Artist Uses Ordinary Jpegs to Evoke Classic Movie Scenes

Artist Adrien Parlange evokes famous movie scenes with a few, carefully-chosen, jpeg image files. On their own, each image is ordinary. However, carefully placed on a page in sequence, the images take on the essentials of an iconic frame or two from a film.


For instance, North by Northwest's famed scene of Cary Grant running through the field of corn being pursued by a faceless enemy in a cropduster ...

....is distilled down to ear of corn + ear of corn + man running +  four ears of corn + plane in the uppermost corner.

Adrien Parlange: CINEMA.JPEG: North by Northwest

It's art, it's movies, it's humor based on the audience knowing a specific reference.

These clever little references force you to consider only the necessary parts of the film, then distill the image down to it essence in imagery. It's a fun exercise. And isn't this really what a movie is anyway - a series of images in sequence?

Adrien Parlange: CINEMA.JPEG: 12 Angry Men

 This is fun. So I thought I'd come up with a few more myself. However, it's not easy to find what you need nor is it easy to make. 

I have the concept, but my execution is way off. I've been sitting on this story since June, trying to complete one that looks good. So I finally decided to post the info about the artist anyway and just tell you what I came up with. It's not as fun as an image, but... oh well.

• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World =  briefcase + woman running (for each female character) + man running (for each male character) + palm tree+palm tree+palm tree

• Singin' in the Rain = umbrella+man singing +rain in top right corner

• A Street Car Named Desire = torn shirt+ man yelling

• West Side Story = man jumping + man jumping + man jumping + knife + man happy+heart+woman happy+knife +man jumping + man jumping + man jumping

I've learned that period pieces are especially challenging for this game because of the costumes, especially female costumes. Anyway, it's fun.

 

Further Reading

• Read "Graphic Design: Adrien Parlange reinterprets classic films with JPEGs" at It's Nice That.
• http://www.adrienparlange.com/cinemadotjpeg.html