Part One Exercise: Picture Charades

Exercise:

Play a game of picture charades with a friend in which you try and communicate the name of a TV programme, film or book using only drawing. Think about the essential elements and don’t talk – let your drawings give all the clues.

This is a game I have played before but I’m not sure my family has always been as enthusiastic about it as I am! After a bit of cajoling I managed to get a willing volunteer and using an online random charades generator we got stuck in.

I’m not sure I completely abided by the rules of not speaking but on the whole I think it went as planned. It was a real challenge to distil each of the titles into some visual signs that were universal enough for someone else to grasp quickly. Added to that was drawing it in a way that was comprehensible and clear!

The ‘heart’ of Lovejoy was instantly recognisable but the ‘dog collar’ for Yes Minister needed the addition of the hands praying and quite a lot of gesticulation! He got Gravity, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Animal House and Mastermind really quickly and I think they were probably the simplest drawings, which is something to keep in mind for the future.

Wuthering Heights he got backwards by guessing height & then heights, which made sense of the wobbly W. Just as well because I wasn’t sure what else to do for wuthering, other than trying to draw Kate Bush.

Hook he got but couldn’t remember the name and kept saying Captain Hook, even though I had indicated it was one word.  On Golden Pond is a favourite film so once he got ‘on’ and ‘pond’ (which I had to add some little waves to) he knew what it was. The one that didn’t work was Spamalot and we ended up arguing about the shape of the tin! I suspect it was helped that my pluses look like grave markers.

What did I get out of the exercise?

• I think it was about really trying to get to the essence of something and keeping it as simple as possible
• Working in a visual language is like any other language in terms of needing some sense of shared meaning
• There are some iconic symbols like the Mastermind Chair which have acquired a strong meaning, although I suspect this is culturally determined