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At 8:30am EST this morning the Academy Award nominees were announced. Hugo led with 11 nominations followed by The Artist with 10. Noticeable snubs included Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Michael Shannon as well as their amazing films Shame, Drive and Take Shelter. Most shocking of all was the Best Picture nomination for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as the film has not been all that well-received.

I personally was sad to see The Tree of Life snubbed in the Best Art Direction category as I think Jack Fisk brings with the goods each and every time and still hasn’t won an Oscar for his beautiful and restrained work but it was such a tight category. Overall I’m pleased with the craft categories but they really missed the mark with the major categories. They do this every year so I’m not sure why I’m surprised. I like to look at the positive though: At least Robert Stromberg will not be winning an Academy Award this year and with any luck nobody will pull out a hat to put on their Oscar. I could not have handled a threepeat.

I was also very pleased to see French Canadian film Monsieur Lazhar nominated for Best Foreign Film as well as Canadian co-production In Darkness in the same category. I don’t say it enough but I am very proud to be Canadian.

The 84th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Here is the full list of Oscar nominees:

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Here are a few of our favourite links from this week. Feel free to peruse Art DepartMENTAL’s Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or our Google + Fan Page for more art department and film related goodies! Circle us on Google + and we’ll be sure to circle you back.

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• Director of Photography Bradford Young talks about the cinematography in Pariah.

• Vanity Fair takes a closer look at the costumes and tattoos in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

• Version 2.0 of Fontbook‘s iPad app is available and contains samples of over 620, 000 typefaces!

• Design Museum unveils Designs of the Year 2012.

• Popular Mechanics has chosen their 10 best visual effects scenes of 2011.

• The American Society of Cinematographers has publicized the list of nominees for its’ 2012 Outstanding Achievement Awards.

• Costume designer for W.E., Arianne Phillips, discusses Madonna, costumes for biographical films, and the Oscars.

• The Atlantic‘s article on SOPA and the movie industry is an engrossing read.

• Take inspiration from these minimal work stations.

• Film production bingo hits close to home:

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How was your week? Did you find any great links or posts?

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Alison

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Today’s inspiration post is all about the gorgeous and elegant design of Christian Dior.

“Christian Dior (21 January 1905 – 23 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world’s top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.

On 16 December 1946 Dior founded his fashion house, backed by Marcel Boussac, a cotton-fabric magnate. The actual name of the line of his first collection, presented in early 1947, was Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English), but the phrase New Look was coined for it by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar. Dior’s designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles, influenced by the rations on fabric. He was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes; Dior is quoted as saying “I have designed flower women.” His look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist, giving his models a very curvaceous form.

Initially, women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior’s designs due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit. During one photo shoot in a Paris market, the models were attacked by female vendors over this profligacy, but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The “New Look” (a name given it by American fashion-magazine editor Carmel Snow) revolutionized women’s dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II.”

Source: wikipedia.org

Some of Dior's sketches

Dior's "New Look", 1947

"Junon" dress, fall/winter 1949-50

"Eventail" dress, Fall-Winter 1956-57

From Christian Dior's autumn/winter haute couture 2011 show

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“Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest.”

- Christian Dior

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Do you have a favourite design by Christian Dior? Who’s your favourite fashion designer or fashion house?

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Alison

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Here are a few of our favourite links from this week. Feel free to peruse Art DepartMENTAL’s Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or our brand new Google + Fan Page for more art department and film related goodies! Circle us on Google + and we’ll be sure to circle you back.

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• The 2012 Art Director’s Guild nominees have been announced!

• “Scenes Reveal Souls” – a look at the production design of A Dangerous Method, Take Shelter, and Martha Marcy May Marlene.

• Variety discusses the challenge of production design on war films such as War Horse.

•  Crew members talk about creating a realistic look for The Lady.

• A new study shows that 4 of 6 of the happiest activities are arts-related.

• Feeling uninspired? Some top artists talk about how to cultivate inspiration.

• The December/January issue of Perspective magazine is a fantastic read as always, including a feature on the production design of The Artist.

• A great article about the importance of production design in indie filmmaking, with some wise words from Mark Tanner.

• Check out this video featuring the best in title design:

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How was your week? Did you find any great links or posts?

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Alison

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The Artist is nominated for an Art Directors Guild Award for Best Production Design in a Period Film this year, and it got me thinking about other black and white films with great production design. Here are a few of my favourite films/scenes that are beautiful without Technicolour.

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The Birth, Life, and Death of Christ (1906)

Art Direction: Alice Guy

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)

Art Direction: Otis Turner

Metropolis (1927)

Art Directors: Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Karl Vollbrecht

Citizen Kane (1941)

Art Director: Van Nest Polglase | Set Decorator: Darrell Silvera

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Art Directors: Hans Dreier, John Meehan | Set Decorators: Sam Comer, Ray Moyer

Persona (1966)

Production Designer: Bibi Lindström

Mahattan (1979)

Production Designer: Mel Bourne | Set Decorator: Robert Drumheller

The Artist (2011)

Production Designer: Laurence Bennett | Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper | Set Decorator: Austin Buchinsky, Robert Gould

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What is your favourite black and white film?

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Alison

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Here are a few of our favourite links from this week. Feel free to peruse Art DepartMENTAL’s Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or our brand new Google + Fan Page for more art department and film related goodies! Circle us on Google + and we’ll be sure to circle you back.

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Designers were asked around the world which apps they most used for their various design needs. Click the graphic above for the full infographic with all the results.

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• 10 ways to be a more efficient freelancer just in time for those New Years resolutions.

• Architectural Digest interviews Production Designer Dean Tavoularis about designing Roman Polanski’s Carnage.

• Production Designer, Clay Griffith talks about his past art department work and gives some insight into the design of We Bought A Zoo including a few drawings which illustrate how they built the zoo in the film.

• “Bookmark This” alert – 26 gorgeous free retro fonts!

• Set Decor interviews Rena DeAngelo, Set Decorator on The Help.

• Check out this gorgeous Pantone-branded hotel in Brussels.

• Virtually visit the World’s most beautiful subway stations.

• Take three minutes out of your day to watch The Holstee Manifesto below- you won’t regret it.

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How was your week? Did you find any great links or stuff online this week?

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- Alison

Merry Christmas, Art DepartMENTAL readers! It’s that time of year again: garland on mantels, tinsel on trees, and of course – Christmas movies on television. There are too many Christmas films to mention but here are a few classics I think have noteworthy production design elements in them.

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

Art Director: Jack Okey | Set Decorator: Emile Kuri

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Art Directors: Richard Irvine, Richard Day | Set Decorators: Ernest Lansing, Thomas Little

A Christmas Story (1983)

Production Designer: Reuben Freed | Art Director: Gavin Mitchell | Set Decorator: Mark S. Freeborn

Scrooged (1988)

Production Designer: J. Michael Riva | Art Director: Virginia L. Randolph | Set Decorator: Linda DeScenna

Christmas Vacation (1989)

Production Designer: Stephen Marsh | Art Director: Beala Neal | Set Decorator: Lisa Fischer

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)

Production Designer: Sandy Veneziano | Art Director: Gary A. Lee | Set Decorator: Marvin March

Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Art Director: Deane Taylor

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Production Designer: Michael Corenblith | Art Directors: Lauren E. Polizzi, Dan Webster | Set Decorator: Merideth Boswell

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

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- Alison

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Christmas day is here again and we here at Art DepartMENTAL just want to send you our sincerest holiday wishes on this beautiful December morning. It brings us great joy to bring you this website and so today we also just wanted to give thanks.

• Thanks to our friends and family who have supported not only this blog but also our art department endeavors. We could not do it without you.
• Thanks to each and every person who has ever visited this website, even if just for a second. We truly, madly and deeply appreciate you.
• Thanks to those who keep coming back. You make us tick. We wouldn’t do this if it weren’t for you.
• Thanks to the many people working long, hard hours away from family and friends in art departments around the world. We salute you.
• Thanks to everyone who tells stories, visually or otherwise. For some people it may be the only thing that gets them through the day. Avenues of escape are important. We may not save lives but we are contributors to beauty, exploration and education.

So today- enjoy your time off work, hug your family & friends, take time to remember who and what matters most to you and enjoy every minute of your life. It’s too short to sweat the small stuff.

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Thank you and happy holidays!

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Rose & Alison @ Art DepartMENTAL

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PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

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Which tip helped you the most? Do you have a better understanding of television production design now?

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Rose XO.

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Don’t do this to yourself. This may have been written for fine artists but I believe it translates to anyone in a creative field. A list like this will help keep you in check.

Thoughts? Which one of these do you find yourself doing the most?

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Rose XO.

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