Do sweat the technique

Have you ever wondered why you love films by a particular director? That question popped into my head after watching David Fincher’s excellent Gone Girl earlier today.

I wouldn’t say that I’m the kind of person who revels in the dark or foreboding aspects of the human condition (I wasn’t one of the goth kids in high school). And yet, I absolutely love David Fincher’s films, including the very dark Se7en and the perhaps even more sinister Zodiac.

The stories our favored directors choose to tell certainly play a role in the cultivation of our attachments, but, with all due respect to Messrs. Eric B & Rakim, I’ve come to believe that the way they choose to tell their stories—their particular applications of technique—are just as important. So I was very excited when I came across the video embedded below, which provides an insightful analysis of the techniques that contribute to David Fincher’s distinctive and arresting style of storytelling.

I love Fincher’s own observation that his style is defined not by what he does, but by those things that he chooses not to do. Very Zen, and, as a follower of the tech industry, it reminded me of Apple’s approach to product creation, i.e. “a thousand no’s for every yes.”

Note that this video was created by an independent filmmaker and editor named Tony Zhou, who maintains a fantastic blog called Every Frame a Painting. If you enjoyed this piece, make sure to check out Zhou’s other videos or, better yet, contribute to his work.

BTW, there is something of a sneaker connection here in that Fincher has directed a number of spots for Nike on behalf of my former mates at Wieden+Kennedy. My favorites are the wonderfully evocative Speed Chain from 2004 and the uncharacteristically upbeat Instant Karma from way back in 1993. 

(via Kottke) 

Mark Parker on empowering design

If you have an interest in Nike or the athletic footwear, apparel and equipment industry, this interview of Nike CEO Mark Parker by Business of Fashion is a very good read.

I was particularly taken by Parker’s answer to the question, “for all those designers out there, what advice would you give to them on interaction with the business side?”:

“I do think that the power of design is amplified when it learns how to connect with the business side in a way that actually enables design to be executed at the highest level. Now that doesn’t always happen. There are many situations where business might not be an enabler; it might be a detractor; it might be a hurdle. But the more that design can appreciate the power of combining creativity with the power of scaling a business, it will only empower design in the end. It will only help design achieve even more.”

In this response, you can see the benefit of having a CEO who’s spent a fair bit of time living in both the design and business worlds. Most industry observers fail to appreciate the extent to which Parker’s roots in design have contributed to Nike’s financial success because most industry observers—and most business people, for that matter—fail to appreciate the power of design. Fortunately for Nike, Parker is not like most business people.

And, having had the opportunity to meet and present to Mark Parker (always a nerve wracking experience!), I can tell you that this is not a facade. He has incredibly sharp instincts for design—the sort of instincts that stem from an innate talent that's been honed by years in the trenches creating products that are both desirable and manufacturable at scale.

But enough commentary from me—check out the BoF interview to hear from the man himself!