Assignment 09
Visual Concept: Week 1

Auteur film writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson has agreed to expand three of his well known films into novels for FSG books. These hardcover, non-fiction books will be released as a series, and need a visual language that ties the three titles together. Design these covers featuring the films title and directors name.

The book covers should not use any frames from the film or it’s production, no ties to specific actors or references to the marketing of the film (it’s posters, titles, etc). Your typographic choices and imagery (if applicable) should not reference any previous material. It should, for all intensive purposes, be wholly original.

Next week, design your three covers and print them to scale. Cut to your covers dimensions, full bleed. To find your books dimensions, go to Strand or a book store of your choosing and purchase three “dollar-bin” hardcover books, all of of the same cover size.

Paul Thomas Anderson also goes by PT Anderson, or PTA. All of his films, with the exception of “Inherent Vice”, can be considered for your series:

1996   Hard Eight
1997   Boogie Nights
1999   Magnolia
2002   Punch-Drunk Love
—
2007   There Will Be Blood
2012   The Master
2014   Inherent Vice
2017   Phantom Thread
2021   Licorice Pizza

EARLY CAREER
PT Anderson’s first four films were bred out of the indie era of filmmaking in the 90’s and early 2000’s. His style is hyperactive and formalist, inspired by the likes of contemporaries Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. By the time PT Anderson was making Magonlia and Punch-Drunk Love, his style and voice as a writer and director evolved.

RECENT CAREER
PT Anderson’s most recent five films have further evolved and established the filmmakers style as an observant naturalist putting character first. These five films also see Anderson creating period pieces, focusing on stories depicting decades past.




BOOK COVER RESOURCES
Book Cover Archive
The Book Cover Review
Rodrigo Corral
Na Kim
Paul Sahre
Peter Mendelsund
David Pearson
Alex Merto
Tyler Comrie
Janet Hansen
Pablo Delcan
Rachel Willey
Erik Carter

This is a hypothetical assignment for instruction purposes, inspired by an assignment given by Eileen Hedy Schultz at the School of Visual Arts. Thank you.