Wednesday, December 27, 2006

HansBellmer(1902.1975)



Hans Bellmer (1902 Katowice, Germany – 23 February 1975 Paris, France) was an artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s after the rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933. He is also commonly thought of, in the art world, as a Surrealist photographer.
Since 1926 he had been working as a draftsman for his own advertising company. He initiated his doll project to oppose the fascism of the Nazi Party by declaring that he would make no work that would support the German state. Represented by mutated forms and unconventional poses, his dolls were directed specifically at the cult of the perfect body then prominent in Germany. Bellmer was influenced in his choice of art form by reading the published letters of Oskar Kokoschka (Der Fetisch, 1925).
He visited Paris in 1935 and made contacts there such as Paul Éluard, but returned to Berlin because his wife Margarete was dying of tuberculosis.

Bellmer's 1934 anonymous book The Doll (Die Puppe), produced and published privately in Germany, contains 10 black-and-white photographs of Bellmer's first doll arranged in a series of "tableaux vivants" (living pictures). The book was not credited to him, he worked in isolation, and his photographs remained almost unknown in Germany. Yet Bellmer's work was eventually declared "degenerate" by the Nazi Party, and he was forced to flee Germany to France in 1938.
His work was welcomed in the Parisian art culture of the time, especially the Surrealists under André Breton, because of the references to female beauty and the sexualization of the youthful form. His photographs were published in the Surrealist journal Minotaure. Being known among the avante-garde did not, however, prevent him from being imprisoned in the Camp des Milles prison at Aix-en-Provence for most of World War II.
After the war, Bellmer lived the rest of his life in Paris. Bellmer gave up doll making, and spent the following decades creating erotic drawings, etchings, sexually explicit photographs, paintings and prints of pubescent girls. In 1954 he met Unica Zürn, who became his long-time model. He continued making work into the 1960.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Old ‘New Bond’ Syndrome: A look at the music of Bond by Austin O'Brien.





The new James Bond Film Casino Royale, is breaking all Box Office records. Everything Bond has been put under the microscope; from Daniel Craig’s impersonation of Ursula Andress coming out of the water to ‘How to be like Bond with the new Sony VAIO’. And of course it gave all other Media an opportunity to present their perspective of what or who is Bond.

Channel 4, the Champion of Chart shows, ‘MORI polled’ the UK’ favourite Bond music. It may have looked like just another popular TV Chart show, but as marketers we should have recorded this programme and watched it over and over in order to understand and grab a whole new dimension of branding.

It was a marathon 2 hours of programming, The producer’s quest to understand what makes a ‘Bondesque’ sound was relentless. The man himself, John Barry clearly understood the key values of Bond and what makes a track fit with that image. But if Bond is a brand, how can the principles of writing a Bond soundtrack be applied to the world of marketing? To begin to understand this, we first need to put Bond under the music spotlight in order to begin to identify the key characteristics, which go to make up a Bond theme song.

What or who is Bond? What are the characteristics and values that define the fundamental elements of Bond. It seems that Bond is a series of contradictions; seductive and romantic yet steely; sophisticated but primal ; classy and elegant but with a surprising punch and brutality that creeps up and explodes into action. He is very cool but very British and yet has a unique ability to blend on an international level.

Bond Original

The original signature James Bond theme, was written by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry for 1962’s Dr. No, and is without doubt, one of the most instantly recognizable film songs. The first few seconds hold the four ominously subdued notes forever associated with the man himself: first B, then up a half-step to C, up another half step to C#, then back down to C. This simple chromatic rise and fall creates a sense of unsettling mystery, as if the music is pacing back and forth, frantically trying to decide where to go next. The riff we all recognise is a small musical phrase that appears time and time again, throughout the film score. In Classical music this phrase is called a ‘leitmotif’.

As the guitar riff (played by legend Vic Flick) enters and firmly roots us in the key of E minor, its melody is atypical. The high D# jumps up to stab like a knife. Though this note is still a member of the E melodic minor scale, in a traditional melody the D# would lift up to an E instead of sliding down and hanging on the D natural. It’s another subtle way Norman and Barry have crafted surprise and mystery through melody.

Finally, after the blaring trumpets have entered and fully developed the theme, they burst into a swung, ornamented variation of the opening guitar riff. But it’s not as straightforward as it seems. A careful ear will notice that the second trumpet seems to be playing in a different key. In fact, this ‘harmonized’ melody, sandwiched between the top trumpet and the bass, would actually feel more at home in the key of C# minor than E minor.

Where the original theme from Dr. No remains in the key of E minor, Goldfinger’s moves across the boundaries of key signature constantly, sometimes in the same bar!
These apparent breaks in musical ‘rules’ are inherent in Bond melodies, but then again, since when has Bond been about following the rules? And if that is the case does the music follow the same anarchic patterns?

Of course over the four decades of music, there have been new production techniques and modern trends in music and fashion. In fact, the whole series of Bond music can be studied as a microcosm of the progression of pop music in the last half-century. But it would appear that in order for any Bond theme to work with the film and image of Bond there have always been clear consistent elements that say to the listener, “Now that’s what I call Bond music!”

Bond Basics

Those early instrumentation probably are the best examples of pure Bond music signposts. Firstly, we see the use of a powerful brass section to punch out main riffs and annunciate the ‘answering phrases’. We hear examples of this in Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Thunderball; all have imposing brass orchestration, which adds to the sassy/suave glamorous feel.

Next we have the string section, used to give the song an emotional depth. From the free-flowing opening of From Russia With Love to the seductive sweeps in The World Is Not Enough. Nothing says class or romance like a rich string arrangement.

To complete the set, distinctive percussion should punctuate every inch of the theme; and although some of the more recent songs have scaled back to a standard drum kit, the ‘classic’ Bond songs always include the full orchestral percussion outfit, Congas in Live & Let Die, Jingle Bells in Goldfinger, Marimba in You Only Live Twice, and not to mention a staple diet of Timpani, Crash Cymbals, and Vibes.

Top it off with a few final garnishes that help to build the Bond image. The distinctive Vic-style guitar, the bond ‘leitmotif’ (placed wherever possible) and a Female Diva or Male Superstar with the versatility, to move from seductively quiet introductions to powerfully epic climaxes.

New Bond

It is so tempting with a new Bond every few years to reinvent the product, sometimes making change for change sake. So how well have the most recent guardians of the Bond music, the new composers and producers, succeeded in staying true to the Bond inherent values and branding?

On the surface the new Casino Royale theme song You Know My Name sung by rock musician Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, AudioSlave) and written and produced by David Arnold., doesn’t seem to musically quote any of the ‘classic’ themes, as done very directly in Goldeneye and License to Kill. But listen a little more closely and you will find them

Remember the common-chord modulation used to surprise the audience? Cornell uses this technique multiple times in the track. During the verses, a B minor chord changes to a G minor chord. During the chorus, G major becomes E major. Both these chord changes keep listeners on the edges of their seats. Remember the oddly harmonized trumpets in the original theme. This technique is back in Cornell’s vocal doubling; one voice sings in the key of B minor while the other is found in D minor.

But in terms of orchestration, You Know My Name lacks the more obvious instruments of past themes. The trumpets and strings are present, but only as a sparse backdrop to Cornell’s mountain of guitar. Like several of the more recent songs, the percussion is limited to a standard drum kit, with a bland backbeat indistinguishable from a typical pop song. And the choice of the raw-sounding Cornell as a vocalist is a far cry from the smooth British Matt Monroe or Tom Jones. The song’s packaging is strong enough to place it on the charts, but only time will tell if the Bond elements are strong enough to place it on the Bond theme favourites list ten years from now.

Traditional values in a New World

So what makes great Bond track and what other factors will help us define the general public’s response and recall? The tracks that found themselves lower down in the MORI poll all contained the classic Bond elements at some level or other and some the added bonus of pop video support and more than a sprinkling of the best record selling artists in the country- Aha, Duran Duran and Madonna?

There has been considerable research into the key indicators in music that affect the way we receive and process music. We ‘understand’ at a very primal level that certain instruments evoke certain emotions. Add strings and a composer can bring romance or sadness to the piece; change the key from major to minor and even the most musically illiterate sense the change. Why are some songs more important to us than others; why can we remember every lyric to a particular artist; cry to some songs without even knowing consciously that we are listening.

Quite simply when we hear music the brain starts to look for markers that it knows and understands - associated values, like times when it heard something similar, places, people etc. If we keep hearing those markers with the same or similar visual markers we understand, we remember and we have an expectation.

Success in the Music Industry is still measured by chart positions and this is normally the main objective. Being a number 1 is great for the short term, but will it say the same in 10 years time? You may get a hit track, but you won’t necessarily get a Bond track? Yet if writing formulaic music were the answer, the Music Industry would be a lot more successful than it is. The truth is that there are multiple variables that come into play, like most importantly, whether the song is actually any good!

Forty-four years on, the adaptation and modification of the Bond markers to reflect each new and contemporary Bonds have created many successes and as the Channel 4 poll reveals, many failures. Wander too far away from the key elements and values and the public simply gets confused.

However different it may be from the ‘classic’ Bond sound, You Know My Name is a product of its time, just as the original Bond theme was forty-four years ago. For Marketers, it raises the important question: can a brand’s music stay true to its roots while still being fresh and current?

Clearly, a classic sound can be tinkered with, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. Only through a real appreciation of the principle brand values, musical ingenuity and unique orchestration can a Bond song become timeless, which poses a challenge to Bond composers and indeed those responsible for safeguarding the sound of any brand. The desire to create something new for an established brand is very seductive but evidently the need to retain the core integrity of the brand is essential.

So just as the ‘credits’ roll, a few words of advice to whomever wants to write the next James Bond theme song. Remember that a classic Bond song is more than a pop hit. Remember the giants on whose shoulders you’re standing, and remember to keep it Bond…James Bond.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

dutch or english?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

je veux les bonbon

Friday, December 01, 2006

In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention.
Waldo Lydecker - Laura 1944

A P O C A L I S S E 1 3



1 Vidi salire dal mare una bestia che aveva dieci corna e sette teste, sulle corna dieci diademi e su ciascuna testa un titolo blasfemo. 2 La bestia che io vidi era simile a una pantera, con le zampe come quelle di un orso e la bocca come quella di un leone. Il drago le diede la sua forza, il suo trono e la sua potestà grande. 3 Una delle sue teste sembrò colpita a morte, ma la sua piaga mortale fu guarita.
Allora la terra intera presa d'ammirazione, andò dietro alla bestia 4 e gli uomini adorarono il drago perché aveva dato il potere alla bestia e adorarono la bestia dicendo: «Chi è simile alla bestia e chi può combattere con essa?».
5 Alla bestia fu data una bocca per proferire parole d'orgoglio e bestemmie, con il potere di agire per quarantadue mesi. 6 Essa aprì la bocca per proferire bestemmie contro Dio, per bestemmiare il suo nome e la sua dimora, contro tutti quelli che abitano in cielo. 7 Le fu permesso di far guerra contro i santi e di vincerli; le fu dato potere sopra ogni stirpe, popolo, lingua e nazione. 8 L'adorarono tutti gli abitanti della terra, il cui nome non è scritto fin dalla fondazione del mondo nel libro della vita dell'Agnello immolato.
9 Chi ha orecchi, ascolti:
10 Colui che deve andare in prigionia,
andrà in prigionia;
colui che deve essere ucciso di spada
di spada sia ucciso.
In questo sta la costanza e la fede dei santi.
11 Vidi poi salire dalla terra un'altra bestia, che aveva due corna, simili a quelle di un agnello, che però parlava come un drago. 12 Essa esercita tutto il potere della prima bestia in sua presenza e costringe la terra e i suoi abitanti ad adorare la prima bestia, la cui ferita mortale era guarita. 13 Operava grandi prodigi, fino a fare scendere fuoco dal cielo sulla terra davanti agli uomini. 14 Per mezzo di questi prodigi, che le era permesso di compiere in presenza della bestia, sedusse gli abitanti della terra dicendo loro di erigere una statua alla bestia che era stata ferita dalla spada ma si era riavuta. 15 Le fu anche concesso di animare la statua della bestia sicché quella statua perfino parlasse e potesse far mettere a morte tutti coloro che non adorassero la statua della bestia. 16 Faceva sì che tutti, piccoli e grandi, ricchi e poveri, liberi e schiavi ricevessero un marchio sulla mano destra e sulla fronte; 17 e che nessuno potesse comprare o vendere senza avere tale marchio, cioè il nome della bestia o il numero del suo nome. 18 Qui sta la sapienza. Chi ha intelligenza calcoli il numero della bestia: essa rappresenta un nome d'uomo. E tal cifra è seicentosessantasei.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Friday, November 24, 2006

I nuovi mostri - Parte 1
I nuovi mostri - Parte 2


Casino Royale


A STIRRING CHANGE: In the opener, it's Bond, just Bond
Traditional dancing girls dropped from title credits of 'Casino Royale'
BY SHEIGH CRABTREE
Sheigh Crabtree wrote this story for the Los Angeles Times.

December 6, 2006

The crew expected a set crawling with sex kittens, but what they got instead was a couple of grizzled stuntmen and a chiseled blond Bond.

"When the crew realized there were not going to be any naked girls on set, some were a bit upset," admits Daniel Kleinman, the title designer behind the opening credit sequences for the last five James Bond films, including "Casino Royale," which is in theaters now. The lack of sultry dancing females in the segment was a radical departure not only for Kleinman but from four decades of setting up 007's cinematic adventures.

But just as the rest of "Casino Royale" deviates from aspects of the spy franchise's trademark iconography, so did Kleinman's two-day title sequence shoot this summer. The crew shot one day of stuntmen slugging it out, followed by a day with star Daniel Craig performing variations of the classic Bond first-person shooter stance.

"Everybody agreed the idea of using images of the iconic silhouetted dancing girls in the titles was not appropriate," Kleinman said. "In this film, Double-O is not totally formed as the James Bond everybody knows - the womanizing, slightly un-PC character." Kleinman learned of the new approach to Bond in January, when the producers enlisted the visual artist yet again. He was asked to design a documentary sequence that introduced Bond's novice assignments before the spy qualified for double-O status. But in early summer, Kleinman was beckoned to the Czech Republic.

There, director Martin Campbell had just wrapped the first reel, a gritty opening gambit that depicts the secret agent's precursory kills. Campbell feared there would be too much overlap between his pre-credits teaser and Kleinman's title sequence.

That's when the director suggested an overhaul.

"It would have been repetitive," Kleinman concedes. "But it was a bit of a shock to my system because I had spent a lot of time working out the first design, and it was getting pretty late in the day." So Kleinman crammed and took a 101 course on 007.

On the bookshelves he found the solution: The cover of a "Casino Royale" first edition, published in 1953, featured Ian Fleming's design of a playing card bordered by eight red hearts dripping blood.

"The hearts not only represent cards but the tribulations of Bond's love story," Kleinman says. "So I took that as inspiration to use playing card graphics in different ways in the titles," like a club representing a puff of gun smoke, and slashed arteries spurting thousands of tiny hearts.

He digitized the footage of the stuntmen and the star on an Inferno, a visual effects design system, at Framestore CFC in London. There he cut out the actors' silhouettes and incorporated them into about 20 digitally animated scenes depicting intricate and innovative card patterns that play for 3 1/2 minutes.

Seen in historic context with title designs that precede his, Kleinman says "Casino Royale's" credit sequence owes more to the jagged emblematic graphics of Saul Bass than to the cheeky erotica of Maurice Binder, who designed 14 Bond titles in all.

"I can't get too psychological with it because it is a title sequence," he says. "But it must be more than a flow of meaningless images." And there's some good news for the crew. "By the end of this one, 007 is more like the Bond we all know and love," says Kleinman, who is onboard to design the credit sequence for the next installment. "So I think those dancing girls may well come back again."

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I am Frau Blücher

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

BenKingsley at his best!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

TWA - 2
TWA -

Wednesday, November 08, 2006



John William Waterhouse ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS

Tuesday, November 07, 2006



Arnold Bocklin THE ISLAND OF DEATH

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Life Is A State Of Mind

The Avengers Opening Titles