Final Project Style Guide

Final Project Day One

After some deliberation, our group has decided to propose a campaign for the fashion line Scout and Cloth advertising a new line of men’s products and rebranding the company. Currently the company is somewhat aimless, practically living on the quality of their products rather than a strong brand and use of good design (in advertising). Their website needs serious work. Below I’ve identified several issues.

• Garbage, indistinguishable favicon
• Mixing of traditional and all caps tabs
• Many fonts
• Lack of male appeal
• Arrow faces right to left (left to right more natural)
• Too man quotes/slogans
• About tab is horribly formatted and consists of a meaningless block of text about the designer rather than the product
• Blog tab opens a window with only one option
• Shop tab opens a dropdown menu with 11 tabs including SALE!!!!! and WEEKLY DEALS which could easily be combined under one tab
• Street style line only consists of one product
• MOVEMENT and WEEKLY DEALS tabs take one to a blank page
• DRESSES, SKIRTS-BOTTOMS tab does not include dresses

My artifact contribution to the group will a brief commercial displaying a new line of products for men. This video should be more serious than the video intended for social media.

Target persona

Landon is 31, a creative type who works from home. He lives a simple life, but cares about how he looks and has a buck or two to dedicate to such a pursuit. Landon has been in a serious relationship with his girlfriend for several years and makes a point to clean and groom himself more than those without a woman tend to. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling, disc golf, and playing the ukulele.

Mis-en-Scene (Individual)

Film - The Matrix (1999)
Scene - Rooftop Bullet Time
Directors - The Wachowski Siblings

While it takes an army to make a film, I believe the director (or in this case directors) has the most influence on what is crafted. Others look to them to have an artistic vision and balance critical elements of a project. Without a director, a movie becomes aimless.

“The Matrix” was an achievement both in is groundbreaking special effects and its effectiveness as a story. These elements heighten one another, and for this the movie can also be called an achievement in directing.

The iconic rooftop bullet time scene is especially well done both in its composition and general execution. Having also written the film, the Wachowskis provided a creative starting point, and were heavily involved in the preparation required to pull off the sequence. Even before cameras rolled they were making shot-lists and envisioning something that had never been done before. The choice to end the scene with Trinity killing an agent was made on paper long before it was decided to throw the shot into slow motion.

More than any other position listed here, a director is involved in the post production process, suggesting what takes should be used and how the final sequence should play out. While making the film, they are also the ones to interact most with actors, encouraging a certain type of performance and dictating some blocking/motion.

This scene from “The Matrix” is a brilliant piece of cinema that exhibits many design principles from washed out building that fade into the background (figure vs ground/pragnanz) to Neo’s bullet scuffs standing out due to their texture (although the buildings also offer some interesting lines and framing options). Within the context of the film there is contrast in color tones between the greenish tint of this scene to the blueish tone of everything outside the matrix. Shots are well balanced when appropriate. The camera moves in ways that accentuate the action. All of this comes together to create one hell of a sequence that would have been impossible without the directors’ contributions.

Mis-en-Scene (Group)

Film - The Matrix (1999)
Scene - Rooftop Bullet Time

Director(s) - The Wachowski Siblings

• Artistic vision
• Post production
• Actor direction

DP - Bill Pope

• Bullet time shot
• Color tint
• Framing
• Lighting
• Camera movement

Production Designer - Owen Paterson

• Locations
• Helicopter
• Use of green screen/CGI
• Storyboards

Art Director - Hugh Bateup & Michelle McGahey

• Costumes
• Weapons
• Green screen sets