Kaiju postcards
Unit photography, instructional manuals, old glory, virtual Criterion closet, divas vs art, etc.
Hello hello. Here be things:
Paul Sarkis on the potential decline of unit photography in favour of using screenshots as marketing assets for movies:
“In the past, screenshot use was limited because they are inherently unsharp and low resolution. Today, Gen-AI can easily ingest every frame of a show and excrete a selection of idealized high-resolution stills, eliminating the need for unit photographers on set. If that model proves to be more expedient and cost-effective, I’m sure that’s where the studios are headed. So the question that writers, directors, actors, and all creators need to consider is how their stories and their images should be represented in the marketplace. Should the quality of that content continue to be diluted through automation, or is there meaningful value added by the stills craft that’s worth preserving?”
I really hope we’re not moving to a screenshots-only approach. Whenever I work on film/tv poster jobs (I’m primarily a book designer, but rectangles is rectangles) the abundance of unit photography is by far the most vital asset. And it’s not just shots of the actual performances – my first stop is always the candid behind the scenes stuff, capturing the actors in unguarded, unstaged moments.
A great example of this is BOND’s poster for The King – I’m sure they had a jillion photographs of Chalamet posing in his armour, but they ended up using a shot of him listening to director David Michôd between takes. And BLT teased Spider-Man: Homecoming using a shot of Tom Holland asleep on set! You don’t get this unexpected, unique material – and the creative decisions that follow – without a unit photographer in the thick of it all, making weird little observations like humans with cameras tend to do.
This from Carl Ander’s Static Motion, a book of images culled from his collection of instructional manuals, shorn of any context or meaning. See now this would make a great poster. Not sure for what exactly … perhaps we could reverse-engineer a film from it?
Book covers! Some absolutely cracking work in this month’s roundups from Casual Optimist, Spine and LitHub. Personal favourites: Holly Ovenden’s design for Maggie O’Farrell’s Land (always envious of Holly’s eye for colour) and Matt Roeser’s cheeky Close Relationships with Strangers cover.
Writing for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rachel Cabbit on old glory’s various musical appearances; including Bruce Springsteen’s “critical patriotism” on Born in the USA, the Black Crowe’s hirsute Amorica, and Johnny’s Cash’s hilariously literal sleeve for Old Ragged Flag (“look, there it is”).
After some intense tutting and CSS-fiddling, I think I’ve got my website into a state that I’m satisfied with; nobody make any sudden movements, don’t want to spook it.
Step into the Closet – “A walk-in closet of 1,327 real Criterion editions, shelved in spine-number order — exactly as a true collector keeps them. Look around, read the spines, and pull any one off the shelf to inspect the case.”
Worth a subscribe – artly musings, happenments and observations from Sue Asbury.
My IKEA/LEGO hack is doing the rounds again. Wondering what other products/brands are LEGO-compatible. I know Teenage Engineering gear is deliberately designed to be. What else?
Lily Allen by Nieves González, Lorde by Sam McKinniss, Lady Gaga by Jeff Koons – increasingly we’re seeing the upper echelon of female popstars reaching out to contemporary painters for their artwork. Gary Grimes argues they’re more than a pretty picture, they solidify said stars’ relevance in ‘high culture’ circles.
Loving everything about January – “a postcard writing game for two, printed in postcard book format, about distant but persistent friendships in an alternate universe filled with kaiju.”
That is all.
