Good Movies as Old Books / 03: My Way
I wanted to wrap up my 3 part series of posts with a post outlining some of the details and subtle things you may not have noticed about the book and the illustrations. If you missed my other two posts, be sure to check out 01: The Easy Way and 02: The Hard Way.
One of my favorite things about projects like this is that I get to include details and subtleties that really make it fun and satisfying as a creator. Some things are just pieces of very specific research that influence the final product and others are little elements that may fly under the radar on first look, but can lead to fun “a-ha” moments for the viewer on further inspection and really point to things about the movies that I thought were important.
MOVIE ELEMENTS / When approaching these illustrations, there are very specific, but very subtle elements that made it into the illustrations. A lot of the fun of diving into these films and rewatching them or doing research is finding things that end up really connecting the finished piece to something in the film.
Good Will Hunting: I was looking for a metaphor for the idea of ascension or climbing out of something and found some clear shots of the actual math problem Will solves at the beginning that leads to his discovery. Turns out it was a perfect element. I found a clear view of it online. Don’t ask me to explain it.
Green Room: The film is about a punk band that reluctantly plays a gig out in the middle of the woods at a sketchy club. Turns out the club is a bunch of neo-nazi white supremacists and the band has to end up battling their way out. I had the idea to use the swastika as a major element that felt like it was “trapping” them. I was pretty nervous even using a swastika in the piece. Like saying “Voldemort” out loud or something. Turns out, most people didn’t even see it.
US: This was only my second entry and the series hadn’t yet expanded into other eras, other than antique books with linen stamped covers. I knew I had to take on Jordan Peele’s US. A brilliant commentary on race and class in America. The sun in the upper left and the chains in the lower left were meant to represent those living in the freedom and sunlight and their counterparts, living in the darkness in bondage. The black and white ribbons of the type were meant to run in parallel to further that idea.
Knives Out: I knew I wanted the book to look/feel like something that could be found in the library of the old mansion that serves as the story’s setting. I used an interpretation of the radial knife set up that is a central element in the story and when I was almost done, decided to feature that main knife. I had to get it just right according to what was used in the film.
Stickers: On several of the covers I hid secondary ideas from the films in the stickers as easter eggs. From left to right; Baby Driver referencing the music in the film, Napoleon’s Uncle Rico always talking about “back in ‘82,” the government robot from Robocop called ED-209 and from Collateral, the main character dreaming of his island escape.
Layout Connections: When it came time to layout the book, I tried several ways of ordering the individual covers. I tried them in the order I made them and also chronological from the time the films were released. Ultimately I tried to find visual or thematic connections to determine which cover was across from the other on a spread. Some were obvious, some were just based on color or some compositional connection and still others were just in ways that made me happy because of some kind of joke that I knew only I would get (often horribly corny). Some selections below.
Clockwise from top left: Matching the two side silhouettes, relating the guitars, the two brothers on the run from the Cops (Robocop), Hot Rod always in the Hurt Locker.
Clockwise from top left: hiding from the aliens, the sharp shapes pointing inward, Logan with his Knives Out, it’s about US.
Clockwise from top left: Climbing stairs, There Will be Blood predicting the brutality of Glengarry, swastika connection, Nic on an impossible mission in Mandy.