New high-res version uploaded July 11, 2024. Thanks to Movette Film Transfer, San Francisco, for the professional 16mm film-to-digital transfer. The old version, now deleted, was uploaded on March 23, 2014 and had 428 total views.
Ephemera. Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, Rhode Island, 1985. This film was the final thesis project for the my Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at RISD. The film was inspired by my mentor and advisor Prof. Mihai Nadin, and by my explorations of the films by Charles and Ray Eames that were then available in the RISD library.
I was able to produce the film thanks to the cross listing of classes between RISD and Brown University, specifically the film classes -- listed under what was then the semiotics department -- taught by my film mentor Prof. Leslie Thornton.
Ephemera is a live-action 10-minute film dealing with the transient nature of graphic design. Shot in 16mm color negative, sound, and edited in A&B rolls. The life of a poster, from design to production, posting in the street and obsolescence. I wrote, filmed, edited, mixed the sound and cut the negative. It was meant to be a critique of graphic design but many viewers saw it as a documentary of the design process.
Film credits:
Thesis advisors: Mihai Nadin and Douglass Scott, RISD
Film advisor: Leslie Thornton, Brown University.
Designer: Craig Davidson
Printer: Adam Morghera
Narration: Judith Wechsler
Printer's voice: Ernie Bellaire
Designer's voice: Martin Jonushaitis
Poster design: Bram Dilrosun
Poster content: "Art and Culture in Europe between the wars", Lectures by Szymon Boyko, RISD 1984(?)
Quotes: Antoine Saint--Exupéry, The Little Prince, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1943.
Charles Eames, Design Q&A, Pyramid Films, 1973.
Boethius, in Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
Music: Fear of Tennis, While I was Walking, by Ivano Leoncavallo, 1985.
Serenade, Hispanic Dance (With a blues touch), by Alexander Lagoya and Claude Bolling. From Concerto for classical guitar and jazz piano. CBS Records, 1982.
Europa (Earth's cry, heaven's smile), by Gato Barbieri. From Caliente, A&M Records, 1976.
Thanks to Mihai Nadin and Douglass Scott, Rhode Island School of Design, and Leslie Thornton, Brown University.
Special thanks to John Moeling.
Copyright 1985 by Giuseppe (Pino) Trogu.
