Inspiration can be hard to come by, as weird as it may sound. You’d think that in today’s world, where everything is laid out in front of us at the click of a finger and we are flooded with visuals and information, we’d find it everywhere, always, at any given moment. But the opposite is true - somehow, keeping the creative fire alive seems to be tougher than ever before.
So… Welcome to Culture Club #01! A new monthly segment in our blog, where we’ll share cultural recommendations to get inspired by. From exhibitions and talks, to podcasts, films, videos, books, or any other interesting link you can follow —as long as we’re on the subjects of design, creativity, and culture.
We’re kicking things off just before the Oscars this weekend, with a few links all themed around the art direction of the nominated movie “The Substance”. Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, The Substance follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), an actor and fitness icon who is abruptly laid off from her TV show by a misogynistic producer. Desperate to reclaim her relevance, she turns to the Substance, a black-market treatment that allows her to create a younger, better version of herself (Sue, played by Margaret Qualley). The two versions cannot coexist, however, and so Elisabeth and Sue find themselves in a super-charged relationship causing friction and the ensuing plot of the movie.
So much of how the movie communicates lies in its visual assets, both cognitively and unconsciously, with its sleek and polished art direction almost acting as a character of its own. Here are 3 links offering a deeper dive into the artistic choices of the movie, from fashion, to motion and set design, and branding and graphic design:
1 / From Vogue, a look into the bold color choices of protagonist Demi Moore-
2 / From Definition Magazine, an interview with the team at VFX studio Noid who explain how they created the film’s spectacularly gory sequences.
3 / And from Polygon, exploring the typeface choice and branding of The Substance - the actual product within the movie.
