Motivated Design
I love the mixing of photographic elements, the simple, singular green colour scheme, the tone it conveys (which marries to the film so well).
Frankfurt deliberately didn't want to show the baby, and wanted a "less-is-more approach". The carriage sits atop a rock on Central Park, near the apartment building where the film is set.
"Bill Bernbach, used to say that emotion was the first step to persuasion." Stephen Frankfurt
His tagline and advertising approach were similarly inspiring. He took out advertising slots in the birth announcement section of newspapers and used the phrase 'Pray for Rosemary's Baby'.
Did I mention this guy was an advertising genius?
Learning to Unlearn
He also echoes one of my strongest feelings about design and film: "the most important thing is to think with your heart, not with your head". He understood the need to feel your way through something, instead of blindly intellectualising.
Star Wars fan boys would prefer me to say 'Use the Force'.
Incidentally, Stephen Frankfurt also designed the wonderful titles for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (where producer Alan J Pakula specifically sought him out due to his experience advertising brands like Jell-O and Johnson & Johnson) and Network (1976) as well creating as another favourite poster of mine, 1979's Alien.
The tag 'In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream' is also his.
It was an attempt to incite genuine intrigue and interest within potential movie goers. We need much more of this attitude in modern cinema.
We're constantly bombarded by meaningless, shallow, shiny imagery for films, which mean absolutely nothing. Just the same old flavours heaped out onto the plate.
However, that's a rant for another day.
Getting it Together
I tried to pull some of the colour and simplicity into the site, as well as making the content appear as pinned posters on a wall.
I wanted to give a sense of passion, the idea of a discerning collector adorning their walls with icons they admire, of images which dredge young ideas from the deeps of our minds.
Hopefully it will last us some time, let me know what you think.
