There are many musical films, but "Memories of Matsuko" is my favorite one. What makes it special is although this is a tragedy, director chose bright color tone inversely. I think it's because director wanted to change the stereotype of tragedy. Sad story also can have beautiful and bright color.
That's talk about production design for this film. This is a musical film so we can see many theater and music video style in it. I really interest in these kind of mix style. When you see this film sometime you may feel that "am I seeing a musical in the theater now?" It is cool isn't?
When I saw this poster I thought this's a happy story. But I could't stop crying after I saw it.
In the whole film, designer used bright color tone on the sets. It is ironic when you see Matsuko happily sing in the bright color set and then you will feel really sad about that.
I have a habit which is surfing on the Internet every for looking for cool art and design work. I forgot many artists because their work not really interested me but MIKA her photographs were astonished me when I saw her work first time. Then I could not forget her name any more.
MIKA loves colorful flowers and gold fish so we can see a lot of them in her photos.
She tends to use bright colored projects to create her work, also her film as well.
Below is her information from her office website.
Born in 1972, Mika Ninagawa is Japan's most popular photographer. Her photographic style is one that is instantly identified by her versatile style and the drawing from various fields. Her work is highly acclaimed across the generations from teen fashion magazines to high-end commercial fashion and advertising.
She is promoted by Tomio Koyama Gallery (www.tomiokoyamagallery.com), which introduced both Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara to the world. Her works are constantly exhibited and much loved by art collectors. Her film directorial debut, "SAKURAN"(http://www.sakuran-themovie.com) has been officially entered into the Berlinale Special section of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. To coincide with the festival, she also held a photography exhibition at Arndt & Partner, which was extremely successful.
Her enthusiasm has gathered the attention of publishing houses, resulting in publication of one or two best selling photographic books every year for the past seven years. She relishes art direction and conceptual shoots and her well-thought out concepts come to life in vivid visuals and seemingly incongruous forms. She does not only specialize in portrait photography, but also in still life photography of flowers, goldfish and landscapes. Her influence resonates with the many followers who copy her styles and mimic her stance.
Above I mentioned that she is also a director. In her film "Sakuran" there are many colorful flowers and fish as well.
a short clip from Sakuran
I admire her for she can insist what she likes such as flowers and strong color. It makes that even without signature we still can tell that is her work. Now I always change my style of work, I hope I can find my own in the future.
Our professor always asks us that whose work when you see you will hope you can do that in the future.
For me, "Tim Yip" is my answer. He is the most famous production designer in Chinese culture. Following is a brief introduction of him.
A renowned artist, Tim Yip has multidisciplinary works in costume design, visual and contemporary art. For his work in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Tim won the Oscar for Best Art Direction and British Academy Film Award for Best Costume Designer in 2001.
Tim graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic with a degree in photography. Since working on his first film A Better Tomorrow directed by John Woo in 1986, he has accomplished costume designs and art direction for many film and theatrical performances over the past two decades. Tim has collaborated with film directors of international acclaim such as John Woo, Ang Lee, Tsai Ming Liang, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Li Shaohong, Stanley Kwan, Chen Guofu, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang etc. Tim has also worked with many renowned Taiwan theatrical groups such as Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Contemporary Legend Theatre, Han Tang Yue-fu Dance Ensemble, Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theatre, U Theatre, with performances that have toured China, Austria, France, USA, the UK, and Singapore etc. His striking costume design and art direction for the theatre production Medea, television drama Oranges Turn Ripe, feature films Temptation of a Monk and Double Vision have further attracted worldwide attention to his work.
In earlier works, Tim introduced his concept of the “New Orientalism” aesthetic, making him an important artist in helping the world understand the beauty of Chinese culture and arts. Since 2002, he has held many costume exhibitions such as Faces of the Time at the Taiwan National Palace Museum, Bourges Maison de la Culture in France and a special photography exhibition in Spain, conveying his interpretation of beauty in Oriental art to Western audiences. In 2004, Tim Yip was the art and costume director for the Beijing handover performance at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in Athens. In recent years, he has held various solo art exhibitions in New York, Beijing and Shanghai. In 2005, he was invited by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to participate in the China Red exhibition; he also participated in International Asian Art Fair held at The Park Avenue Armory, New York. The Beijing Today Art Museum organized his solo art exhibition Illusions of Silence in late 2007. In 2008, he was invited to participate in Christian Dior’s 60th anniversary exhibition, Dior and Chinese Artists; his work, Floating Leaves Garden, re-opened the dialogue between fashion and art as well as successfully drawing global attention towards Chinese tradition. Tim has several publications including Lost in Time, Flower of the Wind, Floating, Circulation, Rouge: L’art de Tim Yip (published in both French and English), Illusions of Silence and Passage.
from : http://www.timyipproductions.com/#/biography
Tim yip is one of my favorite designers. His work combined fashion and tradition. Nowadays because of powerful Hollywood industry many countries choose to shoot Hollywood style films and the production design for films also lose traditional beauty.
But in Tim's work you can see the traditional Chinese beauty.
For example, The Banquet (2006).
Trailer
In this movie, no matter costume or set, Tim redesigned Chinese art become new oriental art.
In Chinese culture "white" is a sample of death. White ribbons and candles are the important role in Chinese funeral. Tim used these two things in different way made the funeral in this movie more sad and beautiful.
I am May. I come from Taiwan.
Now I study MA Design for Film TV and Events in the UK.
I hope I can become a production designer in the future.
But where still many thing I should learn.
So I decided to come to the UK.
This is a blog which about my research and my work.
Please give me some feedback.
PS: My English is not good. Please correct my grammar and spelling.
