There’s a Gorilla in my boot!

The historical artifact I chose was a film poster from 1933. It is a form of visual communication that references the other, “poster” to “film.” King Kong, a very well-known film remade multiple times over the last century, is an icon to the industry. I was fascinated by the leap in special effects that they used in this film. They used glass painting, puppetry, live models and more to make the movie immersive and seamless(in terms of timing). It had the most filming and animating methods used in movie history. I wanted to recreate this poster that shows the extent of the modernization of filming in the early 1900s by making it engaging today, many decades later.

The Masterpiece

Why in the F!lm!

Why did I choose this method? I know I was crazy and bold for modernizing this poster, but it was worth it. My inspiration came from hanging 3D art and how the compositions look from a distance compared to when looking at it up close. I used black paper to show the richness in the darks and a white background for the cutouts to show the shapes and letters. Then lifted the different parts to various levels to create depth and interest.

Self Evaluation
I give myself a 12.5-13.5/15 for the number of small details that I had to cut out for the piece to look lively. I am happy with my 3D approach as it brings a modern touch to an old poster. The 3D technique was not really used in poster design or poster recreation at the time. I spent around 6-9 hours on this assignment. I spent most of the time trying to figure out a topic, including the time it took to cut out the pieces of black paper.