Objectified's Form and Content

Objectified is a documentary film focusing on the designs of our every day objects and the way objects in general have impacted our society today.  Gary Hustwit, the director, examines fruit peelers, Apple products, etc. He doesn't only focus on objects with obvious and visible impacts on society, but only focuses on other more simple and casual designs that we sometime forget as design and as having an impact on our lives.
Hustwit expertly uses form and content in his film to project his bigger idea about design and its impact on society. With the manipulation of camera angles and close ups, he really emphasizes the design of the object, such as the function of it and the work process involved in producing said objects.
A team designer Hustwit focused on were the Bouroullec brothers, Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec. The point reason behind interviewing them was to emphasize the difficulty that designers can face while designing something. Sometimes they have problems with communicating with their clients, other times it's difficulty between the designers themselves.
Another designer Hustwit focused on was Marc Newson. When interviewing Newson, Hustwit doesn't showcase the design process that Newson engages in, but rather films the various objects around Newson's room. For example, when Newson speaks about the various materials he picked up along the way since he thought they were interesting, the camera would zoom in on the same items as to allow the viewer to also see the reason why Newson had kept such an object or material.
Like pointed out earlier, Hustwit didn't only focus on big name designers, but he also focused on the no name designers, such as people who worked together to shape that toothbrush one uses every night as they brush their teeth. People may not think about it, but a lot of design goes into creating the toothbrush, from the brush itself, to the handle. When Hustwit focused on the objects, he focused his camera work on the objects itself, and less on the designers as they discussed each other their creations. But when he wanted to focus on design as a bigger idea, he would interview big name designers and have them discuss their thoughts and ideas about where design was headed, in general.
Objectified examines designs in our everyday life. By working with these different designers and manufacturers, Hustwit's mastery of the interaction of form and content interestingly presents our society as one that has been "objectified."

photo courtesy of psfk.com