How Netflix Creates Thumbnails

Netflix offers thousands of choices of shows to watch, but members make their choices based on a single image. Images drive the process. 

Netflix creates multiple images and tests them. Their research team has found that members will tend to click on the thumbnail that shows a the face of main character, especially if it shows a complex emotion.

For example, for the series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt above, the bottom right thumbnail was the "winner," meaning that it drove the most engagement.

Nick Nelson, Head of Product Creative for Netflix, says: "

"It's well known that humans are hardwired to respond to faces -- we have seen this to be consistent across all mediums. But it is important to note that faces with complex emotions outperform stoic or benign expressions -- seeing a range of emotions actually compels people to watch a story more. This is likely due to the fact that complex emotions convey a wealth of information to members regarding the tone or feel of the content, but it is interesting to see how much members actually respond this way in testing."

How does Netflix come up with a specific set of images that a given member will see? Here are some more takeaways:

• People usually spend less than 2 seconds on each image and 90 seconds overall.

• Instead of using the movie producers' marketing image, they come up with their own.

• Machine-learning algorithms decide which image to show you based on your viewing history.

• Each show has multiple thumbnails.

• Images shown for a give movie usually varies from one member to another. 

 
Watch the rest in this YouTube video: Why your Netflix thumbnails don’t look like mine

Mario Caption Contest Winners

Here's a YouTube video showing how I painted that picture of Super Mario beyond the Hudson River. We had a "best caption" contest over on Instagram:

"Thirty-six years of mushrooms surely had its effect on good ol' Mario." —@siningnising (263+ likes) 

"Big leaks call for big plumbers." —@dougeeb -- (226+ likes)
"It’s a me, Climate Change." —@billclagett -- (171+ likes)

Congrats to Roberto, Doug, and Bill. Email me your mailing address and I'll send each of you a signed Color and Light poster.

Super Mario on the Hudson

 

Gouache painting of Super Mario on the far shore of the Hudson. I'm hosting a contest over on Instagram for the best comment, judged by the number of votes / likes.  Prize is a signed Color and Light poster.

Arrival of Schoolgirl to Blind Father

Vasily Perov (Russian, 1833 or 4-1882) painted Arrival of Schoolgirl to Blind Father in 1870. The painting is unfinished, and the unfinished parts give us insight into his picture-making process.

Vasily Perov, Arrival of Schoolgirl to Blind Father, 1870

Two figures in a doorway appear in the pencil line stage at the far left. Presumably the woman in the dress facing away from us is the girl's mother.

Is the man the husband, and is he holding a baby? If so, that would add a lot to the story of the schoolgirl returning to her father and it might explain her expression.

The young woman's hand is also in an unfinished state. It appears that Perov changed his mind about the hand after the first attempt to paint it, and he then removed the paint down to the canvas and redrew it, ready for repainting. 

Given that the pencil lines are stated simply without sketchiness, it's probable that he had a full size drawing on thin paper and that he transferred the drawing to the canvas with some sort of graphite coated paper.

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Online: Vasily Perov on Wikipedia

Book: Vasily Perov: Paintings, Graphic Works

Faldo Mustakka

Faldo Mustakka is a member of the dance troupe that visits Poseidos and introduces Gideon Altaire to the alliance with dinosaurs. He wears a costume honoring Ogthar, a legendary figure who is part human and part Triceratops. Faldo provides Gideon with the uniform of a Strutterworks guard in order to free the captive pterosaurs, as well as a conch shell to blow into in case he runs into danger.
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From Dinotopia: First Flight.

Bridgeport Ferry

The ferry ride from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson takes an hour and 15 minutes, enough for a rapid impression in gouache.

 

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A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

I used a very minimal set of watercolors: anthraquinone blue, transparent red oxide, with a touch of naphthol red, plus titanium white gouache.

Hokusai's Original Drawings

Original drawings by Hokusai (1760-1849) are rare, because most of them had to be destroyed in the process of making them into wood block prints.

This image shows the process of how they made prints by gluing the original drawings onto the block (far right), and cutting it away to make the relief block.

Fortunately there are a few surviving Hokusai drawings. He produced a collection of 103 hand-drawn works called The Great Picture Book of Everything. Those never-published drawings are normally kept in a precious box acquired recently the British Museum.

Virudhaka Struck by Lightning, by Hokusai, An illustration of the king 

Virudhaka from the series Banmotsu ehon daizen zu 

According to the British Museum, the set includes "wide-ranging subjects from depictions of religious, mythological, historical, and literary figures to animals, birds, flowers, and other natural phenomena, as well as landscapes. They are dominated by subjects that relate to ancient China and India, also Southeast and Central Asia. Many subjects found in the collection are not found in previous Hokusai works, including fascinating imaginings of the origin of human culture in ancient China."

The British Museum has released a YouTube video where curator Alfred Haft introduces the collection. The originals are now on view in a special exhibition in London through January 30, 2022.

Read more:

An illustrated catalog of Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything by the British Museum will be published on Nov. 30.

Hokusai on Wikipedia

Architecture vs. Expediency at Bard College

The pure forms conceived by celebrated architects are often compromised by the needs of ordinary people.

For example, at Bard College this storage shed was installed behind the Hessell Art Museum, presumably to store maintenance equipment. The style of the shed with its dove gray crossbucks is at odds with the simple forms of the museum. The architectural firm of Goettsch Partners, who designed the museum, say that "the construction details emphasize the minimal." The shed has since been removed.

As incoming traffic approaches the gently curving row of offices in the Reem & Kayden Center for Science and Computation (designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects), automobiles are routed on an adjacent driveway so that motorists can admire the glass-walled structure. 

Unfortunately workers inside keep putting up curtains in the floor-to-ceiling windows. Understandably they don't want their private business open to casual inspection, or to be subjected to the glare of headlights at night.  

Bard College's 65 million dollar Fisher Center, designed by Frank Gehry, is renowned for its curving stainless steel rooftop. 

But perhaps Mr. Gehry didn't anticipate the heavy masses of snow sliding off the edges of the roof, endangering people below. After Bard's operations team tried using crime scene tape and traffic cones, they commissioned these flat-roofed shed entrances to be built and installed. It's an expedient solution that probably annoys purists as much as the bike racks and picnic tables.

Pleissner Paints a Painting Partner

 

"Painting of Winfield Scott Cline" by Ogden Pleissner, watercolor and gouache, 1930s.

Painting the Hippodrome of Constantinople

Eric Chauvin • The Hippodrome • 2021 • Acrylic on Panel • 27" x 40"

Former matte painter Eric Chauvin reconstructed Constantinople as it might have looked in the 6th century. He did the research, built detailed maquettes, and painted the scene in acrylic in a process that took several years.



He also made a video showing how he painted it. Instead of the usual time lapse presentation, he documents the process in stop motion, meaning he made sure to remove himself from the view of the camera when he takes the frame. Here's the direct YouTube link.

Eric Chauvin • Constantinople at Sunset • 2015 • Acrylic on Panel • 27" x 40"

It may look like he's using digital tools, but it's not; it's old-school, hand-painted. You can start the video earlier if you want more context.
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Read more:
Eric's artwork website.
More about the hippodrome painting