Monday 14 October 2013

Cinematic Spaces: Ken Adam

The James Bond Films

Kenneth Adam is a German-born British motion picture production designer most famous for his innovative and futuristic set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s such as; Dr. No (1962), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).


(Top, Figure 1. Bottom, Figure 2)

I find the angle of the walls in Figure 1 intriguing, it draws your eye in and instantly tells you that this is not a ''normal'' room. Although Figure 2 is a lot more simplistic and stylized, it still works as a modern architectural sketch of the 21'st Century. 

Bibliography:

Ken Adam Biography - Accessed on 14/10/2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Adam


Illustration List:

Figure 1 - Accessed on 14/10/2013
http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Ken_Adam 

Figure 2 - Accessed on 14/10/2013
http://whatsgoingonatconran.wordpress.com/tag/james-bond-design

1 comment:

  1. Consider your source, artist Ken Adams, one of three Israelites to have served in the British Royal Air Force as fighter pilot over German skies in WWII. Listen to his thought process speaking within the documentaries later produced upon each of Bond movies which he designed, and then tell me that the source of your "creative figure 1" does not also "draw in your eye and instantly tell you that this [he] not a normal [artist]".

    As producer Cubby Brocolli stated, "Once he figured out what he wanted to do, he went at it." In paraphrasing the measuring stick of greatness, talent is being able to hit what the others cannot hit. However, genius is the ability to see what the others cannot see, and whatever IT was, Ken Burns recognized IT, he visually described IT, and then he physically created IT in standing sets.

    You'd drawn my applause in 1962 long before my childhood ebbed, and with an appreciation brimming beyond pale description, I would now thank you, Sir Burns.
    J. R. Rhys, San Marcos, TX

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