Design Ancestor Examples for After the Exam

Here are two very simple examples of Design Ancestors:

This is the design for which I am seeking ancestors.

Here is Ancestor 1:

This one is directly related as it provides the visual and the concept for the later work.  This is a poster for the original movie "Endless Summer" that was made in 1964 or thereabouts (you need to be more accurate).  The movie is about a group of guys traveling the world in search of the perfect wave.  Thus we have a great deal of the content in the modern design shown above.  

But the new design shows some changes and here is a possible ancestor:

This is the sign on the southern edge of Las Vegas that has become a trademark of the city.  It demonstrates strong use of the diamond shape which is the added element in the modern work above.  It also has strong associations with the 1960s which connects its use in the final poster as well, "Searching since '64."

Here is a second example of design ancestors:

I am hoping that at least one of the ancestors for this piece is obvious to you already so here it is:

Andy Warhol did a number of these silk screen repetitive pieces of famous people.  This is a clear predecessor to the work above with added notion that Photoshop made the modern piece a lot easier to do.

Now here is a second possible ancestor to the modern work above:

It might have been possible to choose any portrait as an ancestor of the modern work but this photograph is particularly relevant because it has the feeling of a self-shot self portrait of a photographer and it includes the camera in the shot.  So there is a logical connection between this photo which pre-dates the work shown above.

In your presentation you will need to give specific information about each image, the modern and the historical.  

Your images and their ancestors do not have to come from anything shown in class.

You will not have a lot time so you need to show us the modern work, then show us two works that you believe have the possibility of being ancestors to that work.  They may have provided some ideas or inspiration.  You need to make a few logical arguments for their connection even though the relationship may be obvious.

Be sure to post your questions as comments to this post.

Attendance will be taken on both days so you are expected to come to class and support your fellow students.

The AFI Top Film Lists

The AFI is the American Film Institute and in 1998 the members of the Institute voted for the best 100 films of the first 100 years of the medium.


1998
1. Citizen Kane 1941
2. Casablanca 1942
3. The Godfather 1972
4. Gone with the Wind 1939
5. Lawrence of Arabia 1962
6. The Wizard of Oz 1939
7. The Graduate 1967
8. On the Waterfront 1954
9. Schindler's List 1993
10. Singin' in the Rain 1952
11. It's a Wonderful Life 1946
12. Sunset Blvd.  1950
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957
14. Some Like It Hot 1959
15. Star Wars 1977
16. All About Eve 1950
17. The African Queen 1951
18. Psycho 1960
19. Chinatown 1974
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest   1975


Ten years later in 2008 the members voted again and the order changed a bit because calling something the best film is very much a matter of opinion.

2008
1. Citizen Kane 1941
2. The Godfather  1972
3. Casablanca 1942
4. Raging Bull 1980
5. Singin' in the Rain 1952
6. Gone with the Wind 1939
7. Lawrence of Arabia  1962
8. Schindler's List 1993
9. Vertigo 1958
10. The Wizard of Oz 1939
11. City Lights 1931
12. The Searchers 1956
13. Star Wars  1977
14. Psycho 1960
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
16. Sunset Boulevard 1950
17. The Graduate 1967
18. The General 1927
19. On the Waterfront 1954
20. It's a Wonderful Life 1946

Animation

Disney did not make the first animated short film in the world or even in North America.  Disney did not make the first feature length animation in the world but Snow White was the first feature length animation made in English.  It is also the first of 50 animated films to be made by the Disney Studio.  This month the movie "Tangled"  will be the 51st.

Disney's first film made for the China mainland market was 宝葫芦的秘密 mand it was made it 2007.  It was a cooperative production between Disney and Centro Digital Pictures in Hong Kong.  It mixes live action with 3D animation.  The lead animator for Centro was Ralph Poon who is a DGC graduate and now owns XD Communication Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Here are some facts about animated films made at Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks.


1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1940 Pinocchio
1940 Fantasia
1941 Dumbo
1942 Bambi
1942 Saludos Amigos
1944 The Three Caballeros
1946 Make Mine Music
1947 Fun and Fancy Free
1948 Melody Time
1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
1950 Cinderella
1951 Alice in Wonderland
1953 Peter Pan  (came from the stage)
1955 Lady and the Tramp
1959 Sleeping Beauty
1961 101 Dalmatians
1963 The Sword in the Stone
1967 The Jungle Book
1970 The Aristocats
1973 Robin Hood
1977 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
1977 The Rescuers
1981 The Fox and the Hound
1985 The Black Cauldron
1986 The Great Mouse Detective
1988 Oliver & Company
1989 The Little Mermaid  (The Rebirth of Disney Animation) (Now a Stage Show)
1990 The Rescuers Down Under
1991 Beauty and the Beast (First to use Digital Animation Technology)
                                            (The First to become a stage show)
                                            (The First Animation to be nominated for Best Picture)
1992 Aladdin
1994 The Lion King (Second to become a stage show, extremely innovative, prize winning)
1995 Pocahontas
1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1997 Hercules
1998 Mulan
1999 Tarzan  (Now a Stage Show)
1999 Fantasia 2000
2000 Dinosaur
2000 The Emperor's New Groove
2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2002 Lilo & Stitch
2002 Treasure Planet5
2003 Brother Bear
2004 Home on the Range
2005 Chicken Little 3-D
2007 Meet the Robinsons 3-D
2008 Bolt 3-D
2009 The Princess and the Frog
2010 Tangled



Pixar                               cost revenue            academy award
1995 Toy Story $30,000,000 $361,996,233 Special Achievement Award
1998 A Bug's Life $60,000,000 $363,398,565
1999 Toy Story 2 $90,000,000 $485,015,179
2001 Monsters, Inc. $115,000,000 $525,366,597 Best Original Song
2003 Finding Nemo $94,000,000 $867,893,978 Best Animated Feature
2004 The Incredibles $92,000,000 $631,442,092 Best Animated Feature
                                                                                                Best Sound Editing
2006 Cars                  $120,000,000     $461,982,881 Lost to Happy Feet (George Miller)
2007 Ratatouille $150,000,000     $621,426,008 Best Animated Feature
2008 WALL-E $180,000,000     $521,268,237 Best Animated Feature
2009 Up                    $175,000,000     $731,338,164 Best Animated Feature
2010 Toy Story 3 $200,000,000     $1,060,026,000     The most successful animated film to date



Dreamworks Animation                                cost revenue
1998 Antz                                                  $60,000,000 $171,757,863
1998 The Prince of Egypt $70,000,000 $218,613,188
2000 The Road to El Dorado $95,000,000     $76,432,727
2000 Chicken Run                                      $45,000,000 $224,834,564
2001 Shrek                                                 $60,000,000 $484,409,218    Best Animated Feature
2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron $80,000,000 $122,563,539
2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas $60,000,000 $80,767,884
2004 Shrek 2                                              $150,000,000 $919,838,758
2004 Shark Tale                                          $75,000,000 $367,275,019
2005 Madagascar                                        $78,000,000 $532,680,671
2005 Wallace & Gromit: Were-Rabbit $30,000,000 $192,610,372     Best Animated Feature
2006 Over the Hedge $80,000,000 $336,002,996
2006 Flushed Away                                    $149,000,000 $178,120,010
2007 Shrek the Third $160,000,000 $798,958,162
2007 Bee Movie                                         $150,000,000 $287,594,577
2008 Kung Fu Panda $130,000,000 $631,744,560
2008 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa $150,000,000 $603,900,354
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens                            $175,000,000 $381,509,870
2010 How to Train Your Dragon $165,000,000 $492,591,956
2010 Shrek Forever After                           $165,000,000 $734,036,937
2010 Megamind                                            $130,000,000 $66,494,833     released Nov. 5 in the US

A Few Communication Designers

In class you have seen just a small taste of some very talented communication designers.  If you would like to know more about this designers they have all written at least one book or had at least one book written about them.  Most of these books are in the library.  Some of the books include thoughts about design, communication and business and some are just great collections of their work.  I know there is a very good book on Kan Tai Keung in the HKBU library and it is written in Chinese and contains a great collection of his work.

Design Periods

Understanding the design periods is very important for you and for the rest of the work you will be doing in class.  You will need to have some understanding of them for the test.  You will potentially need to talk about them in your design ancestor presentation and you will need to use them in your period poster.

You can go to look at various work from the design periods through the resource page in the course syllabus.  There you will find examples along with a general description for the style.

Science Fiction

Science Fiction has been a part of moving making since the earliest years of the medium.  There are actually very few forms of movies that were not already a part of the stories that people told using the media available to them.

But doing Science Fiction movies required the use of special effects and we can see that these have clearly developed and changed across time.  In fact Science Fiction is the genre that has most pushed the development of special effects in film.

1902 Voyage to the Moon we see speculation on what it would require to get to the moon and what the people who visit there might find.  In terms of special effects we see the rocket landing in the eye of the man in the moon (there is nothing wrong with a little comedy mixed in with science fiction)  We also see the use of painted scenes, composited scenes, jump cuts to make things and creatures appear and disappear.

1927 Metropolis we see probably the most influential film within Science Fiction.  The visuals are absolutely stunning and it doesn't really matter that there is no sound.  This is a film that every person who creates any kind of motion picture should see.  You may as well be directly influenced by it since you will be indirectly influenced.  The backgrounds are painted and the effects are basically crude but the quality of the visuals has inspired others to make these kinds of effects work better.

1974 Young Frankenstein is a comedy homage to the Frankenstein and monster movies that are also a variation on the Science Fiction genre.  Every one of the movies in this category owes a deep debt to Metropolis is the form of the laboratory and the depiction of the mad scientist.  We have seen this guy in motion pictures too many times to count.  In Young Frankenstein they used the actual static electricity machines that were used in the 1930s Frankenstein movies.

1977 Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope is directly influenced by Metropolis in the character of 3P0 who is very similar to the robot Maria.  The Star Wars prequels also pay their respects to Metropolis through the visualization of the government planet.

1982 Blade Runner is Ridley Scott's masterpiece and it was co-produced by Sir Run Run Shaw.  This movie is also a visual treat and it owes a great deal to Metropolis in terms of the cityscape of future Los Angeles as well as the Robot as Human story line.  You should watch this one as well out of respect to Sir Run Run Shaw and to see the shots inside the Bradbury Hotel in Los Angeles.  The closing monologue by Rutger Hauer on the nature of humanity is also worth the time.  Plus there is great action.

1954 Seven Samurai was also an influence on the Star Wars movies and the characters of C3P0 and R2D2.  Akira Kurasawa was the director of the Seven Samurai and the Hidden Fortress as well as many other Japanese language films that must be seen.  He was a phenomenal story teller and his work influenced many of the films that came after regardless of their country of origin or language spoken in the film.  His translations of Shakespeare's plays into the context of Japan are also amazing and are probably the most innovative translations of Shakespeare to the screen.

1968 2001: A Space Odyssey was also created by a very interesting director, Stanley Kubrick.  2001 is the only film that can rival Metropolis for its influence on the films that followed.  What is particularly interesting in the film is that the computer is the bad guy.  It reflects a much less favorable view of computers that one that is held in the world today.  At the core of the computer's evil though is conflicting instructions so that the in-out logic of the computer cannot deal with nor process the complexity of human thought or instructions.  Computers are still not human and appear insane when randomness and complexity are structured according to programmed logic.  The red eye of the HAL 9000 computer has become the symbol of evil computers.

2008 WALL-E pays direct homage to 2001 in the Auto-Pilot.  This use of HAL is in the red-eye and the story of conflicting human instructions.  WALL-E is extremely interesting for a lot of different reasons and this is one of them as the 40 years between 2001 and WALL-E have not made the red eye any less scary.

REMEMBER: There is nothing new under the sun and great ideas come from many different places.  Use other people's creations with respect and you can tap into the great storytelling and cultural or aesthetic connections that have built up around that work.  Respect means not stealing everything they did in the past but using their executions to inspire the story you want to tell.  Respect also means admitting the source or your inspiration either explicitly or implicitly.

- Dr. W -

Musicals

Wizard of Oz - 1939

AFI Top Ten Movies of All Time

AFI #3 Movie Musical

Singing in the Rain - 1952

AFI Top Ten Movies of All Time

AFI #1 Movie Musical

Mary Poppins - 1964

AFI #6 Movie Musical

My Fair Lady - 1964

AFI #8 Movie Musical

Best Picture

Sound of Music - 1965

AFI #4 Movie Musical

Best Actress - Julie Andrews

Life of Brian - 1979

Ferris Bueller's   Day Off - 1986

Moulin Rouge - 2001

AFI #25 Movie Musical

Hairspray - 2007

movie to broadway to movie

a number of inspirations from Sound of Music

Mamma Mia - 2008

Highest grossing musical film of all-time globally

The most successful British-made film of all time

AFI is the American Film Institute

What these movies represent is the flow of music in movies over the first century of the medium.

Originally there were musicals created specifically for the movies.  This was followed by a big push for translating Broadway musicals into film musicals.  Mary Poppins was an original musical for the screen and it has now been translated as a musical for the stage.

In the 1970s and 80s the traditional musical almost completely disappeared with the outstanding excepton of Grease that traveled from the stage to the screen.  Music largely became a supporting player in films.  Music also began to rely on popular music that supported the storyline of the film.  And sometimes, as in Life of Brian the notion of the happy musical number becomes the focus of a very funny joke.

The new millenium has seen new life for musicals with an emphasis again on stage to screen adaptations even though Hairspray went from non-musical movie to Broadway musical and then movie musical.  Mamma Mia was on stage but is based on the very popular songs of ABBA so it also has a strange route.  Moulin Rouge is also very unusual in its approach as a movie musical.  The songs are current pop songs intertwined into a story about the Moulin Rouge at the turn of the 20th century.  It puts modern sensibilities into an historical setting.  And it is an historical setting that had a great deal of influence and connection to the Art Nouveau movement in Communication Design.  Toulouse-Lautrec is a key character in the film as he was an important character in this part of Paris at the turn of the Century.  The Black Cat was a club in Paris at this time.