OUGD601 - Initial Essay Structure and Feedback

After the initial research I have planned a question and a draft structure for this essay:

How production design (set, props and colour pallets) creates a mood or theme within the film/How does colour set the mood, tone or theme in film

Introduction

The first part of the essay will include the introduction, where the essay will be explained and it will cover what will be looked into at detail.

Colour

Colour is going to be an important part to this essay as this where the interest lies. The theory behind colour and its impact on moods and themes as well as design will be studied in this section.

Film 

An understanding of the history of film will be important in this essay, as colour wasn't always a part of film and the evolution of production design has had an effect on the way it works today. Before colour, techniques such as chiaroscuro was used which was revived in film noir. The introduction of colour with technicolour had an effect on production design. Looking at how film makers use colour to create the mood in film will be a good transition into looking at specific examples of production design.

Examples of Art Direction

This section will look at examples of art directors themselves and the way that they work, this can include David Fincher (Fight Club 1999), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel 2014), Spike Jonze and Austin Gorg (Her 2013) or Jacinta Leong and Shira Hockman (Mad Max 2015).

Then the essay will look in detail at the different uses of colour harmonies. The use of complimentary colours can be seen in Mad Max and Fight Club. Monochromatic colours are used in The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Social Network (2010) and The Matrix (1999). Analogous colours can be seen in Birdman (2014) and War Machine (2017). Triadic colours will also be looked into.

Conclusion

The conclusion will summarise the argument of the essay and link it to my own practice and reference how the use of colour has an impact on themes and evoke emotion.

Feedback

There was a concern that this essay would be focussing too much on film and not enough on graphic design. It needs to be a graphic design essay. It is important to ensure that what is talked about in film is the art direction. The focus on colour theory is good, but some theory on other subjects is needed to ensure that the arguments are backed up properly. One way to tackle this would be to look at the impact of art direction in film on graphic design and how these techniques are reappropriated into the separate discipline. It can look into art direction in film but needs to ensure these points are there to back up the argument.

Examples of where art direction is having an impact on design can be looked into by Hattie Newman, Lord Whitney and Vanessa Mckeown, who's work is being used in the graphic design discipline.