Film

Of Saul Bass and the History of Film Titles

By Delphine Hirasuna | October 10, 2011September 4, 2014

Years ago designer Saul Bass explained how he approached film title sequences to me when I interviewed him for an article. “Find an image that will be provocative, seductive yet true to the film,” he said. “It has to have some ambiguity, some contradiction, not only visually but conceptually. Not just isolating the prettiest frame, but finding a metaphor for the film.“

Beginning with his 1955 work on Otto Preminger’s “The Man with the Golden Arm,” Bass transformed the way film title sequences were perceived forever. He approached the task with a graphic designer’s eye, so that stills from his title sequences easily translated into a powerful iconic poster for the movie.

Advertising

Chanel’s Dancing Fingers

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 12, 2011September 4, 2014

Chanel let its Le Vernis line of fingernail polish take centerstage with this choreographed dance number by Grammy-nominated director Patrick Daughters and French set designer Aline Bonetto. Sassy fingers strut down a mini-runway to the doo-wop tune of “Little Bitty Pretty One” by Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers and break into chorus-line steps. The set incorporates several of the couture house’s symbols including the double “C” logo, pearl necklaces, and Coco Chanel’s famous mirrored spiral staircase. The closing credit cites the starring roles of the nail polish shades.

Advertising

Volkswagen Phaeton Elevates Ads to Fine Art

By Delphine Hirasuna | August 31, 2011September 4, 2014

When you consider standard car ads, you can pretty much imagine the scenario – beautiful young couple driving over curvy scenic roads or attracting envious stares from suburban neighbors as the car pulls into the driveway. So it is refreshing to see how Volkswagen Phaeton has elevated its ads to fine art in order to convey the handmade quality of the luxury sedan. In India, DDB Mudra Group in Mumbai suggested the artisan’s pride of craftsmanship and attention to intricate details through the use of a traditional Indian art form. The way the Phaeton is integrated into the art is both surprising and memorable. More importantly, this isn’t a “foreign” ad jarringly adapted to an Indian audience. It speaks directly to India’s rich aesthetic heritage.

Public Service Campaign

Split Screen, Parallel Worlds

By Delphine Hirasuna | August 9, 2011September 4, 2014

Lately several videos have passed our way telling a story by juxtaposing stock footage-type images on a split screen. They have no voiceovers or text, just music to set the mood. Some of the videos – such as this one issued by WWF — are quite compelling and poetic. Unfortunately, the WWF video had no production credits at the end, so we can’t tell you who made it. It does seem stylistically similar to “Symmetry” by Everynone, but that is just a guess.

Humor

One-Minute Cooking Lesson

By Delphine Hirasuna | July 16, 2011September 4, 2014

A weekend Fourth of July holiday project that designer Marta Harding produced with her husband, photographer Joshua Harding, this stop-motion video, “How to Make Dill Deviled Eggs,” is fun and instructive and maybe embedded with an embryo of an idea on the future of digital cookbooks. Who knows, maybe they are onto something.