There are many things designers can learn from film directors in producing designs that go beyond the givens of any creative brief, to create lasting solutions that can make strong statements in the marketplace. We’re not talking about purely commercial film directors like Christopher Nolan of course, but those that have produced lasting work that lives in the consciousness.
The Brandlogik team recently rewatched the French movie Irma Vep. Directed by Olivier Assayas and starring his soon-to-be wife Maggie Cheung as the Chinese movie star playing herself, Irma Vep is a movie about making a movie. With Truffaut alter ego Jean-Pierre Léaud playing the director of the film it’s hard not to think of this as a homage to Truffaut’s La Nuit Américaine.
Irma Vep is more than a homage. It’s a film about making a film and therefore very French and post-modernist in its intent. But this film is much more than that. It’s about the nature of creativity itself. About how you take some elements –such as maybe remaking Louis Feuillade’s Les Vampires, adding some understated sexuality in the catlike, latex-covered shape of a beautifully exotic Chinese movie star and mix in some French style and behind-the-scenes passion and intrigue.
[blockquote]Creativity is unique and comes from a singular vision that is more than the sum of its parts.[/blockquote]
There’s more to the creative process then just mixing up the elements to see what takes shape. There’s the thinking, the thought process, bref some real crafting that’s both innate and bloody hard work sometimes that creates something new – something that hasn’t existed before.
Creativity is unique and comes from a unique vision that is more than the sum of its parts. It creates new life and, when it comes to design, it’s something that’s so much more than style because it’s built on strong, logical ideas.
This film about filmmaking ends with a screening of the work of the absent filmmaker that is surprising, a little shocking, hilarious and totally unexpected. It’s certainly something you wouldn’t find in a Hollywood movie where box office rather than creativity counts even in the era of Nolan and his cronies.
Ideas and great creativity are always unexpected. They can even be astounding within the right context. You can go beyond the Designlogik of any brief and create something that stands alone. All designers need are clients with a vision and the belief that great design gives them the power to grow their business and a great creative advantage over the competition.
