rutabagas or parsnips make good alternatives. You can also serve traditional pasta dishes as potato substitutes. • Serve only 2 or 3 vegetables without cream, butter or cheese sauces. (Fewer calories and easier clean up!) • Choose one dessert to serve after dinner, and add a cheese and fruit platter (prepared by your local supermarket or deli to save you time and lower your stress level). • Choose 2 – 3 desserts for serving later with leftovers. (That’s when you really get to taste them — when you’re not too stuffed to enjoy them!)

Prepare

Set your table the day before, if possible. Use smaller plates to serve children or seniors (they can always ask for seconds). Whether you serve buffet or family style, plan ahead where the various items will go on the table or buffet. Just remember that, no matter how many things you plan to serve, there will be at least a dozen other things you either forgot, or that someone “just had to bring.”

Enjoy!

When Christmas dinner comes, you’ll have time for your guests. No one will leave your table hungry. You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve served a lighter and healthier meal while keeping your sanity intact. Well, most of it.

Reducing the number of dishes you serve, encouraging others to bring things and share in the preparations, as well as advance planning will help keep your Christmas dinner less stressful for you and more enjoyable for everyone.

Who knows? The men or kids might even offer to help clean up! (Yes, Virginia, I live in a fantasy world.)

How to (Make Christmas Dinner Less Stressful)

Making Christmas dinner as easy as possible

    

Christmas dinner doesn’t have to be a hard task – follow our easy tips to a stress-free meal.

Christmas is all about family and friends, eating delicious food and enjoying the time off work.  Make sure your entertaining doesn’t turn into a source of stress by following these simple tips:

• Ask everyone to bring a dish: 
  Split the meal up into starters, mains and deserts and then ask people to bring specific things.  Make sure that the person you have assigned a dish is comfortable making what you’ve suggested – it’s a good idea to ask people to make things you know they’re good at making. Get recipe inspiration from Fresh Living’s vast database of recipes.
• Have a braai:
  This doesn’t require hours of cooking at the stove and once the meat or the bird is in the Weber, you have some time to mingle and chat to everyone else.  It is also more social to stand around a fire or braai and makes it feel like more people are involved.
• Ask for help!  
  This is probably the most difficult task to master, but if you have children and a partner then make sure you delegate tasks to them, like peeling potatoes or washing dishes.
• Cater: 
  This might be considered cheating by some, but to have a meal catered by someone else is really just great planning.  Pick n Pay has a whole menu of platters which are available to order; so pick one, order and then just put it out when your guests arrive.
• Start preparing way in advance! 
  You can cook certain dishes and then freeze them, to be cooked further on Christmas day.  This will free up some time to spend with the family.

Christmas is meant to be fun for everyone, so don’t get stuck in the kitchen trying to do everything yourself – all it takes is for you to ask for help.  Just remember, if there’s any time of year when you should get what you ask for, it’s Christmas!

Taken from PicknPay