The Future of Web Video - Interview with Hillman Curtis

FSW: Hi Hillman, it's a pleasure to have this interview with you. You are well-known in the design and flash community as an award winning designer and Principal and Chief Creative Director of Hillmancurtis, Inc. Before Flash supported video you integrated video elements in your projects. Since when are you using Flash for your design ideas and what was the importance of video in these projects? How does video support your creative ideas?

Hillman: That's a good question. For a long time I was almost exclusively associated with Flash and Flash design, that has fortunately changed as my company has expanded and taken on larger site design jobs. That said, Flash was what got me started. I was art director at Macromedia when they acquired it and after getting past the look of the original packaging - which had an orange crab on it - I remember thinking that it could change me. It was a natural fit, one that clearly has been felt by other designers. So it's been a long time that I've been using Flash.

Oddly I sort of dropped Flash for a few years. That's not to say I stopped using it, but that I started using it less. The larger site design jobs we've done - the Adobe sites, the Foxsearchlight site, AOL and Yahoo - use Flash sparingly and in those cases I'm hired more for concepts and visual design systems. Of course there were Flash jobs, like the recent Sideshowcreative.com site, along the way, but really, Flash represented only a small percentage of my work.

At the same time - really all along - I've been shooting and editing video. So when Sorenson licensed it's codec to Macromedia I was really excited. To me the idea of having a great codec as part of the SWF player was perfect. The idea of presenting good quality video in a single, cross platform, cross browser, 90+ percent adopted player was wonderful. Not to mention the opportunities inherent in the scriptability of that video.

**FSW: **Your website shows a video with several people looking towards the camera. (http://www.hillmancurtis.com) What was the idea behind it?

Hillman: I bought a new camera. It was more complicated than my previous one and I needed to learn how to use it. At the same time I was really into this German photographer named Thomas Ruff, and of course I am always intrigued by the work of the video artist Bill Viola. I came up with this idea to do a series of Ruff-esq portraits for the sole purpose of getting better at lighting, framing and general camera operation. The idea was to set up an area in my studio and take portraits of whoever visited the studio - thus the name "Visitors". What I ended up with was so much more than an exercise in camera work…it turned out to be a thematically super rich and really beautiful concept to look at. In the end it's about looking into someone's eyes… really looking at someone and seeing the beauty in that.

FSW: You are also involved with video production. At the moment web video mostly repurpose existing video. How do you see web video in the future?

Hillman: I've always been into shooting, directing, and editing. I don't believe in repurposing anything for the web…it's disrespectful to both the medium and the audience. The web is unique and arguably the most powerful medium of our time…smart companies are aware of this and look for ways to communicate their message, and seek ways to better use this medium. I just started writing a new book that is all about this…it's clearly my focus - web video. Not broadcast, I haven't had a TV for 15 years and will never have one.

FSW: Flash Video gives you a whole new level of interactivity. How do you use these new possibilities?

Hillman: I think we did a good job controlling video and preloads of heavy video files in the sideshowcreative site and about two years ago I did a little video promo for my last book "MTIV" that is non-linear. I took the 9 cuts of a 45 second promo and exported each clip to a common folder, then scripted up a random player…the user can choose to watch the promo in it's linear form or hit the random button and have it play back in a very different order. The story is the same, for the most parts, but the way the user feels about that story changes depending on the playback order. I'm into non-linear film making of Lynch's Mullholland Drive and Soderhiems "The Limey"…which obviously aren't non-linear but point towards it. I also did a cool split screen interview for Rolling Stone of the band Girls Against Boys which was inspired by Mike Figgus' "Timecode". "Timecode" isn't really interactive, but merits a mention anyway. All of this will be in the new book.

FSW: You are working with high-profile clients, for instance Adobe, Yahoo! and AOL. Can you share with us their vision for delivering video over broadband lines?

Hillman: The situation is in a constant state of controlled chaos…as it should be. The big companies have internal think tanks of some of the smartest people out there and even they can't keep up. What I tell all of them is that you have to tap into the spirits of Jobs and Woz, cocky and brash and pounding away in a garage, or Frank Gehry who decided that buildings don't need to be square with pointy roofs, or Calatrava who's bridges and buildings shine with the undecorated beauty of pure function. All of these people have a blind spot that blocks out focus groups and to a certain extent blocks out the need to follow. They see the same trends that we all are aware of, but they respond differently to them. Ultimately, they all want to change the world. In boxing terms we'd say they're not afraid to throw the right. Which is the most powerful punch, but leaves you most vulnerable. Big companies work counter to this. They cover up and counter punch. They see what the opponent is doing and react. My job is to remind them to throw the right. To tap into that same spirit of invention and inspiration that - in most cases - was responsible for their founding. Then make that spirit visual.

FSW: What do you think will Flash design look like in the future and what part of it will be video?

Hillman: Mostly video…at first there will be tons of horrible "futuristic" looking video players…that maybe do worthless things like allow you to change the skin…wait that's already happening. On the positive side even the horrible "futuristic" or the ubiquitous extreme skateboard designs will yield ideas that become new standards in the way we trade information back and forth across the web.

FSW: Do you think that popular design agencies should have their own defined style, for instance 2advanced with their typical "Eric Jordan" style (which is supported and wanted by their clients)?

Hillman: Not for me to say. There's room for everyone who has something to offer.

FSW: What was your most exciting broadband project so far?

Hillman: I'm doing a series of documentaries on other designers - designers I admire and that are part of my canon - for Adobe. So far I've done Sagmeister and am now laying down the score for my latest on Paula Scher. Both are worth checking out, not necessarily for my Filmwork (which I think is good because I stay out of the way), but to tap into these amazing designers.

FSW: You're planning to publish a new book. Can you tell us more about it?

Hillman: Yes…it will be a bit like my last book "MTIV" and a bit like my first "Flash Web Design"…totally focused on web video.

FSW: Thank you for the interview.

Hillman: It's my pleasure

Hillman Curtis is the Principal and Chief Creative Officer of Hillmancurtis, Inc., a design studio in New York City. His expert and innovative design solutions have garnered him and his company the Communication Arts Award of Excellence, the One Show Gold, Silver and Bronze, the South by Southwest Conference "Best Use of Design" and "Best of Show", the New Media Invision Bronze, a Web Award, How magazine's Top 10, and the Webby Award.

Hillman was named as one of the top ten designers by the IPPA, included in the "ten most wanted" by IDN magazine, and as one of the "Worlds best Flash designers" by Create Online.

He has appeared as the keynote and featured speaker at design conferences worldwide and his work has been featured in a variety of major design publications. Hillman's first book, Flash Web Design (New Riders, USA) has sold over 100 thousand copies and has been translated into 14 languages. His latest book, MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer, was released in June 2002 and is currently in its second printing.