Thursday 5 November 2015

OUGD503 - Responsive - Made You Look Screening


In today's twilight session, we watched a screening of the creative documentary 'Made You Look' which was produced in 2014. This documentary by Paul O’Connor and Anthony Peters is a talking shop for graphic designers and illustrators, each offering their perspective on their discipline in the wake of its having been engulfed by digital technology. I really enjoyed the film and found it incredibly useful and relevant to my current projects and studies on my course, especially my context of practice module.

One thing I really liked: The enthusiasm and passion for traditional/analogue production methods. The documentary explored the DIY revolution incredibly thoroughly, and in my opinion covered a very broad scope of the trends emerging in contemporary visual communication. The documentary inspired me to develop my skills in analogue media further. It wasn't overly biased either. The practitioners were praising analogue techniques massively, but they weren't completely disregarding the presence of the internet and digital production methods. Well informed/rounded viewpoints were shown which I appreciated. 

One thing I disliked/disagreed with: Towards the end of the film, the artists/designers were discussing the notion of turning off the internet, to see what the consequences would be for creative types. This was interesting, and I am in two minds as to whether or not I think it would be a good thing or not. They discussed the fact that the internet is a huge procrastination tool, which of course it can be. But, the internet has a vast number of redeeming qualities, especially for young creative's looking to enter into the visual communication industries, like myself. I think limiting your contact with the internet, and trying not to become overly dependant on it is not a bad thing, it would actually allow you to focus on more tangible methods of creating work such as printing and drawing. But I don't think we should or can completely dismiss it or block it out of our concisenesses, especially in 2015. 

One thing that stuck in my mind: Authorship of digital work was discussed briefly. The practitioners picked up on the fact that nowadays, it is usually very difficult  to actually know who has designed what, in terms of graphic design. Combined authorship is more commonplace now in the digital era than ever  before. Individual styles and distinctive aesthetics are melting away to form a mass of replaying styles and forms. This stuck in my mind considerably, as I am focussing my COP essay on these themes this year. The points being made were incredibly relevant and current and have provided me with good paths to start researching on. 

http://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/digital-fatigue-changing-graphic-arts-scene-111413379

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