More Almodovar

In order to fully comprehend the direction I was going with the brief I thought it important to have a thorough understanding of at least one actor and the two films that are included in their repertoire. I decided to go with Carmen Maura and her portrayals of 'Pepi' in 1980's 'Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap' and 'Gloria' in 1984's 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?'. In order to gain an in depth knowledge into the roles and the directorial style of Almodovar I watched both films whilst taking notes  on key plot lines, memorable objects and the prevalence of certain colours. From here I went on to think how I could combine the two films into one package. My thought process can be seen below.

Initial Documentation: Brief Two

I thought that before I could begin with design work for my second brief I would need to organise my thoughts and decide on what it was exactly that I would be doing. I needed to know what the 'problem' was, which could consist of many different aspects. Below are a few scans of my notebook that document initial theoretical thoughts, practical ones and some early research into the subject matter. It was usedul to get this stuff done early on, as it cleared my head and prepared myself for what task I was about to undertake.

After getting the initial idea generation out of my head and some early research I decided to just carry out some very rough visual experimentation. This was purely for my benefit; after writing and thinking for a period of time I thought it necessary to jump back into design work. I was playing around with type and colour, and I actually created some visuals that I was really pleased with. These are early designs that I may take forward, and expand on.

Almodovar Categorisation

After my tutorial with Lorenzo it became apparent I had to take a step back and think more carefully about the development process rather than begin designing. So that's exactly what I did. I thought for longer about how I could categorise the Almodovar back catalogue and if there was appropriate way of shortening the list of re-designs. Below are a few page scans showing my thought process.

At the end of the brainstorming session I came up with a form of categorization that I think could work really. Almodovar is a director who is well known for using the same actors and actresses, sometimes writing specific parts with them in mind. So I thought I could take a handful of his 'regulars' and use the collaboration approach to get the results I want. The five 'muses' I will be using are:

Carmen Maura
Pepi, Luci, Bom and other Girls on the Heap (1980)
What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)

Cecilia Roth
Labyrinth of Passion (1982)
All About My Mother (1999)

Julieta Serrano
Dark Habits (1983)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Penelope Cruz
Volver (2006)
Broken Embraces (2009)

Antonio Banderas
Matador (1986)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)

An observation that I made whilst researching the characters played by the actors in the above films is the contrast. For each actor, one film seems to be serious and quite intense, while the other is comical and almost farcical. This is something I could really use to my advantage, and opens up a complete new avenue for design possibilities.

Colours

I wanted to have a physical piece of design that I could touch and gage success on. I decided to print off a quick design that I had created in a design session, mainly to see how bold the colours where when not on my screen. I have learnt from previous briefs that the colours don't always translate and have therefore been disappointed with my final resolutions as it always been too late to change. This time I decided to get on top of things early and make sure my 'tangible' objects are as successful off screen as they are on. Below are a few images I captured of the print outs. 

Starting Visuals: Brief Two

I'm currently in the early stages of design work for my second brief. I'm not too sure if I should have started this yet, but after writing and writing for what seemed like forever I wanted to get my teeth stuck into some serious design. I started at a point where I usually start; picking a typeface and experimenting with colour and composition. Again these are very early experiments but after playing about I came up with a few designs that I really liked. Below is a snap shot of a few variations of a composition I came up with at the end of my design session. I really like the colours and think the tones work incredibly well together. The typeface itself is called 'Tall Films' and there is something about its delicate, yet impactful look that really appeals to me. Obviously I will be experimenting with other typefaces , but it is down this route of light, extended characters that I will be going.

Below is a flip book showing the progress I made whilst designing and how I got to the above designs. There are examples that do not work and I will not be exploring further, but there are also ideas that could do with more consideration.

I also wanted to try a different visual approach, one which includes photography, so I played around with photoshop to create a mock-up page example. A screen shot of this can be found below.

Development: Brief Two

After a discussion with Meryem we came to the conclusion that it would be worth our while to carry out two briefs at once, that way if the ideas start to run dry or we lose our enthusiasm temporarily we have another creative outlet to work on. I decided that the second brief I would be working on would be my 'Pedro Almodovar DVD Collection'. After determining the problem that I was addressing I decided to jump right into designing, if nothing else than to get my creative juices flowing. I wanted to determine appropriate colour schemes and typefaces. The slideshow below shows some of my documentation.