Objectified

The documentary, Objectified, was released in March 2009, and is the second part of a “design-trilogy” directed and produced by Gary Hustwit. However, I would not have known that it did not stand alone if I had not looked online. “Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them” (1).

When watching this film, I was immediately struck by the opening. Had I not known that it was a documentary, I might have guessed that it would be a drama or a quirky, independent-comedy. The film opens with the making of a modern chair by (mostly) machines. The camera placement – including odd angles, super close ups, and a clever use of zoom – provided some uniqueness to the montage scenes and was visually stimulating. As someone who has tinkered with filming and editing styles, I enjoyed the way that many of the edits fit together artistically as well as their usefulness for the sake of the ‘plot.’

Naturally, because it was a documentary, the majority of the feature was built around interviews. Because it was about design, most of the interviews were with successful designers. The visual component of the film shows the interview, the designer at work, or cuts to a montage, while simultaneously running audio from the interview. Usually the form lies in the images and the content comes from the dialogue, or series-of-intertwined-monologues, if you’re really specific…

To paraphrase some of the film’s key concepts,* almost everything that fills your world has been designed in one way or another, and most of what is designed will end up in landfills somewhere. A design speaks to who put it there and a good design reflects what it is. Designers can look at an object and think, “Why is it like that?” or they can ‘look into the future’ and design things that don’t yet exist. Sustainable design – which was one of the main focal points of the film – is becoming a requirement for modern designers because good design should be about being able to wear-in an object in as compared to just wearing it out. By putting great design into everyday things, the quality of people’s lives improves without them realizing it, which brings us to the central goal of design: to make people feel good.

It was not a movie that I would’ve checked out and watched on my own, but I enjoyed it and found it thought provoking… as is often the case with documentaries.** If you have a free hour and a half, I strongly recommend viewing it for yourself.


(1) http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/about/

*Unfortunately, while watching the video and frantically scribbling notes, I neglected to copy the names of the speakers, so I have a bunch of unattributed quotes on my paper and a separate list of all the ‘interviewees.’ If I accidentally quote one of them directly and they stumble across my blog, please leave a comment telling me and don’t sue me for the millions of dollars that I don’t have. Thanks.

**I’m thinking specifically of Andy Goldsworthy’s Rivers and Tides.

Image: http://www.bitique.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/objectified1.jpg

One of the topics covered in the film was the re-design of the hand-peeler. I thought it was appropriate to include this image as well: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/08/arts/08objectified_600.jpg