One ad invites people to text their prayers to the church, who will then pray for you. Kudos to an ancient institution for embracing modern technology, but using text messages as a way of communicating prayers seems demeaning to me- not to mention the question mark that is coming out of this guy’s butt. That’s pretty careless of whoever designed this one.

Another subway ad actually capitalizes on the idea of “Sunday Funday”- a term that is typically used to describe a Sunday afternoon of drinking, but that this particular church is using to entice young people to attend Sunday mass. Typically I would applauded such creative use of pop culture language, but I can’t help but cringe when a church does it. I don’t particularly want my God to be hip.

Regardless of whether most people find these ads effective or laughable, its intriguing to see how design and creativity can be useful to anyone, even God.

This ones not actually in Chicago but I think its pretty funny. I really hope its an outdoor ad that most people would pass by without noticing the smaller talk bubble.

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a new documentary about the underground lives of street artists. The man shooting the documentary is actually the focus of the film- just a guy with a camera who stumbles upon this counter-culture going on in France and decides to capture it all.

Its coming to the Century Center Theatre in Chicago on April 30th and I really can’t wait to see this. Street art is not I practice I ever gave much thought to, but given the recent Chicago events covered by my school newspaper, F Newsmagazine, it has been coming up more than ever. Our last issue discussed the “bombing” (I assume thats the same as tagging?) of the modern wing of the Art Institute, as well as the recent death of graffiti artist who was chased by police and drowned in the Chicago River while trying to escape.

I hate to see buildings with angry words or unattractive imagery carelessly thrown up across their exterior. Judging by the preview of Exit Through the Gift Shop however, this documentary seems to provide a taste of the artistic merit that some of these taggers possess. I’d love to see a perspective on this culture that I, as of yet, do not understand.

God I love quality, creative advertising. I also love me a deliciously green, delightfully minty, Shamrock Shake. So, thank you Chicagoans for being so overzealous about St. Patricks Day and Shamrock Shakes that this installation was bound to happen eventually. This piece of advertising for McDonald’s limited time St. Patty’s Day treat is so simple and perfect- especially with the Chicago River being dyed green for the holiday. Every drunkard downtown for parade day probably salivated at the site of an oversized version of everyone’s favorite milkshake. And then went and bought one. I sure did. Good job McDonalds and Leo Burnett.

Google’s already receiving some backlash since their CEO had sworn off commercial branding in the past, but I’m personally glad the online powerhouse decided to dive into creative advertising. They do everything else so fabulously, why wouldn’t their commercials be great? The result- unexpected tenderness that had me stop, mid mouthful of chicken wings, and sigh. The fifty-second spot, titled “Parisian Love” grabs viewers with simplicity to start- presenting the clean white screen shot of Google’s homepage. The viewer is then taken on a romantic journey of one man’s study abroad trip to Paris- from courting a French girl, to falling in love, and eventually living happily ever after with a wedding and a baby- all of this portrayed through Google searches. The tagline, “Search on” turns the everyday action of “Googling” into an integral and poignant part of our lives. Somehow, they managed to make a search engine seem sentimental.

The Snickers Betty White commercial was an obvious hit because no one can hate on Betty White- especially when her snow-white bob is nearly knocked off her shoulders in a football tackle. In this spot, Betty White stands in for the idea that you’re just not yourself when you’re hungry. The idea was simple, funny, and a safe move for Snickers after last year’s spot received backlash from gay rights activists- the commercial showed two men accidentally kissing after eating from two ends of a Snickers bar and reacting in utter disgust. If Snickers was looking for safe, they chose wisely with Betty White. According to Nielsen ratings, it was also the number one favorite commercial this year, so not only was it a safe move, but a successful one as well.

Doritos deserves a nod for getting such a positive response from such a low budget. The “Crash the Super Bowl” contest asked consumers to come up with the ads and the outcome was overwhelmingly popular. Apparently the average Dorito- muncher is a pretty good copywriter- Ad agencies better watch their backs.

Unfortunately, despite the charmers I’ve mentioned and a handful of other well-done spots, I was not impressed with the commercials this year as a whole. For some reason, there seemed to be more movie premieres than ever before- spots for Robin Hood, Shutter Island, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and Prince of Persia gave the commercial breaks an unusually dramatic and theatrical feel. I’m already forced to watch those for twenty minutes before a feature presentation at the movies- don’t make me watch them during the Super Bowl too!

Vizio had an interesting idea with the biggest online obsessions of the year going through a type of factory and dropping them off in one place where you can watch them all. I have to admit, I still find that kid hopped up on drugs from the dentist hilarious, so I enjoyed seeing him in there- but Beyonce? Really? Someone needs to send that girl to commercial rehab. She’s become the face of so many brands that I’m starting to think she is actually a robot, programmed to shake her booty and spout taglines.

Apparently the old E Trade baby got as sick of their commercials as I am, because it was a new little baldy- smart-mouthing and trading stocks this year. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the new baby’s fault, but these commercials have definitely exhausted their funny factor. If E Trade thought that adding more babies would add more laughs- they were wrong.

Super Bowl XLIV seemed to be the year of the underdog- both on and off the field. Google surprised us all by breaking into television advertising for the first time, Snickers made up for their foot-in-mouth moment from last year, and Doritos consumers proved that just about anyone with a little creative spirit can make a successful commercial.

I’m still waiting for the new millennia’s equivalent to Apple’s “1984”- a dramatic spot for the new apple computer that completely revolutionized creative advertising. Hopefully next year, things will at least freshen up a bit- someone, please change that E*trade baby’s diaper already.

I picked up this adorable little book at a used book store recently, that I’m sure was probably on some 6th grade summer reading lists back in 1997.  Letters to Julia, by Barbara Ware Holmes, is about a high school aged girl (Liz) who longs to escape the dredge of daily life and the insanity of her family.  She’s a writer who comes in contact with an editor (Julia) and the two slowly form a bond through their exchanges about Liz’s writing.  Challenging read? No. Delightfully inspiring? Yes. Maybe just because I see myself in Liz.  I used to cover notebooks in “plans” for novels with character sketches, plot lines, and overly indulgent emotional outpourings that were always reflective of my real life (which was always pretty standard and lovely, but everyone has an angsty phase.)   For such an elementary read, it really has some great artistic musings and a refreshing take on finding the artist in yourself. I just came to this great quote that the author included and I thought I’d share it…

“To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art. Men can only make us feel small in the wrong way.”

E.M. Forster

I feel you Scott…

I didn’t give this too much thought, until a different class discussion, in which our teacher lectured on movies that are “artistic” and movies that are not. Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino was used as an example of someone who is often “misrepresented” as an artist.  I have to admit, this topic left my mind racing with aggravation. With all due respect to my professor,  this categorization of “art films” vs. Hollywood movies, which the entire class discussion danced around for nearly three hours made me want to run screaming from art school and never look back. I could write a whole paper on my frustration with this hierarchy of the arts, but If the creativity found in some of Quentin Tarantino’s work, among other movies discussed, are not considered art, then art is a bigger mystery to me than I ever thought. I may have taken this discussion a tad personal, as True Romance, Tarantino’s very first film is my absolute favorite movie. (How can you not adore Alabama, the slutty sweetheart, and Clarence, the senseless defender of romance and Elvis??)

Anyhoo… if the movies I love don’t have a place in the world of art(sy fartsy flicks), then I will give them a place in a discussion of all things creative and wonderful.

I will continue to include film as an aspect of DART, and hopefully in furthering my content to more and more creative fields, my posts on movies and the film industry will start to feel more at home in this “Designed art and creative fields” blog.  So here’s an overarching opinion piece on the current state of the film industry.  Enjoy!

“Hollywood is the main repository of cultural memory- and authority,” according to J Hoberman in his essay, The Film Critic of Tomorrow, Today. Whether you like it or hate it, the current state of the film industry is something that will bookmark the years and the decades we live in through Box Office ratings, entertainment “news” programs, and celebrity gossip.
The Today’s film industry is two sided. It’s the epic blockbuster hit vs. the art film battle. Recent movies like New Moon and 2012 fall under blockbuster hits, while some recent art films can only be found in select theatres with small audiences and little publicity. But if one is mostly cheapened knockoffs of recycled stories, and one is not accessible to most people, than are either proving successful?
A Jaded critic may look at the box office listings of the past two weekends and shake their head in disgust. New Moon, based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer, has not only reigned supreme two weekends in a row, it has also clawed its way past The Dark Knight for highest opening day gross in history, making an estimated 72.7 million. Avoiding overt cynicism in this perspective, let us acknowledge that just because a movie makes disgusting amounts of cash on opening day, doesn’t automatically demerit its value. After all, when adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind still holds a second place record for its release in 1939. New Moon, on the other hand, is based on a literary soap opera that capitalizes on the loopy hormones of teenage girls and exploits their emotions during a pivotal time of maturation. It takes the nauseating story line, pairs it with sexy, talentless actors and abracadabra- box office magic!

On the opposite end of the spectrum lies movies that most theatres never see, and many people never hear about. The Music Box Theatre in Chicago is a rarity that positions itself as a year-round film festival. It recently presented Antichrist, written and directed by Lars Von Trier. This artistic twist on a horror movie is composed of painfully beautiful cinematography, outstanding performances by the two leads, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, and terrifying scenes of sexual violence and self-mutilation. Gainsbourg won best actress at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and director von Trier was nominated for the coveted Golden Palm Award. The themes of grief, evil, and feminism would be a beneficial experience to general audiences, but the dark and twisted plot makes it difficult for most to digest.
The hope of the film industry today lies somewhere in the middle- between blockbuster hits and artsy flicks. They are few and far between, but movies do exist that qualify as artistic and groundbreaking, while still relating to mass audiences. Recently released, The Road, a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, directed by John Hillcoat, does just that. Although the plot is simple; father (played by Viggo Mortensen) and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that exists of cannibalistic tribes and a scattered handful of “good guys,” the message is deeply moving. The images of an ashen, nearly lifeless world somehow achieve a certain tear jerking beauty. Extreme measures of what loved ones might do for each other are explored, and boundaries are shattered in the realization that the father carries two bullets; one for his son and one for himself. The Road is proof that good films can still exist, even in the mainstream movie theaters. Sadly, the numbers don’t reflect this, as The Road has only made about 2 million in its first week.

Today’s film industry reflects the rift between the arts and the general public. Unfortunately, the more creative, innovative artistic endeavors are looked at as highbrow, or just plain weird. The popularity of mindless reality television, big-budget films, and shallow sitcoms makes it nearly impossible for art to find its place in popular society- even in something as culturally pivotal as film. In order to remain relevant and receive responses outside of the film critics and movie buff circles, filmmakers must strike a delicate balance between Blockbuster hit and artsy flick. It’s that simple.

(picture links to the rest of the illustrations)

Three Square Design Shop…

pinkroses1220′s Etsy shop… (this one you can print out on your own)

Bomobob’s Etsy shop…

Hammerpress…(Thanks Mia, love this one!)