On Thursday I noticed a sudden surge in people following me on Twitter and was a little confused as to the reason. Some days, one or two people follow you. All of a sudden, there are hundreds! It turns out the reason was an article in Gizmodo that had a write-up on the work I have done in film.

It was really nice to see the article and great to get good coverage of what is usually a much scorned, misunderstood and hidden area of work in film and television. The core of the article really hit at what we try to do when we create these things and it was refreshing to see such insight.

There is however something I wanted to add to the discussion and it comes down in essence to the title of the article. Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them. I have nothing wrong with them being called Ridiculous. I agree, they sometimes are. What I would like to expound upon is the ‘man’ part.

The use of the singular ‘man’ and also from the resulting wave of Tweets about the article, one would be left with the impression that the only person who ever created screens in films was me. I am not that old, I didn’t do the job that long and perhaps curiously, don’t do it anymore. In fact I haven’t worked on a movie in almost 3 years. It makes the timing of the article all the more strange.

There is a out there, although not massive, a significant pool of talent that has created and worked in screen graphics and on-set playback for many years. Some of them inspired me with their work on older productions such as 2001, The Andromeda Strain, Dr Strangelove and Wargames. Some of them hired me to work onthe productions you see in my folio and I had the honor and pleasure of working with them and today new ones continue to impress and inspire.

I would never want anyone to come away with the impression that I am the only person doing this. I am a big believer in credit where credit is due. It can sometimes be a more significant reward than the payslip or cheque.

To this end, I am gearing up a project that I have had in mind for many years. To create a good, curated gallery website that explores and illustrates the art of screen graphics in film and television. The films, the shows, the people and their work.

I would like input from people on what they would like to see. Lists and contacts for artists they might know who have done this work. The films and shows they want to see covered. I know quite a bit about who did what and where but the more input, the greater the project could be. I would hate to miss people.

It is going to be difficult and a huge undertaking but in the end I hope it becomes the go-to place on this subject and that it can serve as a great reference for the craft and the people, so they can finally get the credit they are due and to offer a deeper insight to the craft.

Mark

P.S. I and others have always struggled to give a name to what we do. Playback design, fantasy interfaces, screen design etc. The list is long and not always clear. In all the tweets and links sent around the last few days, one term glared out at me and perhaps we can finally have a good, encompassing term. FUI. Fantasy User Interfaces? Who knows. I like it!

UPDATE
Seems that replies to comments is broken and I hadn’t noticed. Will get it fixed but in the meantime, thanks for the good feedback.

UPDATE
Thanks to everyone for the incredible offers of help. The biggest thing I need to know, is who did what, on which film. One of the main things about the new site will be to give proper credit to those who did the work. There can be a lot of misconceptions about who did what, with multiple people doing different parts of the film and of course the occasional bullshitter who claims all kinds of work they haven’t done. Send me the info and it will go into the construct. As films are also listed, it will be a dynamic process so people can comment and fill in the info. Over time it should become deeper and more exhaustive.

Finally the site is almost done, thanks to the help and great work of of Rodrigo Galindez.

So what is going to happen here…

The intention is that as well as being my online folio, it will also serve as a pool for reviews, tutorials and insight, into whatever interests me in visual design. I will be doing breakdowns of past work and will look at some of the tools and techniques I use. I have been asked on a few occasions how I do this stuff and hopefully I will be able to provide some insight into the thinking, processes and tools used.

I will also be making available resources on occasion that you might be able to use in your own work.

This is also going to serve as a jumping off point to the development of a couple of other projects and blogs. The first of these is Deadpixels. My intention is to create a curated archive and resource site tackling the subject of screen graphics in film and television. This will feature reviews of current use in tv and film as well as historical retrospectives. Interviews and profiles of the people who create and apply their talent to this unusual field and also broader writing about how the world of fantasy interfaces intersects with the real.

There will no doubt be glitches on the site and I will continue to upload the rest of the folio over the coming days. If there is anything specific you would like to see in more detail or talk about, just let me know.

Mark