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Spill

When a miss is a hit

 

 

Tanagram attended an interesting AIGA Student Chapter meeting called SPARK at the Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg. The event was held at the Prairie Center for the Arts and about 75 people attended the meeting. 

It was a mixture of alumni, students and faculty who came to listen to Rubbish Films and Tanagram Partners. The event was a mixture of a social, a  bazaar and a presentation. There was a DJ with a G4 laptop “spinning” an auditory web of music to set the tone while everyone was hobnobbing.

Rubbish Film is a collective of five students from Columbia College, University of Iowa and Illinois Institute of Art who have a passion for film making and more important, story telling. They are a clique bound together by a clear sense of purpose using black and white 8mm film, guerilla-like filming tactics and a compelling series of techniques.

You could not escape their sense of enthusiasm and idealism that comes with being 20ish, but they also exhibited a sense of drive and saavy that one does not associate with this generation. Their film “Eyelids” is an engaging story about a boy who projects himself into the mind of a girl and sees the world through her eyes over time. They have marketed the film themselves and wound up at Cannes Film Festival in the short independent film category. They  are now a distributed collective and collaborate on other films as well as doing music videos. 

The theme for the meeting was “motivate” and Rubbish Films definitely motivated everyone in the room of what can be accomplished with little resources and alot of drive. I felt like an old college professor as Tanagram is essentially Rubbish Films 25 years later – more polished and tempered, but just as committed in doing good work.

After a raffle and a few words, it was Tanagram’s turn. Within a fairly large auditorium, I asked everyone to move to the front so I did not need to use a microphone. Most complied, but as human nature would have it, several only moved one row. 

Tanagram is a hybrid company working on fairly wicked problems. I eased into the issue with a traditional design audience by discussing what objects can and can’t do, recognizing human behavior, and then defining design excellence. This tactic seemed to work and by the time we showed three examples, the audience was ready. Overall, the questions were thoughtful and most students were amazed at the diversity of thinking and skills that go into our work.

Going to student events is a hit-or-miss proposition. This time it was a hit.

 

For More Information:
www.lookatrubbish.com
http://nicksantore.com
www.trashonrubbish.com

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Posted by akallish on August 19, 2008

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