The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan

Director: Christopher Nolan

Style:
Christopher Nolan has continuously used different elements, perspectives, and styles in his work.
 The Tree of Life (2011), Nolan spoke of Terrence Malick's work and how it has influenced his own approach to style:
"When you think of a visual style, when you think of the visual language of a film, there tends to be a natural separation of the visual style and the narrative elements. But with the greats, whether it's Stanley Kubrick or Terrence Malick or Hitchcock, what you're seeing is an inseparable, a vital relationship between the image and the story it's telling".  
Nolan is always using narrative and stylistic techniques to stimulate the viewers of his film.  He wants the audience to be provoked and ask why the films are put together in such ways.  Nolan will use the editing to better show the psychological states of the characters.  The protagonist(Heath Ledger) in all of his films is usually someone that is psychologically damaged.  They are usually driven this way and their fate is ambiguous. Nolan is really into conveying realism in the Dark Knight trilogy.  He used cinema-verite, which is when the movie is filmed to convey realism.  

Theme: 
In Nolan's movies his themes are usually existential or ethical.  In the Dark Knight Nolan explored the themes of chaos, terrorism, escalation of violence, financial manipulation, utilitarianism, mass surveillance, and class conflicts.  In the scene of the Joker's magic trick we experience pretty much all these themes in one scene.  Ledger's character as the Joker was a great performance and was so unreal at times.  Nolan was able to direct such a great movie because Ledger was literally making himself crazy by staying in character all the time.  

Such a scene can create wonder in the audience as to what would make any person be so crazy and do such radical things to get what he wants.  Nolan directed Ledger to be a great, crazy, insane, maniac of a character.  

Vision of a director

One of my favorite directors is Floria Sigismondi.  She is creative and has done great movies and films.  My favorite would be the music video she directed for Justin Timberlake called Mirrors.  It is creative and within the video there are great sequences, one of my favorite being the scene with Justin Timberlake dancing in a room/hall of mirrors.  It is creative and just something you can look at in more then one way.

Mirrors-Justin Timberlake

Picture Perfect

On my recent bike rides I have been into taking some amazing pictures of landscape around St. George. The red mountains, desert, and Pinevalley make for a great contrast in the picture.  I see the rule of thirds being used vertically and horizontally.  The big eye cather is where the red mountain starts on the left and guides you from left to right in the picture following the red hills line.  The blue sky ads for great negative space and overall it is one of my favorite pics I have taken.

This second pick was also taken on a recent bike ride on a trail called Paradise Rim.  It does not have much negative space the the color contrast between the red rock and the darkness and lightness of the storm rolling in really catch the eye.  This great picture was probably a lucky shot but I believe is shows a lot and provides great contrast and balance to the viewer.  I am able to look at the pictures and just see the beauty that surrounds us here in Southern Utah.

Axioms in Web Design

Panera Bread

As I looked around for a website and page that i enjoyed I had to go out of the original sites I used and look in new places.  I came upon Panera Bread and really like the features it provided.

Grid:
The Grid on Panera Bread is a great grid divided into an interactive introduction and then below is a three column approach.  In the spacing and grid layout it isn't always an even split between the different boxes but it provided a great look into the Panera Bread.

Design:
Other design features this websites provides is a great interactive image to guide your eyes through a great site. I don't feel like it really looks with a design guiding my eye from top left to the bottom right but I feel it has a great flow.  The intuitiveness is great on the site.  First time visitors will be able to guide themselves through the website and learn more about by simply using it.  It has a great aesthetic appeal and has a great main point of interest in the top of the page.  With all the colors and interactive features it is a great page, and it is also fun and easy to work with.