Artists translate hit movies into e book covers for BFI Movie Classics
When BFI and Bloomsbury decided to work together on the relaunch of the popular Film Classics book series, 19 artists received a dream order from Bloomsbury chief designer Lou Dugdale: transforming the essence of a legendary film into a fascinating cover design.
The books have been written by critics, writers, poets and philosophers and offer analyzes of some of the most memorable works in cinema, from the French new wave film Cléo de 5 à 7 to the esteemed anime image Spirited Away. Elsewhere there are books on Kubrick's futuristic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, the classic volatile drama Thelma & Louise, the Hitchcock thriller The Birds and La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini.
Also included in the collection is a book about The Big Lebowski with a cover by Max Loeffler. "I tried to take the guy’s point of view myself. He is thrown into this chaotic chain of strange events while remaining cool and sipping several Belarusians throughout the film, ”says Loeffler CR. "That's why I put a jumble of objects from the film on the cover, but the guy is still unshakable."
Above: The Birds cover by Nick Morley. Here: The Big Lebowski cover by Max Loeffler
Pandora's Box by Federica Masini
For Pandora's Box, Berlin-based artist Federica Masini had the opportunity to portray one of her favorite characters in the cinema, Lou Lou. Masini chose her usual choice of watercolor and wanted to create a "fading effect," as if the characters "appeared from the past or disappeared from the present," and reinforcing Lou Lou's "elusive" nature.
New York-based artist Yuko Shimizu created the cover for the book about the acclaimed Japanese film Sanshō Dayū. A central image from the film was reproduced and elements such as the emphasis on bamboo and the introduction of colors were improved. "Adding color to a black and white film was a challenge," Shimizu told CR. “I thought of the kimono as a feminine but dusty pink. I kept most of the colors very boring and subdued so that the colors that the audience fills with when watching the film are not affected. "
Sanshō Dayū Cover by Yuko Shimizu
Touch of Evil Cover by Julia Soboleva
Meanwhile, Julia Soboleva's mixed media cover for Richard Deming's book on Touch of Evil remains clearly monochrome and “sunless”. “The hypnotic world that Orson Welles created in Touch of Evil is full of dark alleys and dubious hotel rooms. It is stuffy, claustrophobic and inhabited by shadows, ”explains Soboleva.
Inspired by a scene in which corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan, played by Welles, crushes a pigeon egg, she portrayed his eyes as "empty," with "the only light we can see there is a ominous reflection of the spherical object (the pigeon egg) is in his hand. And as we know, it will be destroyed immediately and the light will go out. "
BFI Film Classics published by Bloomsbury are now available. bloomsbury.com