If that quote isn't mic drop worthy then I don't know what is because, let's be honest designers, this speaks so much truth, right? I found myself relating to it one thousand percent because it speaks volumes about the design and storytelling worlds. Good storytelling and good design always transcend. Period. And that is more or less what Vignelli is saying here. So before I begin this blog post I'd like to thank Ash for introducing his students/mentees to this man's brilliance, and thank Mr. Vignelli for his knowledge and commitment to the design community. It was a very worthwhile quote to start the lesson, and had a direct impact on this week's homework assignment.
Lesson four was an interesting introduction to design because it incorporated all of the fundamentals that you would expect, but also picked up where we left off in last week's class. Ash made sure that we incorporated everything we've learned thus far into this week's homework assignment, and I was impressed with some new habits I've already formed from four short lessons. I'm seeing changes in how I approach projects, and am pleasantly surprised at how quickly some of these new design habits have become part of my routine.
This week we were asked to create twelve thumbnail frames from one of our favorite movies, games or tv shows, and while I regularly go for the slap-stick humor based movies and tv shows (you know I'm talking about you, Euphegenia Doubtfire), I instead decided to create thumbnails for the movie Ray (2004), a biographical film about Ray Charles' life and career. The original creators, Taylor Hackford and James L. White, did a phenomenal job with this movie when it came out in 2004, and I just felt like I had to pay homage to it being a fan of Ray Charles' music and, of course, as a big fan of the movie.
Like the homework assignment from lesson three, I started this assignment by building a mind map of the premise of Ray. Whenever I had some time during the mind map phase I would pull up clips from the movie, and eventually had the movie on in the background so that I could really get to know the characters in depth, nail down the timeline, and absorb every little detail about the film. I was amazed at how well the movie held up thirteen years after its original release, which again, reinforced Vignelli's point about not only design, but storytelling, too. You'll find in the above mind map that I focused on a couple of different themes from the film, but the one theme that was the most prominent, and also presented a sense of irony, was Ray's disability.
At a young age, Ray's mother tells him to make sure nobody, including himself, ever turns him into a cripple despite his being blind. Ray obviously overcomes this since we know how successful of a musician he became, and what a pioneer he was to American music, but too much of a good thing can sometimes be bad. Ray's fame eventually led to drug use, abuse and addiction, and ultimately led him to a point of crippling disability despite all that he had persevered as a blind man. It took his wife telling him that "if you don't give up the needle you're going to loose your one true love, music, Ray," which finally got him into rehab, and ultimately back on the road of success. It seemed like a bit of a dark theme to pursue for the recreation of the title sequence, but at the same time, it was very human, and thus somewhat personable, relatable, and reminder that even in the darkest moments there is light.
I decided to balance out some of the darker themes with lighter ones, and as a result, the ideas for my sketches highlighted a range of moments into a short synopsis of the movie. As I developed the sketches some more, I felt I was achieving the movie within a movie practice that I've seen exercised by some of my favorite production houses and media companies, and was excited to see it all come to life. Yet, as I was putting my original sketches together they inevitably started to change. I found out that certain frames were better in different positions, that certain ideas didn't resonate as well as I thought they would in the overall sequence, and that there were better ideas for some of the original frames I sketched. Below are the revised sketches that I made, and the final twelve that I'll be taking with me into the next lesson.
It's not much to look at this week, but man am I excited to get started on the design and composition of a few of these frames :) Hope you enjoyed today's recap, and stay tuned for more to come on this little exercise!