Mujan Seif did her informants piece on a trio of wooden
boxes built by a friend of hers. Although I agree that these are interesting
artifacts, I don't feel as though Mujan really expanded her ideas into the
world of design as a whole. Instead this was an informative piece about how the
boxes came into creation. Very few of the core questions were addressed in a
way that could be applied on a larger scale. I learned little about the
consumerism aspect of homemade design, besides that it was a better option than
purchasing a generic corporate alternative. Unfortunately, the film was also
lacking a creative edge that could have made up for the limited information.
Overall, this has been, in my opinion, the least effective execution of this
project that I have seen. The choice of a very personalized object could have
been very successful if she would have found a way to make connections between
her story and the universal design elements frequently discussed in
class.
The next film I reviewed was that of Paige Tudors. The focus
of this piece centered around her engagement ring and the broader impact of
diamonds on the world stage. This movie showed similarities to Mujan's film in
that they both employed voice over and still slides instead of video. However,
Paige did address each of the 5 central questions for the project. She found a
way to use her engagement ring as a platform to briefly expand on the impact that
diamonds have locally, nationally, and throughout the world. The culture of
consumerism created by institutions such as Kay Jewelers was identified, and
how this tied into the powerful effect the media has on the stereotypical
behaviors associated with diamonds. She then traced this influence to the world,
by describing the process of harvesting these diamonds. The film began to lose
focus towards the end as she continued to explore worldviews. More information
on how the diamond industry keeps their product rare and valuable would have
been a more cohesive angle than incorporating details on African children and
Aids. I also think that greater inflection, video clips, and music would have
made the film more engaging for the audience.
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