MINIMAL FILM - THE UNIVERSE OF CINEMA REINTERPRETED GRAPHICALLY

Have you ever wondered how you could define the essence of a film without saying a single word? If so, then I suggest that you stand up, sit down, and turn around five times, spin-spin-spin, before checking out the following book created by Matteo Civaschi. Well, for those of you not in the know, Matteo is a passionate Italian designer who’s in charge of the H-57 design studio (based in Milan), and essentially, he’s come up with an illustrative technique which will allow people to represent a conceptual narrative with the use of colors, shapes, and a vivid imagination. He’s called this technique, ‘Shortology’, and he’s used it quite a few times in the past, most notably, in books like ‘Film in Five Seconds’, ‘Life in Five Seconds’, and now...


Minimal Film: The Universe of Cinema Reinterpreted Graphically [Hardcover]


Fortunately, this latest release encourages moviegoers of all ages to see cinema from a different point of view, doing so by presenting a selection of full-page images which show each film in a bold and scholarly fashion. This includes films such as 'Alien', 'Rain Man', 'Star Wars', 'Pulp Fiction', 'Blade Runner', and 'Ghost', to name but a few, along with images that represent popular TV shows ('Game of Thrones', 'Breaking Bad', etc) and prolific designers (Joe Colombo, Max Huber, Gio Ponti, and Armando Testa).

Now, if truth be told, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it gave me the excuse to use my own imagination to figure out what Matteo was trying to represent with his array of rambunctious designs. After all, I am a bit of a film buff (within reason), and it was fun deciphering each drawing in order to accommodate the narrative they attempted to convey. For instance, the Alfred Hitchcock classic, 'Psycho', was represented by a pixelated outline of a sharp knife, whereas Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', on the other hand, was defined by puncture marks made by two pointed teeth. I also loved trying to fathom 'the relationship' each picture had with the 'magic number' it was assigned. To see what I mean, here, check out the following images kindly given to us by Skira.

STAR WARS: The number '1138' recurs throughout the entire saga. 

ALIEN: 'LV426' is the name of a moon in the imaginary universe of Alien.

PSYCHO: The killer was based on Ed Gein, who confessed to killing two people between 1947 & 1957.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Darth tells Luke 'who's the Daddy' 1 hour 51 minutes into the film.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: '5671' is the ID number used for LSD at the US Biotechnology Center.  

TITANIC: The Titanic set sail for the first and last time in 1912.

THE SHINING: The date immortalized by the gala event in the photograph is, 07/04/1921.

INTERSTELLAR: Calculated from Earth, Cooper traveled for 76 years.  

IT: The boat scene is set in the year 1988 and 'It' stays in 'hibernation' for 27 years.

Minimal Film: The Universe of Cinema Reinterpreted Graphically

Author: Matteo Civaschi.
Format: Hardback.
Publisher: Skira Editore.
Price: £25.
Size: 228x326mm.
Page Count: 256 pages.

Synopsis: ‘Minimal Film’ is a stylish new book that attempts to represent the emotion of cinema through the visual magic of graphic design. It does this by using an artistic technique called Shortology: Which in many ways, manages to eliminate the superfluous and focus on the essential by breaking down a film's narrative tone into colors, shapes, and iconic attributes. All in all, there are over 200 full-color images exhibited within this book, with each one complemented by a smartly composed pictorial that informs the reader a little bit more about the movie in question, including facts, trivia, and plot details. The book also comes with an introduction, a film index, an explanation on the artistic method used, as well as other related information about the author and the studio he’s in charge of.

Now for any more information, please don't hesitate to check out the official Skira website, facebook, twitter, and instagram pages. Or better yet, why not pick up a copy via amazon!