Synthesis

Ryan Daley
Context of Practice

OUGD601

Synthesis

The title of my dissertation being ‘How does Graphic Design represent women in the film industry?’ was always going to take a critical feminist view point from the outset, this provided me with an area of focus and an access to secondary sources of information. Research gathered for this dissertation introduced me to feminist writers such as Laura Mulvey and Betty Friedan, writers who I had never encountered before and didn’t see how their philosophies could relate to graphic design.

Interviews conducted for the dissertation evidenced how the demographic of my choosing had their opinions firmly set on how females were portrayed in the movie industry. Ideas such as naked women being used as objects, film posters not representing enough of the character’s personality with a focus on the body all became evident. People’s outlook on a patriarchal society evidenced that how women had been treated in the past had improved but would always be stuck in this current situation.

Older film posters were discussed such as illustrated James Bond posters giving a range of contextual contexts to ask questions about in the interviews. The results showed that the depiction of illustrated females in films didn’t cause as much offence or cause for concern as photographic images did. These design processes reflected the advancements in technology, how originally film posters were hand rendered and illustrated and now photographs were used to depict women.

The practical element took on the design features gathered from the dissertation involving ideas about the male gaze, female objectification and hand rendered film posters. This in turn led me to creating an illustrated film poster for James Bond’s Casino Royale, a long running series that always depicts the protagonist as a lothario and a womanizer. A film series with a heritage in objectifying females and an almost sexist level of superiority.

The knowledge gathered from the Context of practice module will stay with me throughout my design career, valuable information on the male gaze and how females can be portrayed has been instilled into my motives as a designer. Design techniques to avoid offending an audience but to still convey a message will be capitalised on.

Through out the remainder of my degree film poster briefs will be tackled and conversations have been made about collaborating with a filmmaker and leading the design and branding for these films, the knowledge found from writing this dissertation will definitely benefit me there.

Overall the writing experience has been valuable and the descriptive skills gained for writing the essay will prove valuable. The ability to conduct first hand research and interviews will definitely be a process used in the future.

Providing theory and philosophy behind a design gives the designs greater meaning and can create more influence on an audience, this is a topic I have always been interested in with my design work and a subject that will continuously be research and acted upon in my future of designing.