Two songs named Gravity...

One is from an up and coming artist - Sara Bareilles.
The other from an official AnD artist - Vienna Teng.

Sara Bareilles toured on her own for six years until one day a youtube clip someone shot of her ended up going viral and caught the the attention of a much wider audience.  I think it's a great lesson in the idea that you just make sure you're totally ready for when luck finally strikes.  If luck strikes too soon, it's not always a great thing.

Both are vocal/piano arrangements and both are quite nice.  I'm sharing both audio only and youtube links because... the audio on youtube is just not so great it also gives me a context with which to mention www.seeqpod.com which is a pretty great website.  I don't know much about how ethical it is - but it's a great source when you're looking to find and share music.


SeeqPod - Playable Search
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IQZx1xvWUI

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbip5Wk3_Y

Some movies have heros like John Wayne who look like every other person, only act differently.   We definitely remember them, but we might remember the actor more than the characters because the characters tend to blend over time and not leave a lasting impression.  Everyone knows that John Wayne was a famous actor, not many people could actually name many characters he played.  We do however recognize the icon of "cowboy."  The hat would give it away even if he was in silhouette.



Other movies have iconic heroes who not only act differently - but they look different.  Usually these would be super-hero movies or science fiction fantasy films.  Not only do these types of characters seem to be more inclined to launch merchandising campaigns, but they seem much more inclined to ingratiate themselves into pop culture and last indefinitely.

When designers are inventing logos - one of the primary tasks they concern themselves with is the silhouette - the shape of the logo.  Whether the logo is a symbol like Mercedes or Apple or a word like Levis or SEGA - in the end both become iconic representations of the company which are designed to leave a lasting impression in viewer's minds.


In the late 20's Walt Disney created a Character called "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit".  He was a bunny who had long rabbit ears and a short body.  Pretty expected.  




He followed up this character with a character who looked remarkably similar except it was a mouse with huge iconic ears.  It breaks expectation. 




Today, not only do we still remember Mickey Mouse, but the entire Disney brand is identified by this single iconic element.


Big isn't always the key though - All mice have ears, making his ears big just set him apart by breaking expectation.  Not unlike Dumbo - another long lasting character.


But if you put ears on human characters - you are also breaking expectation. 



Loveless incorporated ears and tails as a indication of youth and virginity to delineate the children from the adults. But Loveless is not the only anime to use the cat features on humans - in fact, there is even a name for the phenomenon - Nekojin and there are way too many to list.


The impression it leaves on the fans is easy to see at conventions.


There are another commonly seen set of ears worn by people who are not always even fans of the source.  Can you think of it?  What is the most common high school girl halloween outfit?  Bunny ears.  What does it indicate?  Playboy - an adult magazine feature nude photos.  Much like Disney - the ears became a symbol of the entire company.



Why ears?

They break the expected silouette.

Who leaves a bigger impresion - Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia?


The side buns spawned a great deal of imitation and even when in subsequent episodes Carrie Fisher was nearly undressed in her costumes - nothing quite left the same impression as her initial outfit because of it's unique silhouette change.  It is imitated even stil today 30 years later and everyone understands the side buns means Princess Leia no matter who wears them.







Beyond individuals though - entire group silhouettes can have the same affect... The Wizard of Oz is a perfect example.




There is no guarantee that any character design will create a lasting iconic effect on an audience - but by borrowing a page from the logo designer's handbook and taking into consideration the silhouette of the characters, you will definitely be giving yourself an edge towards creating a character which breaks expectation and therefore might create a stronger impression on your audience.

I happened across this video while doing some dance research and I was really struck by it.  Apparently I'm not alone - it's been watched over 4 million times by now.

What struck me was how many times you see dancers doing certain moves that are simply "moves."   In and of themselves, they are just body positions people take that symbolize that someone is dancing.   However, it's really enlightening when you see someone who totally embodies what those "moves" were intended to be.  I think it's not unlike the "bunkai" in karate which is the word to mean the "application" of the move - when some is doing a kata and you can really imagine their opponents instead of just watching them move - they are very connected to the bunkai.  (I don't know the wushu equivalent words.)

It's like when you stumble upon the genesis of a cliche.

Hope you enjoy it.

I'm going to try to start sharing more of the work I've done as a director.  I just got permission to share this video which I shot over a year ago.

This was an unusual video to shoot because in addition to being overly ambitious for the budget, the video had to match the ad campaign - but the ad campaign changed several times - even after the video was shot.

The basic idea presented to me was that the guests were all matching their hair to their clothing as well as have their own reality and issue (hungry, tired, lonely, sad, and so on).

I decided that it would be not a bad idea to share some of the imagery from my video "Fallen" without the youtube size and compression issues.  They can been seen at a much larger size by clicking on them.

The video they are from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONa5t8w1hmc&fmt=18