Hyperreality

"The word "hyperrealism" is used in the art world to denote the activity of a group of artists who made paintings that "look just like photographs". This all happened in the late sixties, early seventies, (http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~stam/suomi/stam/hyperreal.html, Anonymous, 29/9/09). In todays world we tend to find hyperreal imagery within advertising, which all play on the idea that hyperreal images may improve on reality.

Hyperreality is a post-modern theory described as being the following. “Not a defined movement as such, Super realism was one of many names (including Photo-realism, Hyperrealism and Sharp-Focus Realism). These artists worked in different ways and portrayed a variety of subjects – portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, suburbia, still life’s and leisure scenes of the middle classes. Although their technique was seen anonymous and machine-like at the time, examined more closely their works have as much an individual signature quality as the most expressionist artwork”.
(Dempsey 2002 p251-252)

Hyperreality is Jean Baudrillards word for aspects, which appear to be more real than they actually are. There are lots of examples of Hyperreality in today’s world and we see them all of them time without even realising. I have decided to look at Hyperreality in terms of moving image and how this post-modern theory is present within current work today. In the long run it will be more beneficial to me in term of understanding our pathway in relation to post-modern theories.

Obviously, if considering hyperrality in terms of moving image, then the first thing that comes to mind is the use of 3D animation. Nowadays, the advances in technology have meant that today’s designers are able to model almost anything. This is a great tool for designers, however I think that you have to be careful how far you push it. Hyperreality is used in lots of different way in advertising. For example hyperreality has been used in both the images below:


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/


http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/

Recently there has been an advert for ‘Coors Lite Beer’ shown on TV. I have to say that I am not a great fan of this advert and personally I feel that this is a good example of how the use of hyperreality doesn’t work in the companies favour. Here is a clip of the TV advert:


http://www.youtube.com/

Hyperreality as a theory considers the way that it is used to improve the look and appeal of particular aspects. The use of hyperreality in advertising is a way for companies to try and sell their products to the public. By improving the look of their product and making it look better than it actually it is, is potentially a great way to advertise. However there are some instances where it doesn’t work.

In this advert I think that they have attempted to create a 3D animation, which makes the drink look appealing. At the end of the ‘Coors Beer’ advert when we see the top of the bottle, we are presented with the idea of a cold refreshing bottle. However, the way that the animation has been modelled doesn’t seem to work. They have taken the ideas surrounding the post-modern theory, but in my opinion have not grasped the essence of using hyperreality to their advantage.

However, when we see images of Coca Cola, for example, we see the condensation on the outside of the bottle. We know that it’s not going to look like that when we buy it but we are still intrigued and do. Coca Cola is a prime example of a company that has explored the essence of the theory.

Rebrand of the Bill titles

Just thought that I'd post this. It's a video that I found on You Tube about the making of the Bills New Title Sequence. Check it out:


http://www.youtube.com/

Ripple example1

It's interesting to see the idea of the ripples used in a design piece and how it has been represented viualy. Obviously I have been looking at the use of ripple so to see it here is hel[pful in terms of giving me idea of how to represent them.

big draw

Here is a copy if the final sting I created for the big draw.

This is a copy without the final question mark:


This is a copy with the question mark:

Catch Me if you Can

I have decided to look at the work of Olivier Kuntzel, who is a part of design duo 'Kuntzel and Deygas'. Below is a copy of the title sequence creeated by the duo at Nexus productions:


http://www.youtube.com/

"Catch Me If You Can has been compared to “the light, sophisticated Cary Grant comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Designed by Olivier Kuntzel and Florence Deygas for Nexus Productions, the sequence is a brightly coloured animation of geometrically stylised figures chasing one another through geometrically stylised scenery.

These titles have been widely noted by reviewers, who have likened them to Depatie-Freleng's celebrated animations for the Pink Panther films as well as more general design trends of 1960s titling such as the work of Saul Bass.

Sight and Sound magazine went so far as to describe the title sequence of Catch Me If You Can's as one of the film's two most striking features. Such acclaim in itself recalls that which greeted The Pink Panther credits".

Deborah Allison
http://archive.sensesofcinema.com

As stated in the extract from the artcile by Deborah Allison, there are clear references in the titles for this 2002 film. The image below shows still taken from the title sequence for 'Catch me if You Can', alongside some stills from Saul Bass', 'Man With the Golden Arm'. In both title sequences line and text are used in order to create visually stunning pieces.

Stills Taken from 'Catch me if You Can Titles':

(Mundi, Anima, 2004, Animation Now, Germany: Taschen, p218)

Stills taken from Saul Bass' 'The Man with the Golden Arm':


http://www.youtube.com/

Obviously the work by Saul Bass is a direct reference to design trends of the 1960's, however I think that the colour pallette that they have chosen for elements within the titles for 'Catch me of You Can' suggest a 1960's colour pallette. For example, the use of bright, bold colours.

Images reflecting 1960's colour pallette:

http://rlv.zcache.com/1960s

http://www.flickr.com/photos/locamama/2280901574/

The Pink Panther Titles:

http://www.youtube.com/

The titles for 'Catch Me if You Can' are a modern take on the ones for 'The Man with the Golden Gun' and 'The Pink Panther'. I think that it is a great example of how a modern designer can take influence from other animatoars, but still keep a sense of there own style, with a modern feel.

Stumble Test 2

The reason why I decided to represent the word stumble in the way that I have, is because one of the first things that came into my mind was a drunk person stumbling around. I found a sound clip on the web to use that is of a drunk person slurring their words and started to have a go at animating to the soundtrack.

These videos below show little tests that I created of different ways that I want the letteres to react. Taking on persona's of drunken people!

The letter 'U' swaying backwards and forwards:


Here the letters 'B and L' have a bit of 'argy bargi':

In this test I like the way that they initially move across the screen in the wrong order and the way that they irritate each other. I would like to try to play on this a little more and maybe come to some sort of resolve, (i.e. one could knock the other to another point on the screen).

Stumble Test 1

This video shows the original test that I created when trying to work out the best way to animate the word.



Here I had a play with the letters falling from the top, however after considering the idea of a drunk person and how they would react I'm going to animate them coming in from the left hand side of the screen. It isn't logical for them to fall from the top, so I'm going to move the letter forms from the left.

Crime Drama Animations

This is a post that I put up a while ago but I've decided to change the post date as I think that it's really relevant to what were looking at.

Now most people that know me would proably be the first to say that I am a bit of a TV addict and one of my favourite types of programmes are dramas, especially crime ones.

One thing that I really like about Drams/Crime Dramas are that generally they have really cool looking tiltes or promos made for them. I've put a few examples below from a few different TV shows.

Monk Titles:


Hallmark Channel

In this video I like the colours that have been used. Somethimes I think that a limited colour pallete is sometimes more effective and balanced than using lots of different colours. One thing about this promo which works well is the way that simple images/symbols are used within the typography. For example, the use of the lips and the fly. Aswell as using the imagery elements suggested such as, ' the bug zig zagging' are infered in the quik jolts of the camera from side to side.

House:


Hallmark Channel

This is promo for a meidcal drama called House. Something that I think both the videos above do extremely well is use humor in order to attract attention and keep peoples intrest.

I especially like the way that in the two videos shown above typography has been incorporated within the animations. The typography is used as a narrative, along with the audio in order to give the piece context.

CSI New York Opening Titles:


http://www.youtube.com

Iv'e seen these titles many times and found them interesting, even if not just for the use of music! However one thing that I find most exciting about this set of titles ,is the way that video footage has been integrated with the use of animation.

I made the post the other day about liking the way that in composite work you are able to mix lots of different types of media and I think that this is a good example of how when done right it works.

Kinetic Type

Here is a video that I found on the internet. I've posted this because I think that it's a good example of using typography, especially the way that they phonetically represent the type.


http://vimeo.com/2860622

Stewie kinetic type

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDYq7_yHLYk&feature=related

Kinetic Type

This is a video that I found on the internet using kinetic type.


http://www.youtube.com/

12 seconds into the video the word 'just' is represented with a very fast paced animated section which represents the nature of this word, in its context well. The thing that I like about this piece is the way that the words are represented phonetically.

This image below may look like a 'big blur', however it just illustrates the nature of the word:

Polaroid

This is an image created by a photographer using the design of a Polaroid-photo as a way of presenting the piece.

http://www.photoshopuser.com/
When I found this image on the internet the first thing that came into my mind is that this could be turned into an animation. Looking at the image above I can imagine that the women could move the photos around, as her hands and arms have broken out if the frames.

I think that this could be something really interesting to have a play with and see how content within a 'framed space', (i.e. the polaroid), could interact with its surroundings.

Stop Motion Animation

Here are two similar videos of some stop motion pieces created around the idea of a t-shirt. I think that both are simple, but effective pieces in their own rights. The first animation is titled 'Human Flip book', which I think is an interesting description of the piece because effectively that is exactly what it is!

Human Flip book:

http://www.youtube.com/


http://www.youtube.com/

When I stumbled across these pieces, I thought that is was an interesting way of presenting a piece of animation work. By integrating the animation on the t-shirts within live action gives the piece more depth.