Norman Rockwell, Creative Director

The relationship of the well staged and photographed still image to creative direction in advertising and video / film is no more evident than in this article about Norman Rockwell from Photo District News.

Before he ever committed paint to canvas, he set up intricate photoshoots. These were as professional as any video or film shoot, and included casting, set design, lighting, and the directing of talent and expression.

It raises my estimation of Rockwell, perhaps because it makes clear that he wasn’t working from swipe files, but was in fact creating his own masterful photographic tableau’s. Take a look at the comparison of Rockwell photo to Rockwell painting. Each has their own genius.

He picked the right people. He directed the right expressions. He positioned them in a still life pose that rivaled the best photographers and painters.

Then, on canvas, he filled in the details, adjusted, added, enhanced, reimagined and yes, photo-realistically replicated what he had previously created in black and white.

It was quite a process. Probably not unique. But a definite unraveling of a great artistic process.

We need to imagine our own work in video and print as well as Rockwell did his. Great motion is made up of great moments.

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Life is Dead Again

Almost as a testimonial to the Bob Garfield article cited in the last entry, Time, Inc. announced it will shutter its Life Magazine weekly newspaper insert (see the Milwaukee Business Journal for details.)

Was a weekly 18-24 page Life ever going to work? We have USA Today‘s weekly, the venerable Parade weekly, and of course real magazines (though some seem to be sputtering and shuttering as well.)

The first time it closed, in 1972, Life was a newsweekly that had gone lifestyle to compete with and differentiate itself from the immediacy of television news. It’s second incarnation was in the 1990′s as a monthly glossy. That died in 2000.

You can’t blame them for trying, but the few times I did see the Life newspaper insert, I thought to myself, "This is Life magazine?" I felt sorry– even embarrassed– for the nameplate.

But still images and slideshows work well on the web, and Life has tons of beautiful content in its backlog. Time says the name will remain on the magazine’s website. This is a no-brainer: put as much effort into the website as Slate, Something Awful, or almost any decent industry portal site, and Life might survive the third strike. Find a niche– photography of the highest order– even video that transcends the crap that is on most web sites– and there might be life in the old girl yet.

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