Design in The Movies: Bridge of Spies

This begins NCD’s series study­ing design in movies, tele­vi­sion and com­mer­cials. Besides being fun, if you are pro­mot­ing a prod­uct, brand­ing or re-brand­ing your­self, it’s impor­tant to study how visu­als have been used to influ­ence and affect the con­sumer – one seg­ment of which is also your customer!

Design in the movies: Bridge of spies

It’s true that you only have one chance to make the most of that first impres­sion. Whether it’s a face to face meet­ing, or some­one click­ing on your web­page, scrolling past your social media posts, dri­ving by your bill­board, or see­ing your ad. Uti­liz­ing the design ele­ments to their fullest is crit­i­cal to attract­ing and keep­ing the favor­able atten­tion of your clients.

An excel­lent exam­ple of how is the award win­ning Dream­Works Pictures/Fox 2000 Pic­tures’ “Bridge of Spies, ” star­ring Tom Han­ks, direct­ed by Spiel­berg.  Inspired by a true sto­ry, it tells of a Brook­lyn lawyer whose stel­lar nego­ti­at­ing skills land him smack dab into help­ing the CIA obtain the release of a U‑2 pilot dur­ing the Cold War.

Take a look at the Trailer:

Did you notice that the cos­tumes all blue, grey, off white?

How about the steely blue wash over the entire film that cre­ates a psy­cho­log­i­cal sense of the cold war era, and also pro­motes the somber­ness. That tar­nished look accents the aus­ter­i­ty in the pris­ons, lent itself to a sense of ten­sion and harsh­ness in scenes shot in Rus­sia, and gave extra chill to the choice to shoot in rain, fog, cloudy days, snow and cold. Even the cars lack col­or. In one scene, a woman wears a print dress but notice the flow­ers are small, (not bold, which would be more cheer­ful), and a dull yel­low against the ever present blue.

All lend them­selves to a sense of con­stric­tion and econ­o­my — and you feel it, whether you know it or not — and helps tell the sto­ry, cre­ate the mood, and elic­it the desired response.

Did you also notice the steel type movie cred­its? As these appeared, they grad­u­al­ly fad­ed on the sides. By this design choice, it’s as if they cre­at­ed a con­nec­tion to the lives dis­ap­pear­ing because of the war.

Now, take a look at it again now that you are more aware of these ele­ments at work! Do you see things in the realm of design you didn’t before read­ing this?

Do you want to bet­ter reach your customer’s heart, pique their curios­i­ty, or tap into — or actu­al­ly cre­ate — their want or need for your prod­uct or ser­vice? Con­tact Nicte Cre­ative Design. It’s our specialty!