Screen Art: The Thing

Screen Art: Finding images in films that transcend their context.



Let's see, I haven't done one of these in a long time.

This shot from John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) may not look particularly beautiful or noteworthy by itself at first glance. I mean, sure, it's a picture of a head stretching and screaming in ways no human could, but aside from that, no big deal, right?

Well, I've thought for a while that if you crop it like this...


... well, then, sir, you got yourself a movie poster. Since I'm on some kind of crazy poster designing kick lately, I'll go ahead and add it to my to-do list, a long with that other Prestige poster I want to do and the Straw Dogs poster I'm currently tinkering with in my spare time. Yes, sir, I do believe a post for The Thing using the picture above as a basis would be pretty cool indeed. Reminds me of the poster of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Screen Art: The Last Temptation of Christ

From Martin Scorsese's 1988 film, The Last Temptation of Christ.

Cinematographers have been inspired by classical painting for many years, but this is a prime example of just how influential those classic images can be. This shot is a direct descendant of a 16th Century painting by Hieronymus Bosch, titled Christ Carrying the Cross.

What's most impressive to me, as far as how the painting was replicated for film, is how they managed to fill the shot with actors whose faces are almost as varied and animated as the faces in the painting. Also, you can tell the cinematographer (Michael Ballhaus) used a long focal lens to flatten the depth of the image, simulating the crowded and 2-dimensional layout of the painting.

Screen Art: Raising Arizona

Screen Art: Finding images in film that transcend their context.


This shot from the Coen brothers' 1987 comedy, Raising Arizona, isn't particularly remarkable in terms of color, symbolism, or the context of the scene, but it struck me when watching it that, as a freeze-frame, it could be a pretty damn cool painting.

It reminds me of something Rene Magritte might do...


It's kind of a surrealist, pop-art kind of thing. In the shot from Raising Arizona we see a serene, unremarkable landscape with an almost cartoonishly perfect sky and then something odd plastered right smack in the middle. It gives me the same kind of dreamlike feeling as the Magritte painting. Could it, too, be considered a similar form of pop-art? I think so. And if I can figure out a way to enlarge it and frame it and hang it on my wall, I will.

Screen Art: There Will Be Blood

Screen Art: Finding images in films that transcend their context


This shot from There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007) is one of my all time favorites.

In this scene, the man has just unintentionally revealed information that has caused the main character to mistrust him, so his head is, metaphorically, "on the chopping block." His fate is sealed. The shot only plays out for a few seconds, but the fact that it reflects the plot point symbolically - covering everything below his neck in shadow - is just brilliant. He looks like a drawing - the way his body is so graphically silhouetted against the background in perfect profile.