CDF Project 4: Book Covers
Series of book covers for the Stanley Kubrick movies The Shining, 2001, and Dr. Strangelove.
Background
I would like to make a series of book covers for movies by Stanley Kubrick. I find it fascinating that one person was able to tackle a different genre in all of his films but was still able to make what some consider to be the best films in their respective genre. Each of his films is iconic for different reasons but are unified by their quality and craftsmanship. He has made more than 3 movies, but the three I picked are:
- Doctor Strangelove — Black and white comedy set during the Cold War and deals with nuclear war
- The Shining — Psychological horror about alcoholism and abuse
- 2001 — Science-fiction epic about technology and humankind
Content
Doctor Strangelove
- Title: Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Back: Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy classic about an “accidental” nuclear attack received four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, 1964). Convinced the Commies want to pollute America’s “precious bodily fluids,” a crazed general (Sterling Hayden) orders a nuclear air strike on the U.S.S.R. As his aide, Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers), scrambles to unlock a recall code to prevent the bombing, the U.S. President (Sellers again) calls a drunken Soviet Premier on the hotline claiming the proposed attack is a silly mistake, while the President’s advisor (an ex-Nazi scientist) Dr. Strangelove (Sellers once more) verifies the existence of a dreaded Doomsday Machine — a retaliatory device designed by the Soviets to end the human race once and for all.
The Shining
- Title: The Shining
- Back: From a script he co-adapted from the Stephen King novel, director Stanley Kubrick melds vivid performances, menacing settings, dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into milestone of the macabre. In a signature role, Jack Nicholson (“Heeeere’s Johnny!”) plays Hack Torrance, who’s come to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Dan Lloyd). Torrance has never been there before — or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.
2001
- Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Back: 2001: A Space Odyssey is a countdown to tomorrow. A road map to human destiny. A quest for the infinite. It is a dazzling Academy Award-Winning visual achievement. A compelling drama of man vs machine. A stunning meld of music and motion. It may be the masterwork of director Stanley Kubrick who co-write the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke and it will likely excite, inspire, and enthrall for generations.
Images
I wanted to incorporate iconic imagery from the movie. I did research and compiled images for each of the movies.
I looked for similarities between them that I could bring together. I decided on using the silhouettes of rectangular-ish objects as well as intricate patterns as a background. The rectangular image would act to connect the three covers with a consistent layout. To me, the intricate pattern symbolizes the detail Kubrick puts into his films that can be noticed if you look carefully.
Colors
Since I was bringing the covers together with the same layout, I thought I could explore different colors for each to represent their differences in genres. I wanted the colors to be in stark contrast to one another, so picked yellow, red, and blue. Yellow worked for Doctor Strangelove since it was a comedy and about nuclear war. Red was a good fit for The Shining since it’s a horror movie and there is lots of red used in the film like in the clothing and set design. 2001 is the most colorful movie out of the 3, and the blue working in contrast with the pattern conveys that.
Iterations
Changes
I started with a white bar that went across the cover from front to back. I changed to the just having white on the front because I felt the pattern wasn’t getting enough space and the silhouette didn’t have enough room.
Final
