Super Shutterslut

Super Mario bros. One of those films that scared the hell out of me as a child as well as being the first game to film (Although its a terrible Bastardisation) but now i have found a new found respect for the set designers involved. In total there were eight set designers who have gone on to working on sets for films like the world trade center, The strangers and Csi. When trying to find out where that spiky chair is from i realised that there was next to no information on the individual designers involved in the film...why don't they have there own websites? I can only speculate that most of the jobs they received were from word of mouth.

Red light by Siouxsie and the banshees echos the Sharp Gothic/deconstructivist aesthetic of these images perfectly. I miss my wall shape.

Another Christmas

The project is done and this term is over and i am in for some 'well earned' rest. Although it seems i have already started planning too many things and im not sure when i will really have time to myself. I was pretty happy with the outcome of the project but not with the way that the project came to a conclusion. As usual the whole class presented on one day in two halves, leaving little time for people in the second group to discuss anything about there design. Coupled with this more people generally sit in the second group and this lengthens the whole process.

I just think that it would of made sense to do the Final project crit on another day before the party that was scheduled to take place in the studio. As well as this Drew said some things about feedback that im pretty worried about, im sure we will find out more about this next term though.
Most people in the Uk will know that Borders has unfortunately gone into administration. But whilst allot of you will be mourning the loss of the selection of books that they have on offer i will be wearing a veil for the magazine section which has fueled my addiction for many years. Another Magazine is one of the publications that i buy frequently from them (thankfully its quite a widely sold magazine) and in there most recent issue there is some fashion photography work from Anders Edström, the photo above is NOT from this shoot but is his, who produced a series of images that have a real feeling of continuity although the scene/styling changes in each shot. I really recommend buying this issue (17) if not for the rest of this content but just for his work!

A stranger to Brutalism

In the lull between finishing this project and touching up the images that i have to present informally on Thursday i have been watching allot of films (even going to the cinema twice in one week) to take up my time. Stranger than fiction has to be one of the better films that i have seen this week. The story itself is great but the set and costume design is even better (although im sure most of it were just commissioned).

Dustin Hoffmans character spends most of his time on screen in an office at the university of Illinois. The windows are so beautiful and the furniture works so well in that room...i wonder if it was there in the first place or if the set designers had to get them in?

As well as the university the film also introduced me to an architect known as Bertrand Goldberg, in particular his River city building. It reminds me in a way of some of the buildings that Gaudi has designed specifically the windows/balconies of his flats in Barcelona. I think at the moment im going through a phase of being obsessed with Brutalism within architecture and design...the clean lines, the sharp angles and uniform use of concrete as a material for construction.

3 star. no 4 star. NO THREE STAR.

We had our final formal presentation last Thursday, it went pretty well but the tutors asked me to make some changes to the bedrooms in the way that they felt that there was perhaps too much space for the star rating that i had been given and that it seemed the hotel was more to a 4 star standard.

They wanted me to try and reduce the size of the bathroom by removing the bath and installing a shower, basically changing the bathroom into a shower room. Whilst i can understand this notion because it means over all there will be more rooms in the hotel to occupy. The only problem is i have to try and consider how the recessed sofa space would work, because i don't want to lose it from the room. and also i would have to remove the dressing table next to the bed. I'm tempted to stand my ground but...i will give it a go for drew/visit Scotland's sake.