A video shot, directed and edited by Western Washington University associate professor Jason A. Morris will be screened before the film "Objectified" this weekend at the Pickford Cinema in downtown Bellingham. The film will be shown at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, through Sunday, Oct. 4.

Louis Sullivan said that "form ever follows function," but a handful of Western Washington University Industrial Design students have shown that function can, in fact, follow form.

Jason Morris' short film "Form Function" shows an industrial design creative process that starts with abstract sculpture and ends with a functional object. At the beginning of the process, students create an abstract form without planning for the design's eventual purpose. After several iterations of form analysis and critique, Morris directs the students to pursue a function -- a vehicle, piece of furniture, digital device or exhibit -- based on the abstract form.

The students then revise and develop their designs with consideration to the eventual functionality but without losing the elements of the dynamic forms.

The design work in the 10-minute video was done by Morris' junior industrial design class from January to April 2009. The video is directed and edited by Morris, who also manned the camera. Music is Live Forever by Moby, used with permission by MobyGratis.com.

"Objectified," Gary Hustwit's documentary about industrial design, is as sleek and handsome as any of the new and improved household items it exhibits.

The movie traces the history of the field to the need for mass production – arrows used by warriors in Chinese armies had to be standardized. From there, this absorbing, digressive study hop–scotches among designers in several countries, some of them serious thinkers, others eccentric showoffs.

For more information on the Pickford Cinema screening, visit http://www.pickfordcinema.org/pickford/.