Ni Hao-dy! 你好 x howdy!
I’m Chris Lee, a motion designer + illustrator and I’ve got happy feet!
Main Title, Style Frames
Through the use of photography of book titles and labels, these title sequence style frames reveal the lukewarm personality of Monk, while touching on the movie’s themes of stereotypes, mislabelling, and the American’s perceptions regarding race.
This sequence allows viewers to see a library through Monk’s eyes, where books have been categorized and labelled, and perhaps judged by their covers. I grouped together books ironically to get people to think about their perspectives and opinions, the same way Monk encounters irony in the movie.
One is not like the other:
I used misdirection as a conceptual storytelling device to cause viewers to do a
double take. This miscategorization of Hitler amongst world famous artists makes
Monk and the audience question the mind of who put these books together.
Want to write the wrong:
The sequence lands on books about 9/11, the moon landing, and the Emancipation Proclamation only to reveal that these are mislabelled as American Fiction, which doubles as the film’s title reveal.
Cooking the books:
While trying to use real book titles as much as possible, elements used to credit the director’s name required visual alteration of book titles. (From “Cosby” to “Cord”)