Since the beginning of time,
mankind has used infographics to express itself and its own experiences,
leaving messages to future generations, passing on information, laws and rules.
The world of communication through design is an eternal, immortal world,
which has reached the present day in the exact same way
it was thought about back then.
From rock drawings in caves, dating back thousands of years,
to the latest iPhone icons, almost nothing has changed.
Just the context in which graphism is found.
During this lapse in time, Shortology was born,
a simple word which basically expresses the concept of “short”,
and its application means “synthesized” and “cut to the bone.”
Let me show you some examples.
If you think about God, the creation,
it took six days, but at the end, let’s rest a bit, please.
Jesus, he said something positive, but not for someone.
Marie Antoinette. She had a lot of fun.
But at the end, she lost something.
Napoleon. He had a lot of fun in that island, didn’t he?
The Beatles. When there is a genius, there is always an idiot.
The water. Better don’t think about it.
The Lord of the Rings.
Why waste time to make nine hours of battles and thousands of stuff?
Come on, it’s just a ring into a volcano.
This synthesis, this kind of humor, plus a great amount of cynicism,
led to the birth of the Shortology method.
But how was this language brought into being?
Like all peculiar ideas, it was born by chance.
It happened when I was inside a coffee bar,
reading about the life of Michael Jackson in a magazine.
And I accidentally found myself in front of the restrooms.
Being a designer with a habit of looking for communication ideas,
I had a flash of inspiration, a sort of eureka moment,
like I had been shot with a diamond,
a diamond bullet right through my forehead.
The idea was really simple:
to mix the infographic world of stylized toilet icons
with the strange life of Michael Jackson.
And just like that, the first short story was born.
Sorry, Michael. Forgive me, if you can.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Thank you.
The power of the web has helped this project
to become a worldwide editorial phenomenon.
Shortology became a project of 13 books, hundreds of stories, characters,
synthesized to the max.
From books in printing, Shortology went back to the web,
becoming a Facebook page with a huge amount of followers.
But at this point, you may be wondering why I’m telling you about Shortology.
It’s a good question, but maybe I have a good answer.
Because after translating in synthesis,
starting from famous character and historic events
to the motion picture industry,
the last one gave us a brand new idea: to create Cortology,
a simple and fun way for people
to approach the world of movies, short films and screenplays.
“Corto” in Italian means “short”,
but Cortology is different from Shortology.
Cortology is giving the opportunity for anyone
to write and create a story,
even if it’s a small one, or better, a short one.
You know when you find yourself in front of a blank page?
Your wish is to start writing something,
but there is that moment of emptiness which stops your creativity.
Because you could dream up anything and everything,
but you have no starting point,
not even a simple visual reference to help you find inspiration.
A complete writer’s block.
Well, Cortology is the complete opposite of a blank page.
We wanted to create something which could help anyone to express ideas,
connected not only to the world of cinema, but also to literature.
Thanks to Cortology, people could create scenarios of stories,
which in cinematic slang is called the script.
Taking in hand the thousands of icons created for Shortology world,
we put together a sort of virtual slot machine
with four boxes or slots.
Pulling the lever, you obtain a random series of four icons.
Once you have identified an interesting series,
you could find inspiration
trying to give sense to the chosen pictograms.
Well, we launched this crazy experiment on the web
along with interactive cinema museum,
creating a true and proper contest to make real short movies,
made by professional directors and projected in a real cinema.
Let me show you this video.
(Video) Imagine the greatest films of the past.
When you look at the big screen,
you always seem to see a far and unreachable world.
But if it wasn’t so, our client MIC,
an interactive museum of cinema based in Milan,
needed a new way to expand its brand awareness,
increase entrance numbers at the museum
and engage more directly the people interested in the world of cinema.
So, this was our idea:
to grant the wish to everyone who wants to get involved.
How? By creating a method to get people to write their own screenplays.
We created a sort of new inspiration,
able to involve whoever wants to write a screenplay,
a virtual slot machine.
This fun method is very simple, and it’s based on one thing –
anyone can write a story.
First, by pulling the lever on this machine,
four random icons appear.
Second, write a screenplay based on this sequence.
Third, send your script.
We received over a thousand stories,
and along with production house K48,
famous filmmakers like Brando De Sica and professional actors,
we shot five short films.
The short movies were projected in two cinemas in Milan,
and during the screenings, #cortology trended organically in the Milan area
and MIC entrances have tripled.
Finally, our short films have been selected by several festivals.
All this success also made Gianni Canova curious,
the famous Italian film critic who took part in the exhibition,
presenting short films.
After a few days, looking at what the project have become,
we started to realize how beautiful and inspiring it is
to give someone the chance to live a dream.
We wanted to bring the people to the cinema,
but actually, we brought the cinema to the people.
(Applause)
Matteo Civaschi: Thank you.
A lot of time has passed between caves and Shortology,
but basically nothing has changed.
Because mankind will always have the desire
to find new forms of languages to express ideas.
Now it’s your turn.
Think about it in your life. Use your fantasy.
Pull out the writers you have inside.
Use the Shortology method to create your story, your own story,
your unique and unusual story.
Thank you.
(Applause)
”
Be First to Comment