Creative Computing in Movies
Rest assured, sometimes we lean back and just let easy entertainment wash over our brains. Only to be disrupted – even in the least expected places interesting fashion and tech related scenes appear.
In this comedy from 1964, the widow Louisa longs for a simple life but in each of her marriages her husbands become obsessed with success. The entertaining story comes with a stunning chapter on generative art: One of Louisa's husbands, the artist Larry, is experimenting with sound-fed-robotic arms that paint for him. Annoyed by the experimental "noise" music, Louisa has the idea to feed the robots with classical music instead, leading to paintings of beauty.
Larry explaining to Louisa: "The sonic vibrations that go in there. And that gets transmitted to this photoelectric cell which gives those dynamic impulses to the brushes and the arms. And it's a fusion of a mechanised world and a human soul."
This thriller from 1992 gives us a taste of the early visions people had for computers and the internet, and the glorification of business women in the 80s and 90s: Alison "Allie" Jones is a software designer in New York City. She has created a computer software package that will revolutionize the fashion world. Watch and find out for yourself...
The iconic movie from 1995 mainly stands out for it's style. Today there are plenty of apps inspired by the witty styling idea: The software that is installed in the main character's (Cher) computer helps her decide what to wear and rules out bad looks.
An otherwise brainless guilty pleasure TV series from 2008, comparable to Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girls, episode 3 comes with a surprise: The rich-kid-sisters program a computer system that shows a catalogue of their clothes. Going through all combinations they can effortless find the perfect outfit for the day.
Write me if you are shaken up with some astonishing fashion-art-science while all you wanted to do is switch off your brain for once: markgrave@floramiranda.com