A new hire in the Department of Art is also the graphic designer in the movie The Invasion starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
Leslie Jensen-Inman has been hired as the Art, Design, and Technology Teaching Lecturer, a new position at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga that is being supported by both the Benwood and Lyndhurst Foundations.
Jensen-Inman’s position will allow the UTC Art Department to offer students a variety of new courses that will help them in their careers. A new curriculum in digital design will include Web-Media and Photography. These new courses will offer an interdisciplinary approach to instruction in beginning through advanced concepts in XHTML, CSS, Flash, and Action Script, as well as PHP and digital imaging. By integrating web and media technology into its art and design curriculum, the Art Department will be better able to prepare students with the current technologies in a rapidly-changing image environment.
Beginning today, August 17, there will soon be an opportunity to see Jensen-Inman’s work firsthand in the Warner Bros. film The Invasion.
Jensen-Inman worked on the movie from August-December, 2005. Her responsibilities included: reading the script and determining where graphics would be needed; creating graphics including signs, badges, diplomas, vehicle graphics, banners, lags, posters, television graphics, prescription pads, business cards, and letterhead; managing graphics production from obtaining estimates to working directly with vendors; to produce appropriate signs, props, and wardrobe graphics; and working in conjunction with Warner Bros. Legal Department to create product and business names and logos that did not cause trademark or copyright infringements.
“As Graphic Designer for The Invasion, I was afforded an opportunity to look at our world and more fully realize that design was everywhere,” said Jensen-Inman. “The film, to be released today, August 17, is set in the modern day. All of its design needed to look like it was native to the cities of Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland, just like it would if you were walking down the street and did not notice Kidman, Craig, or the camera crew. It needed to fit in seamlessly,” said Jensen-Inman.”
“I created what I call ‘Method Designing.’ It is similar to ‘Method Acting,’ where you put yourself into the role of the person you are portraying. The difference with ‘Method Designing’ is that you must submerge yourself into the role of whomever you think would have designed a logo for a flower shop, or a tourism campaign for Washington DC. These pieces are just a couple of the examples of the approximately 600 graphics I designed for the movie. For each design, I had to ask myself, ‘Who would have designed this? What tools/programs would they have designed this with? What materials would they have used? What typefaces would they have access to? Would a professional graphic designer or an amateur have created this? What mood were they in when they designed this piece?’ As a result, some of the graphics looked crude while others were more refined.
I asked all these questions so that I could ‘Method Design.’ This was the key to ensuring that the film looked authentic. In the real world there is not just one designer that creates all of the signs and graphics for an entire city, there are many, some more experienced than others. All of this was taken into consideration as I designed these graphics.”
Since September 2004, Jensen-Inman has been president and owner of MORE, based in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Graphic design, marketing, and public relations firm.
Jensen-Inman is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.
She is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Artists and The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
